Society and family strategy : Erie County, New York, 1850-1920

Using one of the largest quantitative data bases ever compiled on a single representative community, Stern explains and substantiates the reasons for the decline of the fertility rate during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He integrates demographic and social history to determine the implications of this aspect of the modernization of America. Society and Family Strategy describes the impact of capitalism, and changing class and ethnic structure on family economy, life cycle, and ideology. The author evaluates recent studies by social historians on the family, social class, and ethnicity in light of the Erie County experience, examines theories of social and cultural change, and proposes a non-evolutionary model of their relationship.Mark J. Stern is Associate Professor of Social Welfare and History at the University of Pennsylvania. "Using one of the largest quantitative data bases ever compiled on a single representative community, Stern explains and substantiates the reasons for the decline of the fertility rate during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He integrates demographic and social history to determine the implications of this aspect of the modernization of America. Society and Family Strategy describes the impact of capitalism, and changing class and ethnic structure on family economy, life cycle, and ideology. The author evaluates recent studies by social historians on the family, social class, and ethnicity in light of the Erie County experience, examines theories of social and cultural change, and proposes a non-evolutionary model of their relationship."--pub. desc Explaining the decline in fertility -- Economic and social development of Buffalo, 1850-1920 -- Differential fertility in Erie County : occupation and ethnicity -- Schooling and fertility in Erie County -- Rural fertility in Erie County -- Conclusion : fertility and social history. Mark J. Stern. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 157-167.