The influence of popular beliefs about childbirth on fertility patterns in mid-twentieth-century Netherlands

Abstract: "Ever since the Princeton European Fertility Project on the decline of fertility, the question of how (changes in) cultural beliefs have influenced the historical fertility transition has been in the forefront of historical demographic research. Previous research has however mostly assessed the influence of religious denomination and has not examined the impact of wider beliefs or 'cultural life scripts'. On the basis of a folklore questionnaire, this article examines the occurrence, content, and geographical patterning of popular beliefs about childbearing in relation to fertility patterns in 1.022 rural Dutch communities during the nineteen forties. Beliefs in isolation and churching of women existed in almost half of all communities, particularly among Catholic populations, while fear of enchantment of infants was still alive in about a fifth of all municipalities. To be sure, such popular beliefs were rapidly vanishing and remnants were still found in isolated and strongly reli

Object Details

• Alternative title: Der Volksglauben über Geburten als Einflussfaktor auf Fruchtbarkeitsmuster in den Niederlanden Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts
• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: The influence of popular beliefs about childbirth on fertility patterns in mid-twentieth-century Netherlands ; volume:39 ; number:1 ; year:2014 ; pages:76-103 ; Veröffentlichungsversion ; begutachtet (peer reviewed) ; Historical social research ; 39, Heft 1 (2014), 76-103

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Sozialwissenschaften, Soziologie, Anthropologie ; Geschichte

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Bras, Hilde

Further information

• DOI: 10.12759/hsr.39.2014.1.76-103
• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-383866
• Rights: Open Access; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 14.08.2025, 10:56 AM CEST