The Social Meaning of Children and Fertility Change in Europe (Electronic book text)

Low fertility in Europe has given rise to the notion of a OCyfertility crisisOCO. This book shifts the attention from fertility decline to why people "do "have children, asking what children mean to them. It investigates what role children play in how young adults plan their lives, and why and how young adults make the choices they do.

The book aims to expand our comprehension of the complex structures and cultures that influence reproductive choice, and explores three key aspects of fertility choices:

• the processes towards having (or not having) children, and how they are underpinned by negotiations and ambivalences
• how family policies, labour markets and personal relations interact in young adultsOCO fertility choices
• social differentiation in fertility choice: how fertility rationales and reasoning may differ among women and men, and across social classes

Based on empirical studies from six nations OCo France, Scandinavia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Italy (representing the high and low end of European variation in fertility rates) OCo the book shows how different economic, political and cultural contexts interact" "in young adults' fertility rationales. It will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology, anthropology, demography and gender studies."