Thinking About Children
Sociology and Fertility in Post-War England
Cambridge University Press
Published on 19. May 1977
Book
Hardback
336 pages
978-0-521-21402-5 (ISBN)
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Description
The dynamics of population change in general and changes in family size and spacing in particular are long-standing issues of intense controversy and concern. So too, are the methods of explanation employed by social scientists in studying these and other social phenomena. Originally published in 1977, this book offered an account of a research programme designed to explain the changes in fertility in post-war England, and it offered a contribution to both debates. First, the authors provide an account of the factors that influenced family size and spacing in the post-war period, rejecting both classical population theory on the Malthusian model and more recent economic theories of fertility. Second, the authors discuss the weaknesses of the survey techniques and the associated methods of inference that formed the basis of their research design, as methods for producing explanations of social phenomena.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Weight
630 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-21402-5 (9780521214025)
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03/2010
Cambridge University Press
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Content
Preface; 1. Introduction; Part I. The Theoretical Debate: 2. Malthusian theories of population; 3. Utilitarian theories of fertility; 4. The foundations for a theory; Part II. Research Design: 5. A natural history of the research; 6. A chapter of errors; 7. Survey research; Part III. Marriage and childbearing in post-war England; 8. Marriage; 9. Thinking about children; 10. Images of family life; 11. Uncertainty, negotiation and change; 12. Controlling births; 13. Trends in family size and spacing; Appendix A. The samples; Appendix B. Interview schedule for the pilot study; References; Index.