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Class, Race, and Fertility in the Rural South, 1910 and 1940 1
Author(s) -
Tolnay Stewart E.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
rural sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.083
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1549-0831
pISSN - 0036-0112
DOI - 10.1111/j.1549-0831.1995.tb00565.x
Subject(s) - fertility , race (biology) , social class , demography , marital status , rural area , geography , total fertility rate , socioeconomics , sociology , political science , population , family planning , gender studies , research methodology , law
Rural residents of the American South were among the last in the nation to complete the transition from high to low fertility. Recently created public use samples of the 1910 and 1940 U.S. censuses are used to achieve two objectives. First, class and race differentials in marital fertility among residents of the rural South are described during the era of transition. Second, the change in rural fertility between 1910 and 1940 is examined to assess class‐specific involvement in the rural transition. Significant variation in fertility by social class is observed for blacks in 1910 and 1940. By 1940, significant class differentials emerge for whites, while those for blacks intensify. For both races, farm laborers report the lowest fertility. The analysis of fertility change between 1910 and 1940 reveals participation by all social classes, with farm laborers experiencing the steepest decline.