The Role of Secularization on Marriage and Conception Seasonality Patterns

The period comprising the second half of the nineteenth and the early twentieth century in Belgium has been described as one of rapid societal transformation including industrialization, urbanization, and, also in some extent, secularization. This is the historical period in which first mortality and later fertility also declined, facilitated by socio-economic (structural) and cultural changes, and resulting in the first demographic transition. One of the characteristics of the secularization marking this period is considered to be the reduced compliance with religious rules concerning the timing of marriages and sexual intercourse (i.e., conceptions). Against this background, the purpose of this article is twofold. It first assesses the initial extent and evolution of church control in the rapidly developing port city of Antwerp, Flanders (Belgium), in the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This will be studied through a so-called daily Lent and Advent marriage and conception index. By daily, we mean that we exactly measure the timing of Advent and Lent. We secondly try to explain the determinants of the occurrence of these marriages and conceptions through individual socio-economic, cultural, and life-course factors. We use data from the unique multisource COR* historical sample, containing individual information from population registers and civil registration records (1845–1913). We find clear signs of decreasing compliance with religious rules and therefore secularization but different patterns for marriages and conceptions. Even though compliance overall decreases for both events, rules are better complied with for marriages, and in particular, first marriages. Marriages are more influenced by social control than for sexual intercourse (i.e., conceptions). The influence of stronger compliance with marriage seasonality is observed through better adherence with first conceptions, although this is in much less extent for higher-order conceptions. The occurrence of these events, in particular marriages, is determined by a number of structural, cultural, and life-course factors. Noncompliances are found more in an urban setting, older women, and later historical periods, whereas compliance is found in high social class of men. For conceptions, relatively few (significant) effects are observed, although noncompliance for maternal literacy status and compliance for paternal social class is also found indicating gender differential effects.

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Social Class and Wellbeing among Staff and Students in Higher Education Settings: Mapping the Problem and Exploring Underlying Mechanisms

10.31234/osf.io/f7wmt ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Isla Dougall ◽

Mario Weick ◽

Milica Vasiljevic

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Social Class ◽

Social Factors ◽

Unique Contribution ◽

Staff Members ◽

Class Differences ◽

High Social Class ◽

Lower Social Class ◽

Underlying Mechanisms ◽

The Relationship

Within Higher Education (HE), lower social class staff and students often experience poorer wellbeing than their higher social class counterparts. Previous research conducted outside educational contexts has linked social class differences in wellbeing with differences in the extent to which low and high social class individuals feel respected (i.e., status), in control (i.e., autonomy), and connected with others (i.e., inclusion). However, to our knowledge, there has been no research that has investigated these factors within HE settings. Furthermore, inclusion, status and autonomy are correlated, yet little is known about how these factors contribute to wellbeing simultaneously, and independently, of one another. To fill these gaps, we report the results of two studies; firstly with HE students (Study 1; N = 305), and secondly with HE staff (Study 2; N = 261). Consistently across studies, reports of poor wellbeing were relatively common and more than twice as prevalent amongst lower social class staff and students compared to higher social class staff and students. Inclusion, status and autonomy each made a unique contribution and accounted for the relationship between social class and wellbeing (fully amongst students, and partially amongst staff members). These relationships held across various operationalisations of social class and when examining a range of facets of wellbeing. Social class along with inclusion, status and autonomy explained a substantial 40% of the variance in wellbeing. The present research contributes to the literature exploring how social class intersects with social factors to impact the wellbeing of staff and students within HE.

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“They Live in Indifference Together”: Marriage Mobility in Zeeland, The Netherlands, 1796–1922

International Review of Social History ◽

10.1017/s0020859005002130 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 50 (S13) ◽

pp. 247-274 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Hilde Bras ◽

Jan Kok

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Social Class ◽

The Netherlands ◽

Life Course ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Personal Relationships ◽

Mixed Marriage ◽

Government Report ◽

Logistic Regressions ◽

The Life Course

This article investigates developments in and antecedents of socially mixed marriage in the rural Dutch province of Zeeland during the long nineteenth century, taking individual and family histories, community contexts, and temporal influences into account. A government report of the 1850s said of Zeeland that farmers and workers lived “in indifference together”. However, our analysis of about 163,000 marriage certificates reveals that 30 to 40 per cent of these rural inhabitants continued to marry outside their original social class. Multivariate logistic regressions show that heterogamous marriages can be explained first and foremost by the life-course experiences of grooms and brides prior to marriage. Previous transitions in their occupational careers (especially to non-rural occupations for grooms, and to service for brides), in their migration trajectories (particularly moves to urban areas), and changes in the sphere of personal relationships (entering widowhood, ageing) are crucial in understanding marriage mobility.

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Changing Generations, Changing Consumers and Transformation of Advertising Narrative

Advances in Marketing, Customer Relationship Management, and E-Services - Handbook of Research on Narrative Advertising ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-9790-2.ch012 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 130-140

Author(s):

Elif Ulker-Demirel

Keyword(s):

Social Structure ◽

Reference Point ◽

Social Dynamics ◽

The Internet ◽

Historical Period ◽

Communication Tools ◽

Cultural Changes ◽

Social Transformations ◽

The Social ◽

The Right

Socio-economic, political, and socio-cultural changes that occur in specific periods over the years cause changes in social dynamics and social transformations. Generations, who are living in the same historical period and are expected to have similar consumption and lifestyle habits, are now a reference point for the companies and brands to correctly identify target consumers and choose the right communication tools. At this point, the changing technology has influenced the social structure, people and the way companies do business. Besides, the development and diversification of the means of communication by the influence of the internet technologies have caused the differentiation of the consumption behaviors and changed the connections and the ways of reaching the information. In the frame of these changes, the primary purpose is to examine consumption habits in the context of changing lifestyles and priorities of people with the effect of social transformations, as well as to explain the transformation of these changes regarding businesses, brands and communication tools.

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Social class and inequality in later life

Social Divisions and Later Life ◽

10.1332/policypress/9781447338598.003.0002 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 19-40

Author(s):

Chris Gilleard ◽

Paul Higgs

Keyword(s):

Social Class ◽

Life Course ◽

Working Life ◽

Later Life ◽

Cumulative Advantage ◽

Social Gerontology ◽

The Life Course

This chapter begins with a consideration of models and theories concerning social class. It focuses upon the distinctions between relational and gradational models of class. It then explores how these different models seem to be articulated in later life and the model of cumulative advantage and disadvantage employed in much social gerontology. Following from such considerations, it explores both the connections and the disjunctions that exists between working and post working life. The chapter concludes with a consideration of how consumption and consumerism have grown in significance as markers of distinction and determinants of difference, not just in later life but throughout the life course.

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Independence and relationality in notions of adulthood across generations, gender and social class

The Sociological Review ◽

10.1177/0038026120931425 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 003802612093142

Author(s):

Ann Nilsen

Keyword(s):

Social Class ◽

Life Course ◽

Transition Period ◽

Gender Expectations ◽

The Core ◽

Biographical Approach ◽

Provider Role ◽

Historical Periods ◽

Primary Carer ◽

Case Based

The adult person is in sociological literature often referred to as a genderless and classless being. As a life course phase it is implicitly viewed as a static destination after a dynamic transition period of youth. The aim of this article is to empirically examine perceptions of adulthood in biographical interviews in three-generation Norwegian families. A case-based biographical approach related to gender and social class across historical periods is at the core of the analysis. Thoughts on independence and the Mead-inspired concept of relationality are used as sensitising concepts to examine general ideals and personal considerations in notions of adulthood. The analyses indicate variations over historical periods, generations and life course phases wherein relationality or independence become significant. Relationality may take on different meanings with reference to period-specific gender expectations such as the male provider role and women as the primary carer in families in the oldest generations. Ideals of individual independence as choice or necessity vary according to life course phase, social class and period-specific conditions.

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