Full Citation
Title: Historical family systems and contemporary developmental outcomes: what is to be gained from the historical census microdata revolution?
Citation Type: Journal Article
Publication Year: 2018
ISBN:
ISSN: 1081-602X
DOI: 10.1080/1081602X.2018.1477686
NSFID:
PMCID:
PMID:
Abstract: Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in the role of the historical family as the instigator of disparate developmental trajectories. However, a major challenge faced by these studies was that they had to work around a lack of reliable historical data. This study demonstrates how embarking on the recent outburst of historical microdata infrastructures may help to improve these explorations by suggesting additional statistics and a derived measure (the Patriarchy Index) that might prove useful in future efforts aimed at assessing the effect of historical family organization on comparative development. The added value of that endeavour is assessed by comparing the predictive validity of the PI for contemporary developmental gradients against a composite indicator of family organization previously used by economic historians (Carmichael’s ‘Female Friendliness Index’). The results indicate that conclusions about the relationship between historical family organization and various societal outcomes may be sensitive to the measure used. Based on the evidence presented in this paper, it is argued that one of the reasons why the potential importance of historical family for contemporary developmental disparities has not been convincingly unravelled could be inadequacy of data and indicators so far employed to assess historical family formations. To the extent that the Patriarchy Index would be taken up by wider scholarly circles as an indicator of historical family organization it could help unravel potentially new associations between past and present, at least as far as Europe is concerned.
Url: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1081602X.2018.1477686
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Authors: Szołtysek, Mikołaj; Poniat, Radosław
Periodical (Full): The History of the Family
Issue: 3
Volume: 23
Pages: 466-492
Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS
Topics: Population Data Science
Countries: United States