An Anthropological Approach to the Study of the Economic Value of Children in Java and Nepal [and Comments and Reply]

Nag, Moni; Peet, R.; Bardhan, Amita; Hull, Terence H.; Johnson, Allen; Masnick, George S.; Polgar, Steven; Repetto, Robert; Tax, Sol

doi:10.1086/202076

Cited by 186 publications

(88 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Based on evidence from ethnographic works, historical records and archaeological evidence, it has been argued that children were major contributors to economic production in prehistoric societies (Cain 1977;Kamp 2001a, b, 2002, Kamp et al 1999Kramer 2005a;Nag et al 1978;Ritchie and Ritchie 1979;Wileman 2005). For example, Maya boys of Xculoc, Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico between the age of 7 and 15 years produce more than half of what they consume (Kramer 2005b).…”

Section: The Social Childmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Bioarchaeological Investigation of Childhood and Social Age: Problems and Prospects

Halcrow

Tayles

2008

J Archaeol Method Theory

124

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recently, the value of the study of children and childhood from archaeological contexts has become more recognized. Childhood is both a biological and a social phenomenon. However, because of specialization in research fields within anthropology, subadults from the archaeological record are usually studied from the biological perspective (bioarchaeology) or, more predominantly, the social perspective (social archaeology), with little research that incorporates both approaches. These polarized approaches to childhood and age highlight the dualistic way in which "biological" and "social" aspects of the body are viewed. Some recent literature criticizes bioarchaeological approaches, and calls for the incorporation of childhood social theory, including social age categories, into subadult health analysis. However, few studies have explicitly addressed the practicalities or theoretical issues that need to be considered when attempting this. This paper critically examines these issues, including terminology used for defining subadulthood and age divisions within it, and approaches to identify "social age" in past populations. The important contribution that bioarchaeology can make to the study of social aspects of childhood is outlined. Recent theoretical approaches for understanding the body offer exciting opportunities to incorporate skeletal remains into research, and develop a more biologically and socially integrated understanding of childhood and age.

show abstract

Section: The Social Childmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Bioarchaeological Investigation of Childhood and Social Age: Problems and Prospects

Halcrow

Tayles

2008

J Archaeol Method Theory

124

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A number of studies in different kinds of societies show that the work of girls begins at younger ages, is of longer daily duration, and continues for more years in comparison with boys (Barry et al 1957(Barry et al , 1959Nag 1962). Such reports have been made anecdotally for many years and now have been backed up by empirical findings based on systematic observation (Ember 1973(Ember :426, 1981Nag et al 1978;Whiting and Edwards 1988:177-182). These same sources report that girls, at earlier ages and in preference to boys, are recruited into work as child caretakers (Hames 1988).…”

Section: Conditions Under Which Children Can Be Helpersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women’s work, child care, and helpers-at-the-nest in a hunter-gatherer society

Hames

Draper

2004

Hum Nat

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Considerable research on helpers-at-the-nest demonstrates the positive effects of firstborn daughters on a mother's reproductive success and the survival of her children compared with women who have firstborn sons. This research is largely restricted to agricultural settings. In the present study we ask: "Does 'daughter first' improve mothers' reproductive success in a hunting and gathering context?" Through an analysis of 84 postreproductive women in this population we find that the sex of the first-or second-born child has no effect on a mother's fertility or the survival of her offspring. We conclude that specific environmental and economic factors underlay the helpers-at-the-nest phenomenon.

show abstract

“…1978:299, emphasis added). Boulier (1976), Cain (1977), and Peet (Nag et al 1978 have also conducted studies of children's labor in the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Nepal respectively. Their data indicate that children are economically valuable to their parents at young ages.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Incongruities and ambiguities in current models of self-regulation have already arisen from these limitations. For example, Nag et al (1978) argued that children in Nepal and Java are economically valuable and therefore provide an incentive to parents for large families. They presented careful, detailed quantitative data to support this hypothesis and their data are entirely convincing on the matter that, from an "objective" standpoint, children are economically valuable.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Modes of Explanation in Anthropological Population Theory: Biological Determinism vs. Self‐Regulation in Studies of Population Growth in Third World Countries

Nardi

1981

American Anthropologist

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Anthropological theories of population growth in underdeveloped countries are considered and it is argued that most studies have concentrated exclusively on either deterministic or self-regulatory factors in population growth without regard to their probable interaction. A research strategy is proposed in which self-regulatoty factors, especially the decision-making actiuilies of individual parents, provide a primary focus of study but with careful attention to deterministic factors which constrain and influence the decision process. [ population, underdevelopment, biology and self-regulation in population theory] INTRODUCTIONTHE VAST MAJORITY OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION lives today in countries which have come to be known as underdeveloped. Although these countries have strong economic ties to the richer nations, their own economies have been unable to generate and distribute wealth to large segments of their populations. Many of these countries share a colonial past; others became underdeveloped by virtue of a system of foreign investment which returns profits to investor countries but does not seem to advance the economy of the home country to an appreciable degree.Underdevelopment has produced colossal changes in the human condition and prospect for tens of millions of people. Most underdeveloped countries began to experience rapid population growth when they were European colonies, often following a period of extreme depopulation (see Wagley 1940(see Wagley , 1951; Hunt, Kidder, and Schneider 1954; Lessa 1955; Polunin and Saunders 1958;Dobyns 1963;Polgar 1972Polgar , 1975. Rapid growth continued into the postcolonial period as societies which were once characterized by selfsufficient subsistence economies were transformed into underdeveloped societies via the transition to a cash economy and dependence on a world market. Other countries were not colonized but experienced the same transformation from independent subsistence production to dependence on world markets, and the same rapid population growth. FACTORS IN POPULATION GROWTH 29This growth is unprecedented. If we compare the modem increase with the other major population expansion-that of the agricuitural revolution -the difference is easily appreciated. The population increase associated with the agricultural revolution actually produced a sharper inflection in the population curve than the present increase (see Deevey 1960; Polgar 1972). But in 8000 B.C. there were only approximately 5.5 million people on earth (Deevey 1960:195) so that were the population to double, it would mean an increase to just 11 million. Today a doubling of the world population implies an increase to about 8 billion people, and the doubling time at current rates is approximately forty years.This level of population growth has been cause for considerable concern; the anxious commentary of the news media and the fastidiously documented predictions of disaster and collapse from the scientific community have been more than enough to fuel the image of the "population crisis" in...

show abstract

An Anthropological Approach to the Study of the Economic Value of Children in Java and Nepal [and Comments and Reply]

Cited by 186 publications

References 9 publications

The Bioarchaeological Investigation of Childhood and Social Age: Problems and Prospects

The Bioarchaeological Investigation of Childhood and Social Age: Problems and Prospects

Women’s work, child care, and helpers-at-the-nest in a hunter-gatherer society

Modes of Explanation in Anthropological Population Theory: Biological Determinism vs. Self‐Regulation in Studies of Population Growth in Third World Countries

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About