The value of longevity

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-247
Author(s):  
Greg Bognar
Keyword(s):  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
High Infant Mortality ◽  
Population Mortality ◽  
Harm Of Death

Longevity is valuable. Most of us would agree that it’s bad to die when you could go on living, and death’s badness has to do with the value your life would have if it continued. Most of us would also agree that it’s bad if life expectancy in a country is low, it’s bad if there is high infant mortality and it’s bad if there is a wide mortality gap between different groups in a population. But how can we make such judgments more precise? How should we evaluate the harm of mortality in a population? Although philosophers have written a lot about the harm of death for individuals, very little work has been done on the harm of mortality for populations. In this article, I take the first steps towards developing a theory of the harm of population mortality. Even these first steps, I argue, lead to surprising results.

The Shift from Pro-Fertility Norms to Individual-Choice Norms

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Ronald F. Inglehart
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Behavior ◽  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Individual Choice ◽  
High Infant Mortality ◽  
Major Shift ◽  
The U.S

Secularization is accelerating. From 1981 to 2007, more than two-thirds of the publics for which we have data became more religious, but then a major shift occurred: from 2007 to 2020, more than four-fifths of these publics became less religious. Up to 2007 the U.S. showed little change, but since then it showed the largest shift of any country away from religion and now ranks among the world’s least religious publics. One generally overlooked reason for accelerating secularization is that, for centuries, most religions encouraged pro-fertility norms that limit women to producing as many children as possible and discourage any sexual behavior not linked with reproduction. These norms were needed when facing high infant mortality and low life expectancy but now are rapidly giving way to individual-choice norms supporting gender equality and tolerance of divorce, abortion, and LGBTQ people. Pro-fertility norms are so strongly linked with religion that abandoning them undermines religiosity.

On African Responsibility for Economic Problems

1997 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-53
Author(s):  
Richard E. Mshomba
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Economic Problems ◽  
High Infant Mortality ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Poor Infrastructure

African countries, like many other developing countries, suffer the problems associated with poverty—malnutrition, poor health services, high infant mortality rates, low life expectancy, high illiteracy rates, poor infrastructure, and inadequate technology. These problems are especially severe in Sub-Saharan Africa.

What’s Causing Secularization? Insecurity

2020 ◽  
pp. 63-73
Author(s):  
Ronald F. Inglehart
Keyword(s):  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Strong Predictor ◽  
Religious Attendance ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
Per Capita Gdp ◽  
High Infant Mortality ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Welfare Expenditures

Evolutionary modernization theory holds that both religiosity and pro-fertility norms are linked with existential insecurity, and a massive body of empirical evidence confirms this: secure people and secure countries show the lowest levels of religiosity. Existential security reflects not only a society’s per capita GDP but how evenly it is distributed, making income inequality a strong predictor of religiosity. Similarly, high levels of social welfare expenditures have a strong negative impact on religious attendance. Historic vulnerability to disease also has a persisting impact on religiosity: countries that were vulnerable to disease tend to be relatively poor and have low life expectancy and high infant mortality and high religiosity today. Overall, various indicators of existential security have a strong impact on religiosity, but this impact has a generational delay: the strongest predictor of religiosity around 2018 is the society’s level of infant mortality, not at the time of the survey but almost 40 years earlier, in 1980.

In Search of Affirmed Aboriginality as Christian: “If you do not walk on the tracks of your grandparents, you will get lost . . .”

Exchange ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-43
Author(s):  
Janneke Hut
Keyword(s):  
Substance Abuse ◽  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Contextual Theology ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Colonial Legacy ◽  
High Infant Mortality ◽  
Aboriginal Identity ◽  
Deaths In Custody

Abstract The marginalized position in which the Indigenous peoples of Australia find themselves today is undeniable. Within the tragedy of low life-expectancy, high rates of substance abuse, malnutrition, poor housing, high infant mortality, deaths in custody etc. lies a spiritual crisis. This crisis is aggravated by the circumstance that the loss of the land to the European invaders has caused a loss of Aboriginal identity. In their attempt to recover from this colonial legacy the Aborigines try to re-find their (religious) self-identity and to unite through Aboriginality. In this search for Aboriginal identity through spirituality and faith some Christian theologians explore the possibilities of an Aboriginal contextual theology as a response to this crisis.

scholarly journals РЕКОНСТРУКЦИЯ ФИЗИЧЕСКОГО ТИПА ПОЗДНЕСРЕДНЕВЕКОВЫХ КРЫМСКИХ ТАТАР КЕРЧЕНСКОГО ПОЛУОСТРОВА

2020 ◽  
pp. 269-281
Author(s):  
Светлана Борисовна Боруцкая ◽  
Васильев Сергей Владимирович
Keyword(s):  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Physical Appearance ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Average Life ◽  
Average Life Expectancy ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
High Infant Mortality ◽  
The Face

В статье приводится комплексный палеоантропологический анализ населения, оставившего некрополь Биели (г. Керчь, Республика Крым). Большой интерес эта серия представляет в связи с изучением этногенеза крымских татар. В работе дается краниологическая характеристика позднесредневековых крымских татар. Приводятся реконструкции лица по черепу по методу М.М. Герасимова. Особое внимание уделено реконструированию физического облика данного населения. Выявлены высокая детская смертность и низкий показатель средней продолжительности жизни населения, что говорит о невысоком благополучии в изучаемой группе. The article provides a comprehensive paleoanthropological analysis of the population from the Bieli necropolis (Kerch, Republic of Crimea). This sample is of great interest in connection with the study of the Crimean Tatars ethnogenesis. The work features a craniological characteristic of the late medieval Crimean Tatars and reconstructions of the face based on the skull by the method of M.M. Gerasimov. Particular attention is paid to the reconstruction of the physical appearance of a given population. High infant mortality and a low indicator of the average life expectancy of the population were revealed, which reflects general low well-being in the studied group.

Religion Matters

2020 ◽  
pp. 17-36
Author(s):  
Ronald F. Inglehart
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Subsequent Development ◽  
Security System ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
High Infant Mortality ◽  
Higher Power ◽  
And Coping

Religion became pervasive and enduring because it was conducive to individual and societal survival: it encouraged norms of sharing and charity, which were crucial to survival when there was no social security system, and it supported mental health and coping with insecure conditions by ensuring that a higher power will make things work out—in this life or the next. In virtually every country, religious people are happier than nonbelievers. Religion also inculcated pro-fertility norms, which were linked with societal survival under the conditions of low life expectancy and high infant mortality. Moreover, the fact that a society was historically shaped by a Protestant, Catholic, Islamic, Orthodox, or Confucian heritage set that society on a trajectory that continues to influence subsequent development even after religious institutions fade away.

What's causing it? The rise of Individual-choice norms

2020 ◽  
pp. 56-62
Author(s):  
Ronald F. Inglehart
Keyword(s):  
Child Abuse ◽  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Individual Choice ◽  
High Life Expectancy ◽  
High Infant Mortality ◽  
History Of

Many factors are contributing to secularization, including reactions against fundamentalists’ unconditional support for authoritarian politicians, against the Roman Catholic Church’s long history of covering up child abuse, and against terrorism by religious extremists. But one generally overlooked reason for accelerating secularization is the decline of pro-fertility norms. All major religions encourage these norms, which help societies replace their populations when facing high infant mortality and low life expectancy. These norms require people to suppress strong drives, but with low infant mortality and high life expectancy they are no longer are needed. After an intergenerational time lag, pro-fertility norms are giving way to individual-choice norms supporting gender equality and tolerance of divorce, abortion, and homosexuality. Pro-fertility norms are so strongly linked with traditional religious worldviews that abandoning them undermines religiosity.

On the Uses of Disinformation to Legitimize the Revival of the Cold War: Health in the U.S.S.R.

1982 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Szymanski
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Public Health Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mortality Data ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Employment Of Women ◽  
Child Care Facilities

During the 1970s the Soviet Union experienced rising infant mortality rates and a corresponding levelling off of earlier increases in life expectancy. Several Western critics have misrepresented or exaggerated these statistics, suggesting that these trends indicate a general breakdown in the Soviet health care system as well as the failure of the Soviet form of socialism. This paper examines life expectancy and infant mortality data by Soviet republic, showing that rates are not uniform throughout the U.S.S.R. and in many cases compare favorably with those in Western European countries and the United States. It is suggested that the infant mortality problem in the U.S.S.R. is a temporary negative consequence of rapid progress in the areas of industrialization, employment of women, and socialization of child care. It is concluded that improvements in public health education, the quality of child care facilities, and the manufacture and distribution of infant formula will contribute to the rapid resolution of this problem.

scholarly journals Beriberi (Thiamine Deficiency) and High Infant Mortality in Northern Laos

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. e0003581 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hubert Barennes ◽  
Khouanheuan Sengkhamyong ◽  
Jean Pascal René ◽  
Maniphet Phimmasane
Keyword(s):  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Thiamine Deficiency ◽  
High Infant Mortality

The U.S. Children's Bureau and Infant Mortality in the Progressive Era

1995 ◽  
Vol 177 (3) ◽  
pp. 57-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kriste Lindenmeyer
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Progressive Era ◽  
Infant Mortality Rate ◽  
Child Welfare Policy ◽  
High Infant Mortality ◽  
Diagnostic Work ◽  
National Effort ◽  
The U.S

Early in the twentieth century, a growing child welfare movement led to the establishment of the first federal agency in the world, the U.S. Children's Bureau, designated to investigate and report on the circumstances of children. Appointed in 1912, the agency's first director, Julia Lathrop, focused on infant mortality, beginning with a year's study in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The work stimulated a national effort to “save babies.” The Bureau's efforts led to the Sheppard-Towner Act of 1921, which funded educational and diagnostic work to lower the nation's high infant mortality rate. But this type of effort was short-lived. The article describes the course of the agency's work in the Progressive Era and evaluates its effect on current child welfare policy, a key area in the ongoing controversy over “welfare reform” and the role of the federal government in the provision of human services.

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