Culture And Reproduction

Introduction

This book originated in a conference on Culture and Reproduction held at the University of California. It discusses conceptual changes in demographic theory, focuses on micro-level issues, and explores linkages between micro-level processes and the macro-level constraints that shape those processes.

Population Growth and Policy

World population growth, especially its fertility component, poses a major dilemma for policymakers throughout the world. However, theoretical developments in demography have not yet provided a solid foundation for understanding contemporary population processes.

Micro-level Models and Cultural Constraints

From an anthropological perspective, the current micro-level models do not properly recognize the cultural and biological constraints within which people make reproductive decisions.

Macro-level Processes

On the macro level, demographic transition continues to be linked to processes of "modernization." Arguing that it is necessary to readdress micro-level issues in light of the cultural-historical variability of particular places and times and to explore linkages between macro- and micro-level phenomena through which population processes work themselves out, the contributors point the way to new theoretical formulations of the concept of culture, the nature of macro/micro linkages, and methods of placing demographic theory within the more encompassing framework of evolutionary theory.