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Variables
(1)
-211-
AND FERTILITY
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
212
I.
Factors
A.
Affecting
Those governing
ductive period.2
II.
sexual
into
("Intercourse
and dissolution
the formation
Variables").
of unions
in the repro-
unions.
1.
Age of entry
2.
Permanent celibacy:
unions.
3.
Amount of reproductive
period spent after or between unions.
or desertion.
a. When unions are broken by divorce,
separation,
b.
B.
to Intercourse
Exposure
Those governing
abstinence.
Voluntary
5.
abstinence
Involuntary
temporary separations).
6.
Coital
(from impotence,
unavoidable
illness,
but
periods of abstinence).
to Conception ("Conception Variables").
(excluding
frequency
Affecting
Exposure
7.
Fecundity
8.
Use or non-use
as affected
or infecundity,
of contraception.
a.
sexual
When unions
4.
Factors
proportion
and chemical
By mechanical
by involuntary
causes.
means.
By other means.3
as affected
by voluntary
Fecundity or infecundity,
medical treatment,
etc.).
subincision,
lization,
b.
9.
III.
Factors
ables").
Affecting
Gestation
and Successful
10.
Foetal
mortality
from involuntary
11.
Foetal
mortality
from voluntary
Parturition
causes
(steri-
("Gestation
Vari-
causes.
causes.
(2)
(3)
Means of contraception
other than mechanical and chemical include the
with"rhythm" method (which can also be classed as voluntary abstinence),
without penetration,
various '"perversions",
drawal, simulated intercourse
etc.
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
AND CULTURAL
CHANGE
213
(5)
For instance,
Frank Lorimer, Culture and Human Fertility,
1954,
Paris,
to make clear the ways in which fertility
can be affected,
by failing
of how it is affected.
The reader
gives in some ways a confused picture
outline of direct and
may wish to compare our framework with a half-page
indirect
factors
affecting
given by Raymond Pearl at the end
fertility
of an article
on "Biological
Factors in Fertility",
Annals of the American Academy of Political
and Social Science,
Vol. 188, November 1936,
p. 24.
214
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
AND FERTILITY
Variables:
High Values
Usually
4.
10.
In attempting
to analyze in a preliminary
the variables,
terns affect
we shall find
just given.
Age of Entry into
Voluntary abstinence.
Foetal mortality--involuntary
Indeterminate
Number 1.
Low Values
5.
6.
7.
abstinence.
Involuntary
Frequency of coitus.
Involuntary
sterility.
institutional
way how different
patit convenient
to follow the order
Unions
In beginning with age of entry into unions, we are dealing with one of
the variables
It should be noted that these
governing exposure to intercourse.
in themselves,
however favorable
particular
variables,
they may be to fertility
in practice
and gesmay be counteracted
by other factors
governing conception
For example, even though sexual unions begin early, pregnancy or
tation.
childbirth
This is often the case when the sexual union is
may be prevented.
not a marriage.
intereven though they permit premarital
Many societies,
forbid illegitimate
With respect to marital
course, strongly
pregnancy.6
(6)
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPENTAND CULTURAL
CHANGE
215
indeed expected.
is specifically
As
sanctioned,
unions, however, reproduction
non-marital
there may be, in addition,
unions in which realready mentioned,
in dealing with age of entry
also normally occurs.
Consequently,
production
into unions, we shall separate those unions in which offspring
normally appear
both marital and non-marital
(including
types) from those in which reproduction
We shall now deal with the
condemned that it is infrequent.
is so strongly
first
leaving until
mostly to marriage itself),
general class (paying attention
of non-reproductive
sexual unions.
later the discussion
the age of entry into reproductive
unsocieties
Since in pre-industrial
ions is generally
young, the question must be raised as to why the fertilityit
is usually positive
value of this variable
when on certain other variables
is often negative.
From a broad functional
the explanation
stems
standpoint,
from high mortality.
Not only does a high death rate normally prevail
in
from year to year, but there is always the danger of
societies
underdeveloped
rise in mortality.
a sudden catastrophic
Early marriage therefore
represents
the maximum possible
in population
rehedge against the threat of failure
Entering a union at a young age does not commit one irretrievably
placement.
to a large family,
because all other means of reducing fertility
come after
If a particular
this point.
union is resulting
in progeny that are too numerous under current circumstances,
this eventuality
can be obviated by abstior infanticide.
These means, precisely
because
nence, contraception,
abortion,
can be utilized
at a time closer to the actual impingement of
they come later,
new individuals
on the resources
of those responsible.
If, on the other hand,
the age of entry into unions is late,
the potential
that is lost can
fertility
never be recovered.
The threat of mortality,
from a societal
has
standpoint,
not only to the potential
reference
but also to the parents themoffspring
selves.
Early formation of unions helps to guarantee that the young adults
will achieve at least some reproduction
before they die.
This broad functional
does not, however, enlighten
us conexplanation
institutional
mechanisms by which early marriage is insured.
cerning the specific
These can best be understood in terms of family and kinship organization
(inand rules of descent)
and the control of property.
volving rules of residence
Such mechanisms apply most clearly
to formal marriage, although they may apply
as well, though in lesser
unions.
degree, to informal reproductive
is
From the standpoint
of kinship organization,
distinction
an essential
that between a joint household and/or clan system, on the one hand, and an indeon the other.
When the clan is the unit
pendent nuclear family organization
the property (whether the latter
the
in herds or land),
consists
controlling
does not normally arise,
because the clan is immortal.
question of inheritance
When the joint family is the controlling
unit, the question arises only when
the joint family divides;
the joint family,
however, does not divide when the
at the earliest,
when the father dies.
offspring
marry, but rather,
Thus, in
societies
in those having a strong clan
having a joint household (and a fortiori
on the possession
of sepaorganization),
marriage is in no way made contingent
rate property by the newly married pair.
Furthermore,
riages are usually
arrangements early
216
(8)
See Elizabeth
Chapel Hill,
(9)
A. M. Carr-Saunders,
World Population,
Meenan, "Some Causes and Consequences
Journal of the Statistical
and Social
session,
1932-33, pp. 19-27.
(10)
of Ireland,
1750-1845,
R. Hooker, Readjustments
of Agricultural
1938, esp. pp. 55-57, 106, 151, 208.
Oxford,
1950,
p.
89
Tenure in Ireland,
217
CHANGE
AND CULTURAL
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
as
the paternal homestead, he brings her into a home that has been redefined
both ownership of the
The father has relinquished
his, no longer his father's.
to own the
As long as the father continues
over the son.
farm and authority
land, the son who remains at home cannot marry because the land is necessary for
the fact that the parents are
If marriage occurs, therefore,
the "match".11
have entered "the age grade of
in the home is merely adventitious--they
still
if irreconcilable
conflict
the dying".12
develops in the shared
Significantly,
"The
not the son and his wife, who must leave.
it is the parents,
household,
bond between them [husband and wife] is stronger than that between son and parThus in Ireland the fact of sharing a house with the parents is not a
ent."13
The
of the joint family ideal but of the force of circumstances.
reflection
defined in such a way as to comply with the
fact of a common menage is socially
and independent nuclear family.
ideal of a neolocal
is neither unique to Ireland
This independent nuclear family organization
inIn Northwestern Europe the custom of impartible
nor modern in development.
was found in many areas
or ultimogeniture)
heritance
(e. g., by promigeniture
it was apparently customary for the
In some sections
during the Middle Ages.
their
old people to give their land to the heir before they died.
Surrendering
The heir's
marriage was
they expected only their keep off the land.
authority,
and brothers
on the land being turned over to him; if his sisters
contingent
The
of marriage.14
stayed on, they could claim their keep but not the privilege
no marriage,15
of no holding,
operated to advance the average age beprinciple
Furthermore, the notion of the indeyond what it otherwise would have been.
in the master-apprentice
itself
pendence of the nuclear family also manifested
for marriage often did not occur until
within the medieval guilds;
relationship
or dower.16
an adequate guild status had been acquired by inheritance,
purchase,
There is thus evidence that European society has long emphasized the marital
with a consebond as the basis of family organization,
rather than the filial
quent tendency to delay marriage.17
rather
on neolocal
The emphasis on marital rather than filial
solidarity,
which appears to have delayed marriage in Ireland
than patrilocal
residence,
and Northwestern Europe contrasts
sharply with the forces operating to preciIn a truly joint household the
marriage in an extended family system.
pitate
of the elders continues after marriage; the marital bond is therefore
authority
bond and does not require economic independence on
to the filial
subordinate
Such a family pattern is well known as the
the part of those getting married.
and Kimball,
op. cit.,
pp. 107-122.
(11)
Arensberg
(12)
Ibid.,
p. 123.
(13)
Ibid.,
p. 128.
(14)
(15)
Josiah C. Russell,
"Demographic Values in the Middle Ages",
1949, p. 104.
George F. Mair, ed., Princeton,
Population,
(16)
Josiah C. Russell,
163-164.
(17)
British
Villagers
Medieval
of the Thirteenth
Population,
Century,
Albuquerque,
Cambridge,
Studies
in
1948,
pp.
218
AND FERTILITY
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Extent
of Permanent Celibacy
(19)
Other cases
Switzerland
13.3%.
(20)
in mortality
Differences
and possible
unmarried women may introduce a small
this estimate.
(21)
This calculation
excludes non-marriage as a factor,
because the women who
had never married by age 40-44 were subtracted
from the women under conin each age group.
sideration
In other words, 21.4% of Swiss women at
But the remaining 78.6% had married at
ages 40-44 had never married.
of high proportions
never married are Sweden (1945) 20.9%,
(1941) 20.1%, England and Wales (1931) 16.86, Belgium (1930)
as between married and
fecundity
but probably not serious error into
CHANGE
DEVELOPMENT
AND CULTURAL
ECONOMIC
219
make
Why do all societies
generally
questions:
late marriage in depressing
fertility?
Why do
use of both of these mechanisms than do industo answer these two questions
in order.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
AND FERTILITY
220
our giving a complete
about each of them.
treatment
along
these
lines,
but something
can be said
(23)
Ibid.,
(24)
For attitudes
toward sexual behavior see Arensberg and Kimball, op. cit.,
and popular sources as Frank O'Connor,
Ch. 11; and also such literary
"Love
Holiday, Vol. 6, December 1949, p. 40; Sean O'Faolain,
"Ireland",
Life Magazine, Vol. 34, March 16, 1953, pp. 140-157.
Among the Irish",
the following
Regarding censorship,
passage from O'Faolain is pertinent:
of books and publications,
"...Our censorship
instigated
by the clergy
is a symbol of this fear of
and submitted to, willy-nilly,
by everybody,
of books and
the 150 close-packed
sex...In
register
pages of the official
banned by the Irish Censorship Board we find the names of
periodicals
Irish writer of note, some for one book, some for
almost every single
The banning is done in secret.
There is no appeal to the courts
several.
of law..."
See also an article,
"Irish Challenge Censors' Methods", The
New York Times, August 14, 1955, where it is pointed out that the Irish
Censorship Board "has banned books by the most reputable Irish authors,
and Ireland's
Sean O'Casey, Liam O'Flaherty,
Sean O'Faolain,
including
most brilliant
short story writer,
Frank O'Connor.
Nobel prize winners
have even come under the interdict...many
works of worth are condemned on
a few isolated
marked passages,
while the general tenor of the book is
the works of Roman Catholic authors approved by the church
ignored...Even
in Britain have not escaped the five Irish Roman Catholic
authorities
Censors."
(25)
p. 37.
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
AND CULTURAL
CHANGE
There appear
lost through
any nation in
that
pothesis
to be few features
in Irish
Ireland has, for
celibacy.
Northwestern Europe.
All
Ireland is paying a price
221
life
that compensate for whatever is
of
example, the lowest level of living
told, there is some ground for the hyfor its unusual degree of celibacy.
of clerical
For the history
in Europe, see Henry C. Lea, Hiscelibacy
tory of Sacerdotal
Church, London, 1932, and
Celibacy in the Christian
A History of the Inquisition
of the Middle Ages, Vol. 1, New York, 1888,
Alexander C. Flick,
The Decline of the Medieval Church, New
pp. 31-32;
J. R. Tanner et al. (eds.),
Contest of
York, 1930, Vols. 1-2, passim.;
New York, 1926,
Empire and Papacy, Vol. 5 of Cambridge Medieval History,
esp. pp. 11-14, 40, 61-62, 73, 695; Eileen Power, Medieval English Nunneries,
Cambridge, 1922, Ch. 11; Geoffrey Baskerville,
English Monks and
the Suppression
of the Monasteries,
New Haven, 1937, pp. 261-266; Joseph
St. Louis, 1944,
McSorley, An Outline History of the Church by Centuries,
Decrees of the
pp. 83, 154, 206-207, 237; H. J. Schroeder,
Disciplinary
General Councils,
For Latin America, see J.
St. Louis, 1937, p. 193.
Lloyd Mecham, Church and State in Latin America, Chapel Hill,
1934, p.
48; Mary Watters, A History of the Church in Venezuela,
1810-1930,
Chapel
New
1933, p. 211; Gilberto Freyre, The Masters and the Slaves,
Hill,
York, 1946, pp. 446-452.
AND FERTILITY
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
222
is institutionalized
and becomes
in which celibacy
If we imagine a society
and
a norm rivaling
marriage, we can see that the result would be paradoxical
Should the celibate
class be large enough to reduce the birth rate
impossible.
to a modern level without other means, it would have to contain at least half
on such a scale to be induced to make the
the population.
For individuals
of celibacy,
sacrifice
(perthey would not only have to be firmly controlled
from the rest of the community and thus divorced from the temphaps segregated
of everyday life),
but would also have to be ideologically
tations
indoctrinated,
If the rewards were great enough to recruit
rewarded.
socially
and, above all,
this class would
portion of the population,
people for the numerous celibate
But the celibate
class would
ladder.
inevitably
occupy the top of the social
would not
be too big to be an elite.
Furthermore, the sheer fact of celibacy
of the society.
in itself
a contribution
to the productive
capacity
represent
of
If the celibate
were given useful tasks to perform, the variety
population
an indiscrimibe great; and if all these received
would necessarily
functions
this return not because
would be receiving
nately high reward, some celibates
but because of their celibacy.
In this way,
contribution
of their productive
advantages that at best only a
seeking to give half or more of its population
of productive
the society
would
few can be given (and doing so regardless
merit),
economic and social
suffer an intolerable
burden.27
in
minor role of permanent celibacy
of the relatively
After this analysis
we are now ready for our second question:
Why are late
fertility
limitation,
than in pre-industrial
marriage and non-marriage more frequent in industrial
societies?
because
societies
Perhaps non-marriage occurs more often in industrial
orthese societies
depend less upon kinship and the family as bases of social
less the individual's
The fact of being or not being married affects
ganization.
In pre-industrial
where the family is a produceconomic chances.
societies,
tive unit, marriage has a high value for the individual.
Also, where the,partas in
ners to marriage are self-selected
by a competitive
process of courtship,
who are not sucthere tends to be a substantial
modern countries,
proportion
a suitable
in attracting
mate.
cessful
nations can be
The greater postponement of marriage in urban-industrial
in
for skilled
The necessity
of lengthy training
positions
similarly
explained.
an industrial
economy, the often lengthy trial-and-error
process of courtship,
on the part of the newly married
the necessity
of economic self-sufficiency
are conducive to marital postponement.
couple--all
is non-marriage likely
to be as important
But in neither type of society
of fertility
as late marriage, because marriage remains the instia depressant
but
norm in both cases.
Wedlock may be postponed with some equanimity,
tutional
who actually
individuals
never marry have, in most cases, hoped that this would
is certainly
In Ireland,
for example, clerical
not be their fate.
celibacy
among laymen.28
valued, but not permanent celibacy
ration
(27)
Of course, a society
could be imagined in which half or more of the women
in polyandrous
were forced to be celibate,
the rest of the people living
But such a speculation
would evoke more paradoxes than that
marriage.
A society
could
organization
already sketched.
capable of such deliberate
be expected to use celibacy
alone as its means of controlling
scarcely
With other less drastic means available,
the end would hardly
fertility.
the means.
justify
(28)
Arensberg
and Kimball,
op. cit.,
p. 69.
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
AND CULTURAL
CHANGE
223
on fertility
have a negative
effect
Whereas the "intercourse
variables"
revariables
neither the conception
nor the gestation
only through abstinence,
necesor the institutionalization
behavior by the individual
quire this drastic
variables"
With the "conception
(of which the use
sary to insure such behavior.
is not foreof intercourse
or non-use of contraception
is one), the pleasure
from paying a heavy appetitive
thus released
The individual,
gone.
penalty for
is much freer to decide this issue in terms
not to have children,
the decision
of his economic and social
interests
alone.
its apparent efficiency
With reference
to contraception
in particular,
of fertility.
might lead one to expect a widespread use of it as a depressant
Yet we have already stated that this is one of the three variables
which almost
in pre-industrial
have a strong plus fertility-value
societies.
universally
Why,
so widely exhibit
the non-use of contraception?
To
then, do these societies
the two types of contraception.
answer this question,
we must consider separately
In many primitive
and
8a.
by chemical or mechanical means.
Contraception
the idea of chemical and mechanical contraception
is known and
peasant cultures
the indiviattempts are made to apply it.
motivating
Yet, even in situations
dual to limit his fertility,
this is not usually
the means adopted, simply because the technology
of underdeveloped
methods.
societies
cannot supply effective
In the absence of a knowledge of reproductive
physiology,
people in these soto look for.
cieties
sense of even the kind of instrumentalities
have little
there is not enough knowledge of chemistry to give command over maSimilarly,
The methods, therefore,
tend to be hit or miss, with magic rather than
terials.
science playing a prominant role.
Lack of experimental
technique leads one method to be valued as highly as another.29
Even the methods that would actually
are apt to be clumsy, sexually
unsatisaccomplish the purpose of contraception
and unhealthful,
e. g., insertion
of an okra-like
seed pod in the vafactory,
of rags or finely
gina (Bush Negroes of British
Guiana); insertion
chopped
insertion
of dung (Egypt and
grass (Bapindas and Bambundas in Central Africa);
other societies).30
method is
Furthermore, granted that a really satisfactory
hit upon, such as possibly
the use of a douche containing
lemon juice or a dethe materials
coction of the husks of mahogany nut (Martinique or Guiana),31
to be available
only in one locale
are likely
or in certain
seasons of the year.
Thus the technology
and economy of pre-industrial
societies
have not been equal
to the task of providing
a chemico-mechanical
that would be at
contraceptive
once cheap, satisfactory,
and readily
available.
effective,
8b.
without chemical or mechanical
Contraception
methods as withdrawal,
intercourse
without penetration,
means.
Clearly such
and various heterosexual
(29)
(30)
Himes,
(31)
op. cit.,
pp. 10,
18-19,
63.
"La denatalite
chez les
Mongo", Zaire,
224
AND FERTILITY
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
and technological
do not depend on scientific
They
progress.
"perversions"
Yet
in one form or another in nearly all societies.32
are known and practiced
a major control over feremployed to represent
they seem to be insufficiently
but apparently
societies,
They may be so employed in a few primitive
tility.
such as that of China, India, and the Near East where
not in the civilizations
For the most part, it seems, they are
are found.
aggregates
huge population
interor in those cases where premarital
relations
employed in extra-marital
But it is doubtful that
course is permitted but premarital
pregnancy forbidden.
to fertility
control in whole
an important contribution
such practices
represent
with a good share of the world's people-Numerous societies--some
societies.
or
either do not permit the ordinary female to engage in premarital
intercourse,
would play a small role
have such a young age at marriage that such intercourse
those societies
which permit them
in any case.
As for extra-marital
relations,
concerned about the woman's
are not particularly
under certain
circumstances
is not stressed.
because biological
Only those
paternity
becoming pregnant,
would condemn the maras illegitimate
children
societies
branding adulterous
ried woman's pregnancy by another man than the husband, and these would be socito have an
For these reasons,
intercourse.
extra-marital
eties which restrict
non-mechanical
on fertility,
effect
and significant
contraceptive
independent
forced to ask
We are therefore
methods would have to be used within marriage.
sowhy such methods are not more widely used within wedlock in pre-industrial
cieties.
must in
with a high mortality
that any society
The reader should recall
Under
favorably.
reproduction
general motivate its members to view legitimate
in question,
as already pointed out, are so organized
the cultures
this pressure
values in the early stages of the reproductive
as to maximize fertility
process
it is still
is one step later,
--e. g., by early marriage.
Although intercourse
If conditions
so early as to involve a risk of inadequate fertility.
subsequently
be taken after conception.
measures can still
make children undesirable,
is
consideration
An additional
and the responsibility
childbearing,
(32)
the
is doubtless
Himes, speaking of Europe, says that "coitus interruptus
has been for
method of contraception...and
most popular, widely diffused
of man."
is probably nearly as old as the group life
centuries...[It]
in which
He also cites numerous primitive
tribes
0p. cit.,
pp. 183-184.
is practiced.
I. Schapera, writing of the Kgatla of
coitus interruptus
locally
pracsays: "The commonest method of contraception
Bechuanaland,
is widely employed not only by married
ticed is coitus interruptus...It
Sometimes the woman, by moving
but also by unmarried lovers."
people,
her hips so as to extrude the penis just before ejaculation,
accomplishes
Married Life in an
without the male's cooperation.
coitus interruptus
Coitus inter femora is pracAfrican Tribe, New York, 1941, pp. 222-223.
Girls may
ticed in many societies,
by the Bantus in Africa.
particularly
C. Daryll Forde,
wear special
designed to avoid penetration.
girdles
London,
Nigeria,
Marriage and the Family among the Yako of South-Eastern
but not pregnancy
sexual relations
Bantu tribes,
1941, p. 14.
permitting
before marriage,
teach (or did teach) their young people how to have
the unbroken hymen in some tribes being
intercourse
without penetration,
on at marriage.
insisted
regarded as an important index of virginity,
to climax" to have been pracAlfred C. Kinsey et al. found "petting
the U. S. male
ticed by 24% of the male sample (blown up to represent
The cumulamales.
by age 21, and by 50% of college-educated
population)
tive incidence
being 24%
substantial,
among females was less but still
at age 20. Sexual Behavior in the Human Male,
for the college-educated
and ...in
the Human Female; 1953, p. 270.
1948, pp. 531-542,
Philadelphia,
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
AND CULTURAL
CHANGE
mainly on the mother.
wish is apt to be hers
non-chemico-mechanical
operation and partial
his
sures that affect
avoiding pregnancy.
225
If therefore
there is a wish to avoid childbirth,
this
rather than her husband's.
It happens, however, that the
methods of contraception
are the ones requiring
the coof the male.
Since he is not under the presfrustration
wife in this matter, he may be reluctant
to aid her in
Voluntary
Control
over Fecundity
(33)
Castration
is so drastic
that it is apparently never used with enough
the splitting
of the
frequency to affect
Subincision,
group fertility.
from the lower part rather
penis in such a way that the semen is expelled
than through the glans, seemingly has little
effect
on fecundity,
depenassumed during intercourse.
Also the pracding in part on the position
tice has a very limited distribution
even in primitive
and seems
society
unknown in more advanced pre-industrial
societies.
Among the Australian
where it is found, opinion differs
as to its effects.
German
aborigines,
held that the operation
theorists,
according to Himes, have generally
lowers fertility
and is so intended.
Modern anthropologists,
on the other
Himes himself believes
it may
hand, have denied both these contentions.
have some negative
effect
of this kind.
Op. cit.,
pp. 41-51.
(34)
See J. M. Stycos,
"Female Sterilization
Vol. 1, June 1954, pp. 3-9.
terly,
in Puerto
Rico",
Eugenics
Quar-
AND FERTILITY
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
226
Unions.
of both
3a is a function
on fertility
from variable
effect
Any negative
of unions and the time lost between them. If unions are
the rate of dissolution
will
or if they are unstable but no time is lost between them, fertility
stable,
not be affected
adversely.
seem generally
societies
to marital unions, pre-industrial
With reference
to this
to have a low rate of dissolution.
True, there are certain exceptions
Some of the Islamic peoples show a tendency toward marital instability,
rule.
the clan or joint household takes such precedence
societies
and in some primitive
On the
tends to be somewhat unstable.3
over the nuclear family that the latter
of pre-industrial
structure
groups buttresses
whole, however, the institutional
stability.
marriage in such ways as to give it considerable
of informal unions which it
has a significant
When a society
proportion
is nevertheless
to legal marriage but in which reproduction
regards as inferior
unions" in Latin America and "common law" unions in
expected (e. g., "consensual
of such unions is that they tend
one of the features
the British West Indies),
a
In such cases the woman may wait some time before entering
to be unstable.
For a small sample of
lost may be substantial.
new union, and the fertility
the reduction
women in Jamaica (where around 70% of the births are illegitimate)
37%.36 The indue to the instability
of unions was approximately
in fertility
form from various historical
as an institutional
formal type of union arises
that have been disorganized
In societies
causes.
they may
by Western contact,
In other
and legal marriage itself
may become unstable.37
appear abundantly,
out of a former slave class,
order has grown largely
where the social
instances
(35)
See Ralph Linton, Study of Man, New York, 1936, Ch. 10. Murdock, op. cit.,
Linton for holding that in some societies
organized on
p. 3, criticizes
a "consanguine" basis the nuclear family plays an insignificant
role, but
dismarital instability
the fact is that in such cultures
may have little
See K. Davis, "Children of Divorced Parents", Law and
effect.
organizing
Contemporary Problems, Vol. 10, Summer 1944, pp. 700-710.
(36)
and Reproductive
Behavior in Jamaica",
Judith Blake, "Family Instability
Milbank Memorial Fund, New York,
Current Research in Human Fertility,
1955, pp. 26-30.
(37)
Margaret Mead, Changing Culture of an Indian Tribe, New York, 1932, pp.
Ch. 10; Migrant Labour and Tribal
14-15, Ch. 10. Schapera, op. cit.,
Life, London, 1947, pp. 183-189; and "Cultural Changes in Family Life",
The Bantu-Speaking
Tribes of South Africa,
London, 1937, pp. 380-385.
The literature
covering the impact of Western culture on native peoples is
the tendency of such conso enormous that one could document indefinitely
in such unions and
tact to produce illicit
sexual unions and instability
in marriage.
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
AND CULTURAL
CHANGE
informal
ages.38
unions
than legal
227
marri-
to premarital
With reference
unions, there is every evidence that in the
where these are permitted they are, as a rule, highly unstable,
many societies
amounting in many cases to adolescent
promiscuity.
However, there is ordinarily
time lost between such liaisons;
few societies
in
little
permit reproduction
them; and, given a young age at marriage, most such unions occur at an age when
adolescent
seemingly reduces the number of conceptions.
sterility
It follows
that pre-industrial
societies
have a plus fertilitygenerally
number 3a, buf the exceptions
are more numerous
value with respect to variable
than was the case with the other variables
so far considered.
Number 3b.
Post-Widowhood
Celibacy
228
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
AND FERTILITY
(39)
E. E. Evans-Pritchard,
pp. 112-123.
(40)
Kinship
and Marriage
1951,
con-
DEVELOPENTAND CULTURAL
ECONOMIC
CHANGE
229
Voluntary
Control
over Foetal
Mortality
foetal mortality,
have few means for lessening
Underdeveloped societies
such
for increasing
available
but they do have readily
means, through abortion,
in pre-industrial
In fact,
abortion is widely practiced
societies,
mortality.
Since medical
means of limiting
fertility.42
being the individual's
principal
do not, at least as yet, have as much influmeasures to avoid foetal mortality
as voluntary
abortion can and does, we can say that whether
ence on fertility
11 dewith respect to variable
has a plus or minus fertility-value
a society
some
abortion.
on the extent to which it practices
Accordingly,
pends primarily
abortion and pracare on the "plus" side (forbidding
societies
pre-industrial
abortion
but many others are on the "minus" side (practicing
it little)
ticing
is
with conception
to a considerable
If we grant that interference
extent).
with pregnancy, an important questhan interference
le3 s hazardous to health
used in underdeveloped
tion for us is why abortion is so much more frequently
than contraception.
sc ieties
one can point to the following
In answering this question,
(a) as compared to mechanical and chemical means of contraception,
considerations:
abortion is
(41)
(42)
230
to such non-chemico-mechanical
methods
(b) In contrast
technically
simple;43
or coitus inter femora, abortion is not applied at the
as coitus interruptus
and does not require cooperation
time of intercourse
between man and woman. It
is a woman's method and can be practiced
without the man's knowledge.
(c) Unit is completely
like contraception,
effective.
(d) Once an undesired pregnancy
has occurred,
the need for abortion is certain,
whereas at the time of intercourse there is always the chance that pregnancy will not eventuate anyway.
(e) Although a child may be desired at the time of intercourse,
subsequent events
is a
at which time abortion rather than contraception
may alter this attitude,
remedy.
is not dealt with as an inteA note on infanticide.
Although infanticide
one should note
because it does not affect fertility,
gral part of our analysis
of abortion in controlling
a functional
that it is virtually
family
equivalent
and that it too is practiced
much
widely in pre-industrial
size,
societies,
The rationale
more so than contraception.
for its use is much the same as that
in at least three respects.
for abortion,
but it does differ
from the latter
infanticide
allows the progeny to be selected
First,
by sex, as shown by the
The logic of this practice
custom of female infanticide.
is exemplified
by the
Netsilik
Eskimos:
The most glaring consequence of the struggle
for existence
is manifested
in the way in which they try to breed the greatest
number of boys
possible
and the fewest possible
if they have
are killed
at birth,
girls...girls
not already been promised to a family where there is a son who some day is
to have a wife...They
hold the view that if a woman is to suckle a girl
child it will be two or three years before she may expect her next conhunter must take into consideration
that he can only subject
finement...A
himself and his constitution
for comparatively
few years to all the strain
that hunting demands...Now if he has sons, they will as a rule be able to
Thus it
step in and help just when his own physique is beginning to fail.
is life's
own inexorability
that has taught them the necessity
of having
as many sons as possible.
Only by that means may they be certain that they
will not need to put the rope around their own neck too early; for it is
the common custom that old people, who can no longer keep themselves,
prefer to put an end to their life by hanging...44
the persistence
of the immemorial custom of female infanOlga Lang discusses
ticide
in China.
The hospital
records used for her study "contained matter-offact references
to infanticide
made by Chinese social
and medical workers
that it was taken for granted.
Much more often, however, infant
indicating
What happens is that the small amount
daughters have not been killed
outright.
of food available
for the family is unequally distributed:
the son gets the
Hence the frequent
starved.
larger share and the daughters are practically
than of boys."45
Much the same
epidemics have taken a heavier toll of girls
could be said of India.
also allows
Second, infanticide
status, weeding out thosewith
physical
the offspring
to be selected
according
or unacceptable
deformities,
badhealth,
to
(43)
(44)
Knud Rasmussen,
(45)
Lang,
op. cit.,
The Netsilik
Eskimos,
Copenhagen,
p. 150.
ECONOMIC
AND CULTURAL
CHANGE
DEVELOPMENT
231
Voluntary
Abstinence
within
Unions
pp. 59-61.
(46)
Hutton Webster,
(47)
Ibid.,
(48)
to the Tanala
Linton, Study of Man, op. cit.,
pp. 194-195, with reference
to W. Lloyd Warner quoted by Himes, op. cit.,
In a letter
of Madagascar.
"I do not think that there was any idea of limiting
p. 8, Linton says:
In at least
but the losses were severe.
in it [infanticide],
population
one tribe all children born on three days in each week were killed."
(49)
(50)
Webster,
(51)
Study,
Stanford,
1942,
pp. 59-65.
op. cit.,
Patterns
of Sexual
Behavior,
pp. 67-71.
ap. cit.,
p. 219.
New
232
AND FERTILITY
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
of the abstinence
In addition,
it should be noted that in many instances
rules.
the male has access to another wife (if he is polygynous)
or to a concubine or
other available
woman. The social
structure
may encourage observance of the
taboo in another way. lWhen, as in India, the wife customarily
goes to her parents' home to bear each of her first
two or three children and stays there for
a few months after the confinement,
the taboo is enforced with ease.
Thus the
in one study reported post-partum abstinence
fact that 80~ of Indian villagers
of six months or more indicates
a significant
loss of fertility
from this cause.
cause.52
Doubtless similar or greater losses
occur in many other agrarian societies.
The "occasional"
restrictions
on sexual intercourse
are those occurring
in connection with regular holidays
and special
tabooed days of the
ceremonies,
The
etc.).53
week, and important communal tasks (war, economic undertakings,
exact amount of time lost to reproduction
in this way has seldom been calcubut the Indian field study just cited found that the average number of
lated,
reasons was 24 per year in a rural village,
days of avoidance for religious
while in a middle class housing project
it was 19.54
If these days occur spomuch loss of fertility,
because they are pracradically,
they hardly represent
but in many socitically
comprised within the normal frequency of intercourse;
the abstentions
eties
extend over substantial
"The natives
of the
periods.
a part of the Caroline group, proscribe
Mortlock Islands,
any sexual intercourse
in time of war; a man who violated
the rule would die a sudden death.
During
the fishing
season, which lasts for six to eight weeks, every Yap fisherman is
are very strictly
tabooed to him..."55
subject to many restrictions...Women
In contrast
to post-partum and "occasional"
taboos on coitus,
gestational
abstinence
cannot diminish fertility.
The only question is whether
obviously
it may slightly
increase
Most societies
intercourse
fertility.
during
proscribe
some part, but seldom during all or even the major portion,
of the gestation
Only seven of the primitive
period.
groups in Ford's sample extended the taboo
to the greater part of the period.56
Usually it is toward the end of the pregIf intercourse
nancy that the prohibition
during the later stages
applies.
induces miscarriage
or causes puerperal infection,
as is sometimes
occasionally
then the taboo may enhance fertility,
but only slightly.
claimed,57
the almost universal
of coitus during menstruation
Similarly,
prohibition
can have little
or no negative
effect
on fertility.
Such abstention,
when fertilization
is least likely,
tends to concentrate
sexual activity
in the more
fertile
In some pre-industrial
the taboo
cultures
part of the menstrual cycle.
is extended for a few days after the menstrual flow has ceased (as among the
ancient Hebrews), which has the effect
of concentrating
coital
still
activity
more directly
on the days when conception
is most likely.
(52)
(53)
(54)
Chandrasekaran,
(55)
Webster,
(56)
Ford,
op. cit.,
(57)
Ibid.,
p. 49.
o.
cit.,
op. cit.,
op. cit.,
pp. 28-29.
p. 78.
p. 134.
p. 48.
Web-
ECONOMIC
CHANGE
DEVELOPMENT
AND CULTURAL
233
Variables
234
AND FERTILITY
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
The General
Pattern
must first
of institutional
factors
in fertility
Any analysis
explain
in general have a higher rate
societies
the well known fact that underdeveloped
The explanation,
in brief,
is that
than industrial
of reproduction
societies.
in the face of high mortality,
have had to develop
the pre-industrial
peoples,
which would give them sufficient
to
an institutional
organization
reproduction
at this level does not carry us very far.
In order
survive.
However, analysis
of institutional
one needs to break down the reto study the effects
factors,
the various mechanisms
so as to distinguish
clearly
process itself
productive
fertilthrough which, and only through which, any social factor can influence
In trying to do this, we have found eleven "intermediate
variables".
ity.
it can be seen that the generally
is made along those lines,
When analysis
high
of underdeveloped
areas does not mean that these areas encourage
fertility
in every respect.
As we have seen, they do not have high plus
high fertility
values on all the intermediate
variables.
Why, then, do they have low values
in some respects
and not in others?
It is possible
to discern a systematic
difference
between underdeveloped
In general,
and developed societies
to the eleven variables.
with reference
for those variables
the pre-industrial
societies
have high fertility-values
farthest
removed from the actual moment of parturition
and which, therefore,
to fertility.
outlook favorable
To a much greater degree
imply an overall
than industrial
societies,
they tend to encourage early exposure to intercourse
a far younger age at marriage and a higher proportion married.
--exhibiting
between each sex act", and that for Chagga men "intercourse
ten times in
a single night is not unusual".
Nothing is said about how these bizarre
are gathered,
statistics
or about what age groups in the population
are
The authors say simply, "it is reported that", or "it
being considered.
is not unusual that", etc.
Such reports are all the more questionable
since societies
are said to
apparently with a similar level of living
have extremely different
at "once a week" or "once or twice
figures--some
a week"--without
of why they should be so low and others
any explanation
fifteen
or twenty times as high.
Op. cit.,
pp. 78-79.
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
ANDCULTURAL
CHANGE
235
of California