The primary reason that deep analysis is close to non-existent is that fertility is coded as a right-wing issue, and discussing the decline is unacceptable in today's academic social sciences.
"You want to force women to be baby-making machines", and more vitriolic rhetoric, and loss of tenure, is what happens when someone raises the issue.
I think of this as one of Iain Banks's "Outside Context Problems", something that our society cannot (allow itself to) understand or even see, so it cannot begin to solve it.
I’m very left-leaning and so is almost everyone I know, but we’re aware of the problem and concerned about the implications.
The right wing so far hasn’t provided any solutions.
I have one child. I would prefer to have two, but I can’t afford it. For reference: my income is in the top 2% for my country and the top 5% in the affluent part of the largest city. I literally cannot afford to buy a house big enough for a growing family unless my partner also works full time. That’s nuts.
The solution is to make parenthood high prestige, higher than doctor or lawyer or CEO or rapper or billionaire. Then everyone will want to do it.
A pity that despite a hundred years of marketing we are clueless about how to do that.
There are 'hygiene' actions like getting rid of credentialism, so lowering the perceived-to-be-required investment in each child, and decreasing density (which inversely correlates with number of children independently of other factors, and giving people an optimistic life plan and expectation, and changing marriage/partnering back from being a capstone (something you do once you are established) to being a cornerstone (something you do at the start of adulthood, to build your lives on).
But ultimately it's about the social prestige. Try saying "she's a soccer mom" in tones of awe and respect, out in public, and watch the funny looks you get.
Comments
The primary reason that deep analysis is close to non-existent is that fertility is coded as a right-wing issue, and discussing the decline is unacceptable in today's academic social sciences.
"You want to force women to be baby-making machines", and more vitriolic rhetoric, and loss of tenure, is what happens when someone raises the issue.
I think of this as one of Iain Banks's "Outside Context Problems", something that our society cannot (allow itself to) understand or even see, so it cannot begin to solve it.
I’m very left-leaning and so is almost everyone I know, but we’re aware of the problem and concerned about the implications.
The right wing so far hasn’t provided any solutions.
I have one child. I would prefer to have two, but I can’t afford it. For reference: my income is in the top 2% for my country and the top 5% in the affluent part of the largest city. I literally cannot afford to buy a house big enough for a growing family unless my partner also works full time. That’s nuts.
Seems about right for most OECD countries.
To have kids you need a large enough house and ample financial security / schools / daycare etc.
Doesn’t make sense to have kids when both parents have to work full time to barely make it.
No one has any solutions.
The solution is to make parenthood high prestige, higher than doctor or lawyer or CEO or rapper or billionaire. Then everyone will want to do it.
A pity that despite a hundred years of marketing we are clueless about how to do that.
There are 'hygiene' actions like getting rid of credentialism, so lowering the perceived-to-be-required investment in each child, and decreasing density (which inversely correlates with number of children independently of other factors, and giving people an optimistic life plan and expectation, and changing marriage/partnering back from being a capstone (something you do once you are established) to being a cornerstone (something you do at the start of adulthood, to build your lives on).
But ultimately it's about the social prestige. Try saying "she's a soccer mom" in tones of awe and respect, out in public, and watch the funny looks you get.