ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on changes in the family’s reproductive patterns. Conventional wisdom suggests the existence of some constants associated with fertility decline. The chapter suggests a framework for the study of reproductive behaviour at both the familial and the individual levels in contemporary Europe. Within the framework thus far described, the process demanding most attention is the impact of changes in modes of production on fertility strategies, that is the impact of transition from agricultural, artisan and cottage-industry based on familial and labour-intensive modes of production to a capitalistic one based on a free and monetised labour market. At any rate, the actual reproductive outcomes that follow from the contradictions of women’s present situation depend on the specific circumstances of family life, on the values that both partners attach to maternity and paternity, and perhaps even more on a complex set of factors which lead again to the wider social context.
