Prudence and Pressure: Reproduction and Human Agency in Europe and Asia, 1700-1900 (MIT Press Eurasian Population and Family History)

A study of human reproduction and social organization in preindustrial communities that reveals important similarities between Europe and Asia. This pioneering study reconceptualizes the impact of social organizations, economic conditions, and human agency on human reproduction in preindustrial communities in Europe and Asia. Unlike previous studies, in which Asia is meeasured by European standards, Prudence and Pressure develops a Eurasian perspective. Drawing on rich new data and the tools of event-history analysis, the authors challenge the accepted Eurocentric Malthusian view that attributes "prudence" (smaller families due to late marriage) to the preindustrial West and "pressure" (high mortality due to overpopulation) to the East, showing instead important similarities between Europe and Asia in human motivation and population behavior. The authors analyze age, gender, family and household, kinship, social class and power, religion, culture, and economic resources in order to compare reproductive strategies and outcomes. They reveal underlying similarities between East and West in two major components of the reproductive regime--marriage and childbearing--and offer evidence showing that preindustrial reproduction was motivated and governed by human agency at least as much as by human biology. Prudence and Pressure is part of a large-scale interdisciplinary effort to use new data and methods to re-examine the Malthusian paradigm of population growth. It represents a significant advance in the fields of historical demography, history, and sociology.

This pioneering study reconceptualizes the impact of social organizations, economic conditions, and human agency on human reproduction in preindustrial communities in Europe and Asia.

Unlike previous studies, in which Asia is meeasured by European standards, Prudence and Pressure develops a Eurasian perspective. Drawing on rich new data and the tools of event-history analysis,the authors challenge the accepted Eurocentric Malthusian view that attributes "prudence" (smaller families due to late marriage) to the preindustrial West and "pressure" (high mortality due to overpopulation) to the East, showing instead important similarities between Europe and Asia in human motivation and population behavior. The authors analyze age, gender, family and household, kinship, social class and power, religion, culture, and economic resources in order to compare reproductive strategies and outcomes. They reveal underlying similarities between East and West in two major components of the reproductive regime—marriage and childbearing—and offer evidence showing that preindustrial reproduction was motivated and governed by human agency at least as much as by human biology. Prudence and Pressure is part of a large-scale interdisciplinary effort to use new data and methods to re-examine the Malthusian paradigm of population growth. It represents a significant advance in the fields of historical demography, history, and sociology.

Simplicity and complexity / James Z. Lee, Tommy Bengtsson, Cameron Campbell Previous paradigms and new models / James Z. Lee, Wang Feng, Noriko O. Tsuya Reproduction : models and sources / Noriko O. Tsuya, Cameron Campbell, Wang Feng Household organization, coresident kin, and reproduction / Wang Feng ... [et al.] Economic stress and reproductive responses / Tommy Bengtsson and Martin Dribe Child control as a reproductive strategy / Renzo Derosas and Noriko O. Tsuya Agency, social class, and fertility in southern Sweden, 1766-1865 / Tommy Bengtsson and Martin Dribe Economic change and differential fertility in rural eastern Belgium, 1812-1875 / George Alter, Muriel Neven, Michel Oris Patterns of reproductive behavior in preindustrial Italy : Casalguidi 1819-1859 and Venice 1850-1869 / Marco Breschi ... [et al.] Family, household, and reproduction in two northeastern Japanese villages, 1716-1870 / Noriko O. Tsuya and Satomi Kurosu Agency, hierarchies, and reproduction in northeastern China, 1789-1840 / Wang Feng, Cameron Campbell, James Z. Lee Differences and similarities : towards a comparative historical social science / James Z. Lee, Wang Feng, Noriko O. Tsuya.