Another look at fertility and social mobility

Abstract

This is a response to Basil Zimmer's contention that the classical hypothesis connecting social mobility with fertility was rejected in the Princeton Fertility Study because of a faulty mode of analysis. Arguing from the findings of a strong association in a sample of Aberdeen women, Zimmer asserts that if social origin and destination were taken into account, the same relationship would have emerged in the U.S. data. The evidence from the Princeton Study is reviewed and new evidence presented which confirms the original findings of no relationship.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

C. F. Westoff

Director, Office of Population Research, Princeton University, 21 Prospect Avenue, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, U.S.A.