Reproduction and Human Development (Miller Chapter 4)

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

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

15. 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…

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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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)

20. 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

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

22. 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!

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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”

31. 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

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

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

34. 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

35. 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

36. 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

39. 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

40. 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

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

42. 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)

43. 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

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

45. 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

46. 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

48. 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

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

50. 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