Volume VII, Issue 2, 2013
Abstract
The lands under the Russian sector were characterized by the lowest standards of statistics. A researcher of the populations inhabiting the areas under the Russian rule is confronted with the following dilemma: whether to abandon study on the demographic dynamics of this area or, alternatively, to assess the lack of registrations, attempt to correct them, and then make an analysis based on the corrected number of events. In this paper, based on the recorded and the corrected number of events the infant death rate, a perinatal death rate were calculated, and life table constructed. The mortality figures calculated based on the corrected number of deceased children are within the limits for the values of these measures for historical Poland.
Keywords
infant death rates, perinatal mortality, stillbirths, life expectancy, actual number of events, corrected number of events.
Abstract
The present study examines marriage behaviour, household patterns and living arrangements prevailing in the population of two Transylvanian mountain communities in the second half of the 19th Century. The cross-sectional data of two Status Animarum (lists of souls) from 1868 show that the prevailing pattern can be characterized by a low age at marriage and the dominance of simple family households. Using a life course perspective, the synthetic cohort analysis, however, revealed that the size and structure of peasant households varied over the family life cycle, and a complex phase of households was common in these regions too. Servants lived seldom in the households but it was quite common during the first 10-15 years of family life cycle that stem and other kins (usually the heads siblings) helped to cover the households labour-force demand. As the number of children increased the inclination and perhaps the capability of maintaining other kins decreased. The study confirmed the validity of Chayanovs model. The living standard of the households expressed by the producerconsumer ratio followed the same cyclical pattern over the family life course as in the Russian case.
Keywords
household structure, family structure, individual life-cycle, family life cycle, historical demography, Transylvania, Chayanov model
Abstract
In the aftermath of First World War, waged between 1914 and 1918, terrible loss and enormous casualties, massive destruction were followed by drastic social, economic, and cultural mutations, as well as significant changes in the international relations. Transylvania, a province now located in the central part of Romania, also endured the devastations of the Great War, whose ruin, desolation, and tragedies could be seen everywhere. The present research aims at investigating the impact of the four years of armed conflict on the demographic behaviour of the people in rural Transylvania.
As many of the complex issues caused by war also affected rural households, we conducted an explorative case study on the families of Budeşti village (Bistriţa Năsăud County). The available sources, preserved in Bistriţa-Năsăud Record Office of the National Archives (Collection of Civil Registries; Collection of Ethnic Group Registries of Năsăud County; Budeşti Greek-Catholic Parish Registry, Nominal Census) and in the archives of Budeşti Village Hall (Civil Registry), enabled us to understand the demographic impact of the war, and the way in which the family and people of the Transylvanian village responded to the difficult challenges of the age.
Keywords
First World War, Transylvania, Budeşti, demographic impact, family
Abstract
The paper investigates the period between the collapse of the Third Reich and the break through of the Historical Social Science (Historische Sozialwissenschaft) in the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1970s. I suggest that this phase assigned a decisive transformation process, in which West German social historians strived for their reintegration in West European and North American historiographical discourse. Closely linked to this overall epistemic change, historiographical population research in West Germany sought to gain new ground. While the established Population History stood for the macroanalytical and to some extent organic traditions of German Sociology, demography in general and particularly Historical Demography seemingly referred to the liberal-statistical Western conceptualization of social structure. In the early Federal Republic, however, historical population research was thoroughly burdened by its völkisch legacy. As it is shown in the present paper, this was one of the main reasons for its low acceptance in historiographical discourse. Even though, the 1950s and 1960s cannot be viewed as blind spots in the development of historical population research in Germany: On the contrary, historians such as Erich Keyser and especially Wolfgang Köllmann debated controversially, how Population History should change its methodological approaches. Not least, both of them sought to resume and partly to intensify scientific contacts to their West European colleagues. By accentuating the latter, the paper goes clearly beyond the present historical research on German Population History: The key question linked up with it is, to which degree transnational scientific cooperation of German, English, and French historians remodeled Population History and even created new ground for Historical Demography within German Historical Social Science.
Keywords
Historical Demography, Population History, West Germany, Ortssippenbücher, German sociology, Erich Keyser, Wolfgang Köllmann, D. E. C. Eversley, Arthur E. Imhof.
Abstract
The current study is concerned with the Romanian social structure seen through a new conceptualization of the Romanian social classes. Using the data from the STRATSOC 2010 research project, I introduce a new class schema, adapted to present post-communist social context. In other words, the purpose of this work is to understand which are the social classes that are best suited to present the current Romanian context and which the criteria that can be used in constructing these social classes. For these reasons, my research is a methodological contribution to the complex and dynamic field of social
stratification studies. As an outcome, using a transparent set of criteria, I create a new analytical tool comparable to similar international tools: that is a class schema -based on occupations-calibrated to capture the differences between social classes and to present the stratification order in post-socialist Romania.
Keywords
Social class, class schema, social stratification
Abstract
This paper compares Romanian and French statistics regarding the presence of Romanians in migration flows and stocks in France, from January 1990 to January 2007. On the Romanian side, emigration flows are mainly informed, according to a specific definition however. On the French side, previous studies have focused more on admissions to stay and migration stocks in France at different points in time. Paralleling the available data thus allows to better understand this international migration, but also reveals aspects that are not (strictly) comparable and incidentally discusses the criteria used in Romania and France.
Keywords
Statistics, emigration from Romania, immigration in France, migration stocks and flows.
Abstract
This research contributes to a better understanding of fertility behaviour in Kosovo and analyses the determinants that have influence on using contraception. Empirical evidence demonstrates that majority of women in Kosovo have heard about contraceptives, but the level of use is almost the lowest in Europe. To argue this and to make the result of this study understandable, prior to explanation and research methodology (including theory), we elaborate on the fertility evolution in Kosovo. The proposed theoretical framework is based on the behaviour outcome in individual level theory, in particular, the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Herewith, we analyse the association between contraceptive use as behaviour outcome, and determinants that have influence on using them. The research further examines the empirical evidence and focus on variables such as value orientation, on one hand, and external variables, on the other hand. The data used for this research derived from an empirical research study done in the University Hospital Centre in Kosovo with 1,000 women active in reproductive process.
Keywords
fertility level, contraceptive use, influential determinants
Family under Communism]. Cluj-Napoca: Cluj University Press (reviewed byRoxana Dorina Pop)
of farewell: Liber amicorum. Hague: Nederlands Interdisciplinair Demografisch Instituut, Ando (reviewed byPatricia Ioana Şuleap)