SEX ROLES, LIFE STYLES, AND CHILDBEARING: Changing Patterns in Marriage and the Family

by John H. Scanzoni ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 1975

Persons who hold more modern, egalitarian sex-role norms do indeed behave in such a way as to have small families."" This conclusion follows a study of 3100 couples in ten industrial cities sponsored by the Center for Population Studies. If that doesn't make you choke with surprise on your Ovral, neither will Scanzoni's eighteen propositions toward a ""model"" of ""fertility control."" These include such statements as, ""The higher the education, the greater the sex role modernity"" (i.e., the fewer the children) and ""The greater the sex role modernity, the more likely married women are to be currently employed full time. This holds mostly for white non-Catholics and blacks."" Or ""The greater the education and the greater the sex role modernity and the later the age of marriage, the more likely wives are to work full time prior to any children."" Scanzoni solemnly suggests that reduction of the number of children must depend on the ""reward-alternative"" system which grants ""individualistic gratifications"" or ""socioeconomic benefits"" to the parents. The continuation of scarcity and the necessity of ""population control"" are simply assumed, while the embarrassingly obvious empirical conclusions are produced with maximum natal trauma--and produced over and over again with restatements and summaries. Anybody remember Corey Ford's 1922 burlesque, ""The Norris Plan,"" which proposed birth control for books?

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Free Press/Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1975

Categories: NONFICTION