Women's Power and Social Revolution : Fertility Transition in the West Indies

In this provocative volume, Handwerker advances the thesis that the key factor in revolutionary social change accompanying industrialization is the change in women's power relationships with their family. An expression of this change is the transition from high to low fertility rates. This thesis goes a long way to reconciling such diverse thinkers in economic and social development as Adam Smith, Darwin and Marx. The author draws upon ethnographic, demographic and survey research on Barbados where industrial revolution and fertility transformation has occured quickly and recently. He compares his West Indian data with cases from the modern Third World and from England's own industrial revolution. Handwerker challenges many of the tenets of Third World modernization theory and fertility planning policy and suggests that providing women with resources through education and employment may be the best method of fostering modernization and avoiding world overpopulation.Handwerker, W. Penn is the author of 'Women's Power and Social Revolution : Fertility Transition in the West Indies', published 1989 under ISBN 9780803931152 and ISBN 0803931158.