Synopses & Reviews
Fertility in animals directly reflects access to scarce resources, such as food and territory. In humans, the situation is more complex. Patterns of breast feeding, contraception and ideas about age of marriage and desired family size all affect fertility. This book explores the relation among these factors and access to scarce resources, via income, education and other forms of status.
Review
"...should be read by researchers who are interested in both historical and contemporary fertility trends." American Journal of Physical Anthropology"...will appeal to reproductive ecologists, demographic anthropologists, and particularly to demographers." Gillian R. Bentley, American Anthropologist
Synopsis
In this book, the gap between socio-ecology and population demography is bridged, by showing how animals and humans adjust their fertility to environmental conditions.
Table of Contents
List of contributors; 1. Introduction J. Landers and V. Reynolds; 2. Environmental and social determinants of fecundity in primates R. I. M. Dunbar; 3. Biological aspects of fertility among third world populations L. Rosetta; 4. A preliminary report on fertility and socioeconomic changes in two Papua New Guinea communities T. Taufa, V. Mea and J. Lourie; 5. The cultural context of fertility transition in immigrant mennonites J. C. Stevenson and P. M. Everson; 6. Inter-relationships between consanguinity, religion and fertility in Karnataka, South India A. H. Bittles, A. Radha Rama Devi and N. Appaji Rao; 7. Resources and the fertility transition in the countryside of England and Wales P. R. Andrew Hinde; 8. Fertility decline and birth spacing among London Quakers J. Landers; 9. Population growth, innovation and resource exploitation E. Boserup; 10. Fertility decline in developing countries: the roles of economic modernisation, culture and Government interventions J. Cleland; 11. Understanding recent fertility trends in the Third World A. G. Hill; 12. Monogamy, landed property and demographic regimes in pre-industrial Europe: regional contrasts and temporal stabilities R. M. Smith; Index.