The Delayed Western Fertility Decline: An Examination of English-Speaking Countries

Citation: Caldwell, John C. The Delayed Western Fertility Decline: An Examination of English-Speaking Countries.
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Tagged: uw-madison (RSS), wisconsin (RSS), sociology (RSS), demography (RSS), prelim (RSS), qual (RSS), WisconsinDemographyPrelimAugust2009 (RSS)

Summary

Caldwell argues that children were an increasing net burden throughout the nineteenth century but the burden did not become overwhelming until the final decades of the century with the introduction of compulsory schooling and the spread of legislation protective of children. The reason that family economics had not led to greater fertility restriction was not conservatism but the fact that there were counterbalancing losses to be considered. The chief of these was possible damage to the new and still fragile system of spousal relationships that formed the core of the Victorian family and that had been constructed to meet the needs of the new richer and more urbanized society where middle-class women's work was focused on domesticity and childrearing. This family drew upon aspects of upper-middle-class eighteenth century relationships and spread during the nineteenth century, with strong church approval, through the middle-class and increasingly the working class. It was expected that the wife would set moral and ethical standards and that the husband's standards would eventually converge with these higher ones. This new family was regarded as fragile, with strong moral pressures needed to restrain the underlying animal instincts of men and the potential waywardness of children. The gains from practicing birth control were small when compared with the risk to marital relationships that would have arisen from a spouse appearing to reveal his or her coarseness and lewdness by bringing up the subject. By the 1870s the topic had to be seen as discussable by appearing in the press (e.g. the Bradlaugh-Besant trial) and in the now rapidly selling birth control manuals. It was written, rather than spoken word that allowed the onset of fertility decline. This overcame the prudery of the Victorian household as the cost of children continued to increase while the cost of discussion of contraception declined, leading to declines in marital fertility. As use of contraceptives began to increase, the quality of available contraceptives also began to increase, leading to higher use rates and more effective results.