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Survival of the richest? Social status, fertility and social mobility in England 1541-1824

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 September 2011

NINA BOBERG-FAZLIC ,
PAUL SHARP  and
JACOB WEISDORF
NINA BOBERG-FAZLIC
Affiliation:
University of Copenhagen, [email protected]
PAUL SHARP
Affiliation:
Humboldt University, Berlin/University of Copenhagen, [email protected]
JACOB WEISDORF
Affiliation:
University of Copenhagen, [email protected]
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Abstract

We use data collected by the Cambridge Group to investigate and explain differences in fertility by socio-economic group in pre-industrial England. We find, in line with results presented by Greg Clark, that wealthier groups did indeed have higher fertility until the 1700s. We demonstrate that this had to do with earlier age at marriage for women. We then turn to the likely social and economic impact of this, considering Clark's hypothesis that ‘middle-class values’ spread through English society prior to the Industrial Revolution. Through the construction of social mobility tables, we demonstrate that the children of the rich were indeed spreading through society, but they were small in number relative to poorer sections of society, and moreover the children of the poor were also entering the middle classes.

Type
Research Article
Information
European Review of Economic History , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , December 2011 , pp. 365 - 392
Copyright
Copyright © European Historical Economics Society 2011

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