ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of its major elements, particularly in the West, and considers its implications for the comparative analysis of parenthood and child development. The social changes have undermined the agrarian conceptions of the life span described in the previous chapter, particularly the centrality of fertility and filial loyalty in the social identities of men and women. In contrast with agrarian values, the cultures of industrialized countries, particularly their middle-class subcultures, tend to value parent-child relationships which provide unilateral support economic, emotional and social-from parents to their children, with parents not expected to receive anything tangible in return. In the industrial countries, Japan and Taiwan, the proportion of urban middle-class respondents mentioning the economic utility of children is virtually identical to the more educated white mothers in the United States, despite differences in culture. The chapter explores the shift from agrarian to urban-industrial institutions, the demographic transition, mass schooling, and the rise of a public interest in children.
