Upward mobility and the demand for children: Evidence from China

Upward mobility through the path of higher education has been an article of faith for generations of working-class, low-income, and immigrant college students. While we know this path usually entails financial sacrifices and hard work, very little attention has been paid to the deep personal compromises such students have to make as they enter worlds vastly different from their own. Measuring the true cost of higher education for those from disadvantaged backgrounds, this book looks at the ethical dilemmas of upward mobility—the broken ties with family and friends, the severed connections with former communities, and the loss of identity—faced by students as they strive to earn a successful place in society. The book reframes the college experience, factoring in not just educational and career opportunities but also essential relationships with family, friends, and community. Finding that student strivers tend to give up the latter for the former, negating their sense of self, the book seeks to reverse this course. It urges educators to empower students with a new narrative of upward mobility—one that honestly situates ethical costs in historical, social, and economic contexts and that allows students to make informed decisions for themselves. The book paves a hopeful road so that students might achieve social mobility while retaining their best selves.

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Changes in demand for children between 2003 and 2013 in Nigeria: Evidence from survey data

Population Horizons ◽

10.2478/pophzn-2018-0006 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 16-29

Author(s):

Stella Babalola ◽

Joshua O. Akinyemi ◽

Clifford O. Odimegwu

Keyword(s):

Health Surveys ◽

Contraceptive Use ◽

Religious Affiliation ◽

Large Family ◽

Fertility Rate ◽

Demographic And Health Surveys ◽

High Fertility ◽

Fertility Desire ◽

The North ◽

Demand For Children

Abstract Nigeria has one of the highest fertility rates in Africa. Data from 2013 Demographic and Health Surveys indicate a virtual stagnation of fertility rate since 2003. Low contraceptive use and pronatalist attitudes are among the factors contributing to the high fertility rate in Nigeria. In this manuscript, we pooled data from three most recent waves of Demographic and Health Surveys to examine trends in demand for children over time and identify the factors associated with change in demand for children. The data show that demand for children has declined since 2003 although not monotonically so. Variables that were positively associated with increased likelihood of desiring no additional children were residence in the South-West (as opposed to residence in the North-Central), exposure to family planning (FP) messages on the mass media, number of children ever born, educational level, and urban residence. In contrast, uncertainty about fertility desire was more widespread in 2008 compared to 2013 although less widespread in 2003 than in 2013. The likelihood of being undecided about fertility desire was positively associated with discrepancies in family size desires between husband and wife, parity and Islamic religious affiliation. Programs should aim to increase access to effective contraceptive methods and promote demand for contraceptives as a way of fostering a sustainable reduction in demand for children. Furthermore, strategies that address uncertainty by fostering women’s understanding of the social and health implications of large family sizes are relevant.

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Theodore W. Schultz. The Economics of Being Poor. Oxford: Blackwell. 1993. ix+340 pp.+ Index. Hardbound. £ 40.00.

The Pakistan Development Review ◽

10.30541/v34i1pp.84-85 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 34 (1) ◽

pp. 84-85

Author(s):

Mir Annice Mahmood

Keyword(s):

Economic Policy ◽

Human Capital ◽

Policy Formulation ◽

The Past ◽

The Poor ◽

Logical Sequence ◽

Standards Of Living ◽

Economic Journals ◽

Material Conditions ◽

Demand For Children

Improving the material conditions of the poor has been the main focus of economic policy formulation for the past fifty years or so. Thus, in this connection, a vast body of literature has been published which deals with such issues as identifying the poor and suggesting remedies to alleviate their lot. The book by Theodore W. Schultz deals specifically with the economics of the poor. The book is primarily a collection of articles the author wrote over a fortyyear period (1950-1990), and these have been published previously in a number of leading economic journals. The articles have been grouped under three headings: "Most People Are Poor"; "Investing in Skills and Knowledge"; and "Effects of Human Capital". The articles basically deal with the concept of human capital. There is a logical sequence to the articles that make up this book; the poor are identified and steps are then suggested to improve their standing. Issues such as women's economic emancipation and the demand for children are highlighted in the collection of articles dealing with these two subjects. By investing in themselves through education, the poor raise their level of skills, and thus their level of wages/salaries, allowing them to enjoy higher standards of living.

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Economic Utility and the Demand for Children: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis

Artha Vijnana Journal of The Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics ◽

10.21648/arthavij/1988/v30/i4/116358 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 30 (4) ◽

pp. 421 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

T. Lakshmanaswamy

Keyword(s):

Empirical Analysis ◽

Demand For Children

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Upward Mobility

Faith and Money ◽

10.1017/cbo9781139028547.006 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 136-162

Author(s):

Lisa A. Keister

Keyword(s):

Upward Mobility

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Review of Jennifer M. Morton, Moving Up Without Losing Your Way: The Ethical Costs of Upward Mobility, Studies in Philosophy and Education

Studies in Philosophy and Education ◽

10.1007/s11217-021-09786-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Vikramaditya Joshi

Keyword(s):

Upward Mobility ◽

Mobility Studies

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Deflecting Privilege: Class Identity and the Intergenerational Self

Sociology ◽

10.1177/0038038520982225 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 003803852098222

Author(s):

Sam Friedman ◽

Dave O’Brien ◽

Ian McDonald

Keyword(s):

Middle Class ◽

Working Class ◽

Lived Experience ◽

Long Range ◽

Upward Mobility ◽

Extended Family ◽

Class Identity ◽

Origin Stories ◽

Class Privilege ◽

Privileged Class

Why do people from privileged class backgrounds often misidentify their origins as working class? We address this question by drawing on 175 interviews with those working in professional and managerial occupations, 36 of whom are from middle-class backgrounds but identify as working class or long-range upwardly mobile. Our findings indicate that this misidentification is rooted in a self-understanding built on particular ‘origin stories’ which act to downplay interviewees’ own, fairly privileged, upbringings and instead forge affinities to working-class extended family histories. Yet while this ‘intergenerational self’ partially reflects the lived experience of multigenerational upward mobility, it also acts – we argue – as a means of deflecting and obscuring class privilege. By positioning themselves as ascending from humble origins, we show how these interviewees are able to tell an upward story of career success ‘against the odds’ that simultaneously casts their progression as unusually meritocratically legitimate while erasing the structural privileges that have shaped key moments in their trajectory.

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