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Reproduction and Human Development (Miller Chapter 4)

Reproduction and Human Development (Miller Chapter 4). The BIG Questions. How are modes of reproduction related to modes of production? How does culture shape fertility in different contexts? How does culture shape personality and human development over the life cycle?.

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Reproduction and Human Development (Miller Chapter 4)

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  1. Reproduction and Human Development(Miller Chapter 4)

  2. The BIG Questions • How are modes of reproduction related to modes of production? • How does culture shape fertility in different contexts? • How does culture shape personality and human development over the life cycle?

  3. Modes of Reproduction • A mode of reproduction is the predominant pattern of fertility in a culture (p. 80). • Fertility is the number of children a woman bears, or the rate of population growth.

  4. Three Modes of Reproduction • There are three major modes of reproduction which correlate with several of the modes of production • The foraging mode of reproduction • The agricultural mode of reproduction • The industrial/informatics mode of reproduction

  5. Foraging Mode of Reproduction • Common among those with a foraging mode of production • Moderate birth and death rates • Average of about 2 children per woman survive to adulthood • Value of children: moderate (labor value) • Children do not do much work

  6. Foraging Mode of Reproduction • Indirect means of fertility control: diet, breastfeeding, work/exercise, spontaneous abortion • Low body fat due to low fat diet and lots of exercise – suppresses ovulation – fewer children • Long length of breastfeeding – suppresses ovulation – fewer children

  7. Agricultural Mode of Reproduction • Common among societies with an agricultural, horticultural, and pastoralist mode of production • High birth rates, moderate/low death rates • Average between 2 and 8 children per woman

  8. Agricultural Mode of Reproduction • Value of children: high (labor value) • Need for children to work the land, care for animals, process foods, etc. • Pronatalism – an ideology promoting many children (p. 80) • Increased reliance on direct means of birth control • Increasing specialization: midwives, herbalists

  9. Industrial/Informatics Mode of Reproduction • Common in societies with an industrial/informatics mode of production • Stable or declining population • Either replacement level fertility in which the number of births equals the number of deaths, leading to maintenance of current population size • Or below-replacement level fertility in which the number of births is less than the number of deaths, leading to population decline

  10. Industrial/Informatics Mode of Reproduction • Low fertility and moderate/low mortality • Leading to aging population in many industrialized nations • Value of children: mixed or low (labor) • Cost of raising children: high • Highly developed professional specializations • Mandatory formal schooling for children • Parents have fewer children and invest more resources in them

  11. Industrial/Informatics Mode of Reproduction • Social inequality is reflected in population patterns – stratified reproduction • Middle- and upper-class people – few children with high survival rates • Lower-class – higher fertility and higher mortality rates • Government policies may promote births in the “native” population while discouraging births in the non-native population • e.g. France • Increasing specialization and involvement in the scientific and medical community of all aspects of pregnancy and birth

  12. Changes in the Population of Japan

  13. Culture and Fertility Culture affects: • Sexual intercourse • Frequency and timing of sexual intercourse • Fertility control • Why and when to have a child

  14. Culture Shapes Reproduction at Several Levels • when to start having sex • how many children to have • when to stop having sex and children Cultural guidelines… Government policies… International organizations…

  15. Fertility Decision Making • At the family level • At the state level • At the global level

  16. Fertility Decision Making • At the family level • 4 factors are most important in affecting the desire for children • Children’s labor value • High – higher fertility rates • Children’s value as old-age support for parents • High – higher fertility rates • Infant and child mortality rates • High – higher fertility rates • Economic costs of children • High – lower fertility rates

  17. Fertility Decision Making • At the family level • Desire for children may differ based on the parent • Families may prefer sons, daughters, or a combination of both, often depending upon the culture and the gender division of labor

  18. Fertility Decision Making • At the state level • State governments formulate policies that affect rates of population growth within their boundaries • Vary from being pronatalist (favoring many births) • To antinatalist (opposed to many births)

  19. Fertility Decision Making • At the state level • Factors that affect government policies include… • Projected jobs and employment levels • Public services • Maintaining the tax base • Filling the ranks of the military • Maintaining ethnic and regional proportions • Dealing with population aging

  20. Fertility Decision Making • At the global level • Global corporations such as pharmaceutical companies and religious leaders influence country-level and family-level decision making

  21. Fertility Control • People in all cultures since prehistory have had ways of influencing fertility • Methods to increase fertility • Methods to reduce fertility • Methods to regulate its spacing • Even among non-industrial cultures • Research in Afghanistan in the 1980s found over 500 fertility-regulating techniques in just one region!

  22. Fertility Control • Direct methods • Taking medicines or herbs that induce abortion, act as contraceptives, or increase fertility • Cross-culturally, often the women who possess the most information about these methods • Indirect methods • e.g. Long periods of breast feeding to reduce the chances of conception

  23. Fertility Control • Induced abortion • A review of 400 societies found that induced abortion was practiced in virtually all of them • Attitudes towards abortion very greatly • Methods vary widely

  24. Fertility Control • Induced abortion • Reasons to induce abortion • Economic reasons • Mobility • Poverty • Cultural reasons • “Illegitimate” child • Social penalties for bearing an illegitimate child are often motivations for abortion

  25. Fertility Control • Induced abortion • Governments intervene in family decisions to regulate access to abortion, either promoting it or forbidding it • U.S. • Abortion legally allowed but the issue is often still hotly contested • China • One-Child per-Couple Policy started in 1978 • Often forced abortions and sterilizations • Increase in female infanticide because of cultural preference for sons • Brazil • Predominantly Catholic country • Outlawed abortion • Still intense poverty, so in practice 1/3 of women had abortions

  26. Fertility Control • New Reproductive Technologies • In vitro fertilization (IVF) • Often used among middle- and upper-class couples in the U.S. who cannot have children the “natural” way • Meanings depend on cultural context • In Greece it seen as “natural” because it allows women to realize a key aspect of their feminine nature through pregnancy and birth

  27. Fertility Control • Infanticide • Infanticide is the deliberate killing of offspring • Practiced cross-culturally, but is rarely a frequent practice within a culture • Direct infanticide • Death of an infant or child resulting from actions such as beating, smothering, poisoning, or drowning • Indirect infanticide • A more subtle process, may involve prolonged practices such as food deprivation, failure to take a sick infant to a clinic, or failure to provide warm clothing in winter

  28. Fertility Control • Infanticide • Motives include… • Having a “deformed,” very sick, or very ill child • Sex of the infant • Unwed mother – “illegitimate” child • Too many children in the family • Poverty • Can occur as a perceived necessity (creating “angel babies”) rather than as a result of cruelty

  29. The killing of an offspring • poverty • due to child deformity or sickness • if child does not meet family expectations Direct or indirect Infanticide as “Family Planning”

  30. Personality and Culture • Personality is an individual’s patterned and characteristic way of behaving, thinking, and feeling (p.88) • Formed largely through enculturation • The process by which culture is passed from one generation to the next and through which individuals become members of their society • Also a genetic component to personality

  31. Personality and Culture • Psychological anthropology is the study of the interactions between culture and personality

  32. Personality and the Life Cycle • Birth and infancy • Childhood • Adolescence • Adulthood

  33. Birth and Infancy • The cultural context of birth affects an infant’s psychological development • There are a variety of different cultural practices that occur at birth which are considered essential for the baby’s physical and psychological welfare

  34. Birth and Infancy • Often times will have conflicting views about what practices are essential between cultures • Often requires someone to act as a cultural broker – someone who is familiar with the practices and beliefs of two different cultures and can promote cross-cultural understanding to prevent or mediate conflicts

  35. Birth and Infancy • Pre-birth • Babies may also begin to be enculturated when a child is in the womb • Birth • Members of the household play the key role in enculturating the newborn • Infant begins to develop a sense of self-awareness • About 2 years old in industrialized and post-industrial societies • A bit sooner in foraging societies

  36. Birth and Infancy • Bonding • Different cultures believe in different times and ways of bonding with children • U.S. • Believe that should start bonding with baby at birth • Adaptive in low-mortality/low-fertility societies • Brazil • Bonding occurs several years after birth • Adaptive in high-mortality/high-fertility societies

  37. Birth and Infancy • Naming • Personal names are important devices of self-definition in all cultures. Without a name an individual has no self, no identity • It is through naming that a social group acknowledges a child’s birthright and establishes it’s social identity • Naming varies cross culturally

  38. Birth and Infancy • Oriented with surrounding world • Object orientation • Spatial orientation • Temporal orientation • Normative orientation

  39. Infancy and Identity • Sex and Gender in Infancy • Sex is something that everybody is born with • Has three biological markers: genitals, hormones, and chromosomes • Either male or female • Gender is a cultural construction and is highly variable across cultures • Learned behaviors and ideas attributed to males, females, or third genders • Children are taught their gender roles beginning in infancy • Does not necessarily correlate to biological characteristics (sex)

  40. Gender and Identity • Gender identity is influenced both by biology and culture • Many individuals born with XX (biological female) or XY (biological male) • Can choose to be culturally male, female, or a third gender • Some individuals are born as intersexuals (about 1 percent of humans – over 60 million individuals worldwide) • People who are born with reproductive organs, genitalia, and/or sex chromosomes that are not exclusively male or female • Hermaphrodite – has both testicular and ovarian tissue • Can choose or may be forced to be culturally male, female, or a third gender

  41. Gender and Identity • http://www.thestar.com/sports/article/693942 • “Runner has male and female sex organs” • Caster Semenya of South Africa

  42. Gender and Identity • Gender identities can be fluid • Individuals might change their gender at different points in their lives • Transgenders are people who cross over or occupy a culturally accepted position in the binary male-female gender construction • Berdache in some native North American groups • Amazon – a woman who takes on male roles and behaviors • Hijra in India • Fa’afafines in Samoa • Sambia people of New Guinea

  43. Gender and Identity • Intersexual, transgendered, and/or homosexual individuals in U.S. • Transgendered individuals in the may be stigmatized or revered and well respected depending on the cultural context

  44. Gender and Identity Gender identity and sexual orientation is determined by a mix of genetic and cultural factors Gender pluralism – the existence within a culture of multiple categories of femininity, masculinity and androgyny that are tolerated and legitimate “Third genders” – some cultures permit the expression of varied forms of sexual orientation: for example, the berdache

  45. Childhood and Personality • Cross-cultural studies have shown two general patterns of child rearing (opposite ends of a spectrum) • nurturant-responsible • dependent-dominant

  46. Childhood and Personality • Nurturant-responsible child rearing • Emphasizes caring and sharing acts toward other children • Socializes children to think of themselves in terms of the larger whole • Prominent in areas where extended families raise children and where decisions are made collectively • In foraging, egalitarian societies • In horticultural societies • In pastoral societies

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