Special Collection 14

Socioeconomic status and fertility before, during and after the demographic transition

Published 10 July 2014

This special collection of Demographic Research – edited by Martin Dribe, Michel Oris, and Lucia Pozzi – is devoted to fertility differentials by socioeconomic status, to the relations between the socioeconomic stratification and the fertility decline, to the impact of changes in the labour market and/or the educational system on the transition processes. The collection is based on a selection of contributions to a workshop held in Alghero (Sardinia, Italy) in September 2012, organized by SIDES and the IUSSP Panel of Historical Demography. Covering Sweden, The Netherlands, Belgium, the regions of Scania (Sweden), Saguenay (Canada) and Utah (USA), as well as several urban and rural parishes in Italy, the contributions show no consistent evidence for the hypothesis that socioeconomic status was positively related to fertility before the demographic transition. There is more support for the idea that the upper and middle classes acted as forerunners in the transition, while especially farmers were late. After the transition fertility was lower in the middle class and especially among highly-educated women. The baby boom of the mid twentieth century changed this somewhat as fertility of the highly educated increased more than in other groups.

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10 July 2014 | research article

Socioeconomic status and fertility before, during, and after the demographic transition: An introduction

Martin Dribe, Michel Oris, Lucia Pozzi

Volume: 31 Article ID: 7
Pages: 161–182
DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2014.31.7

11 February 2014 | research article

Social class and net fertility before, during, and after the demographic transition: A micro-level analysis of Sweden 1880-1970

Martin Dribe, Francesco Scalone

Volume: 30 Article ID: 15
Pages: 429–464
DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2014.30.15

25 February 2014 | research article

The historical fertility transition at the micro level: Southern Sweden 1815-1939

Tommy Bengtsson, Martin Dribe

Volume: 30 Article ID: 17
Pages: 493–534
DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2014.30.17

11 December 2013 | research article

Patterns of reproductive behavior in transitional Italy: The rediscovery of the Italian fertility survey of 1961

Marco Breschi, Alessio Fornasin, Matteo Manfredini

Volume: 29 Article ID: 44
Pages: 1227–1260
DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2013.29.44

18 March 2014 | research article

Fertility transition and social stratification in the town of Alghero, Sardinia (1866-1935)

Marco Breschi, Massimo Esposito, Stanislao Mazzoni, Lucia Pozzi

Volume: 30 Article ID: 28
Pages: 823–852
DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2014.30.28

19 March 2014 | research article

Occupation and fertility on the frontier: Evidence from the state of Utah

Thomas N. Maloney, Heidi Hanson, Ken Smith

Volume: 30 Article ID: 29
Pages: 853–886
DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2014.30.29

08 April 2014 | research article

Socioeconomic fertility differentials in a late transition setting: A micro-level analysis of the Saguenay region in Quebec

Hélène Vézina, Danielle Gauvreau, Alain Gagnon

Volume: 30 Article ID: 38
Pages: 1097–1128
DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2014.30.38

21 January 2014 | research article

Structural and diffusion effects in the Dutch fertility transition, 1870-1940

Hilde Bras

Volume: 30 Article ID: 5
Pages: 151–186
DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2014.30.5

26 March 2014 | research article

The mid-twentieth century Baby Boom and the changing educational gradient in Belgian cohort fertility

Jan Van Bavel

Volume: 30 Article ID: 33
Pages: 925–962
DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2014.30.33

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