Two Successive Motivations for the Declining Birth Rate in the West

The renewed decline in the birth rate in the 1960s in the West represents the resumption of a century-long trend after the brief interlude of the baby boom. However, the motivations behind the current smaller family size are quite different from those of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Population and development review 1980-12, Vol.6 (4), p.645-650
Main Author: Aries, Philippe
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Birth control
Birth rates
Childbirth
Children
Coitus interruptus
Demography
Economic models
Husbands
Notes and Commentary
Parents
Pregnancy
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Summary:The renewed decline in the birth rate in the 1960s in the West represents the resumption of a century-long trend after the brief interlude of the baby boom. However, the motivations behind the current smaller family size are quite different from those of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The decline in the birth rate that began at the end of the eighteenth century and continued until the 1930s was unleashed by heavy sentimental and financial investment in the child. The current decrease in the birth rate is provoked by exactly the opposite attitude: the days of the child king are over. The child's role in the family's plans and his affective role within the family increased between the end of the Middle Ages and the eighteenth century. Today it is diminishing.
ISSN:0098-7921
1728-4457
DOI:10.2307/1972930