Family Size Control by Infanticide in the Great Agrarian Societies of Asia

Caldwell, John C.; Caldwell, Bruce

doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-4498-4_7

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Most notably, these include rules that limit inheritance to only one or a category of heirs as well as rules establishing legitimacy of heirship, an important mechanism to reduce the number of heirs likely to inherit. In fact, research on large premodern state societies such as ancient Rome, Soong China, and Tokugawa Japan suggests that early demographic transitions may have been effected by infanticide and the abandonment of children (e.g., Caldwell and Caldwell 2005;Saller 1994). Such practices are thought to have been more frequent among the aristocracy and landed gentry whose power was partly based on wealth, very often wealth in land, and who were therefore motivated to restrict the number of their heirs.…”

Section: General Discussion and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…While child mortality is often lower among wealthier people (Clark and Hamilton 2006;Milanovic, Lindert, and Williamson 2007;Scott and Duncan 2002), for propertied classes in agricultural societies, a large number of heirs is not always welcome as they may necessitate the division of the property and thus a dilution of social status (e.g., Baker and Miceli 2005;Goody 1990;Goody, Thirsk, and Thompson 1976;Harrell 1997;Saller 1994). While this problem is most commonly dealt with using preferential inheritance rules (see below), sometimes it may result in the limitation of family size through infanticide or other methods (e.g., Caldwell and Caldwell 2005;Dickemann 1984).…”

Section: Wealth and Inequality In Agricultural Societiesmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Relatively egalitarian smallholding systems were common throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa, but large, premodern state societies in Europe and Asia often had systems of land tenure in which large amounts of land were held by small numbers of elites (e.g., Caldwell and Caldwell 2005;Johnson and Earle 2000;Goody 1976;Maddison 1971;Netting 1993;Richards 1993a;Wolf 1966). Even in this regard there was variation, though, from states in which land was considered the direct property of the head of state (e.g., India under the Mughals), and people were temporarily awarded the right to collect rent from it, to states in which landlords owned land directly and had the power to farm it, rent it, or sell it (e.g., premodern England; Boserup 1965;Maddison 1971;Richards 1993a).…”

Section: Status and Inequalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Intergenerational Wealth Transmission among Agriculturalists

Shenk¹,

Mulder²,

Beise³

et al. 2010

Current Anthropology

103

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This paper uses data from eight past and present societies practicing intensive agriculture to measure the transmission of wealth across generations in preindustrial agricultural societies. Focusing on embodied, material, and relational forms of wealth, we compare levels of wealth between parents and children to estimate how effectively wealth is transmitted from one generation to the next and how inequality in one generation impacts inequality in the next generation. We find that material wealth is by far the most important, unequally distributed, and highly transmitted form of wealth in these societies, while embodied and relational forms of wealth show much weaker importance and transmission. We conclude that the unique characteristics of material wealth, and especially wealth in land, are key to the high and persistent levels of inequality seen in societies practicing intensive agriculture. We explore the implications of our findings for the evolution of inequality in the course of human history and suggest that it is the intensification of agriculture and the accompanying transformation of land into a form of heritable wealth that may allow for the social complexity long associated with agricultural societies.

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Section: General Discussion and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Wealth and Inequality In Agricultural Societiesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Status and Inequalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Intergenerational Wealth Transmission among Agriculturalists

Shenk¹,

Mulder²,

Beise³

et al. 2010

Current Anthropology

103

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There is strong evidence from agricultural societies with heritable resources that humans deliberately shape their family sizes, and sex-composition of offspring, to meet compositional goals [5,70]. For example, historical evidence from some regions in Asia document high levels of infanticide, not just of daughters but also sons and higher parity offspring [81]. Agrarian societies are also generally where we see strong evidence of shaming and cultural taboos directed against older women giving birth (see above).…”

Section: Ultimate Explanations For Stopping Reproductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why do women stop reproducing before menopause? A life-history approach to age at last birth

Towner

Nenko

Walton

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Evolutionary biologists have long considered menopause to be a fundamental puzzle in understanding human fertility behaviour, as post-menopausal women are no longer physiologically capable of direct reproduction. Menopause typically occurs between 45 and 55 years of age, but across cultures and history, women often stop reproducing many years before menopause. Unlike age at first reproduction or even birth spacing, a woman nearing the end of her reproductive cycle is able to reflect upon the offspring she already has—their numbers and phenotypic qualities, including sexes. This paper reviews demographic data on age at last birth both across and within societies, and also presents a case study of age at last birth in rural Bangladeshi women. In this Bangladeshi sample, age at last birth preceded age at menopause by an average of 11 years, with marked variation around that mean, even during a period of high fertility. Moreover, age at last birth was not strongly related to age at menopause. Our literature review and case study provide evidence that stopping behaviour needs to be more closely examined as an important part of human reproductive strategies and life-history theory. Menopause may be a final marker of permanent reproductive cessation, but it is only one piece of the evolutionary puzzle.

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“…Studies of India have also emphasized the genderselective nature of practices of infanticide and abortion within specific regions and caste groups (Caldwell & Caldwell, 2005;Guilmoto & Attané, 2007). They have noted the greater incidence of these practices in highercaste groups and have linked them to patterns of hypergamy that necessitate the accumulation of large and sometimes ruinous dowries to provide for (nearly universal) marriage of daughters (Vishwanath, 2007).…”

Section: Practices Of Infanticide In South and East Asiamentioning

confidence: 98%

Why weren't (many) European women ‘missing’?

Lynch

2011

The History of the Family

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In a 1990 article, Amartya Sen observed "More than 100 million Women … Missing" from the populations of parts of south and east Asia. Direct observation and census data suggested that gender ratios deviated sufficiently from what is known to be normal in modern human populations to suggest that the phenomenon was not random. Researchers have explored major proximate causes of "missing" girls and women such as female-selective abortion, routine neglect of young girls in their families including differential access to modern medical care, and even infanticide. This article uses Sen's work and the research of others on Asia to compare with evidence of the disadvantaging or even "mortal neglect" of girls and women in Western European society in the early modern and modern periods -roughly from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. It argues that the current state of the evidence suggests little support for similar gender-specific forms of mortal neglect in Western Europe. It explores why this may have been so, using evidence from economic, social, demographic and religious life.

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Family Size Control by Infanticide in the Great Agrarian Societies of Asia

Cited by 9 publications

References 45 publications

Intergenerational Wealth Transmission among Agriculturalists

Intergenerational Wealth Transmission among Agriculturalists

Why do women stop reproducing before menopause? A life-history approach to age at last birth

Why weren't (many) European women ‘missing’?

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