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Lovely little angels in heaven? The influence of religiously determined cultural life scripts on infant survival in the Netherlands, 1880-1920
Kleine Engel im Himmel? Der Einfluss religiös geprägter Lebensskripte auf das Überleben von Säuglingen in den Niederlanden, 1880-1920
[journal article]
Abstract "The way small infants are cared for, in the past as much as today, is partly determined by cultural scripts which may vary between places and times. In the past some of the cultural scripts involved in infant care were shaped by religious rules and traditions. These scripts could sometimes be life-... view more
"The way small infants are cared for, in the past as much as today, is partly determined by cultural scripts which may vary between places and times. In the past some of the cultural scripts involved in infant care were shaped by religious rules and traditions. These scripts could sometimes be life-saving, as was the case with the orthodox Jewish care of infants, or they could be lethal, given the circumstances. In Dutch historiography, the Catholic community has been held responsible for the rather high level of infant mortality during the later parts of the nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth century. From this perspective Catholics are either seen as having been averse to the introduction of modern medicine and hygiene, or as followers of a strict clerical campaign of prudishness enforcing the binding of female breasts and prohibiting the bearing of breasts in public. As a result Catholic mothers did not or could not suckle their infants, thereby creating life threatening situations for their little ones. In this study we first explore the likelihood that Catholic mothers were not breastfeeding their infants; secondly, we test the role of religion as the most important exogenous determinant of infant mortality in the period 1880-1920." (author's abstract)... view less
Keywords
Netherlands; cultural factors; baby care; mortality; traditional culture; infant; religion; twentieth century; nineteenth century; Catholicism
Classification
Population Studies, Sociology of Population
Sociology of Religion
Method
empirical; quantitative empirical; historical
Free Keywords
breastfeeding; regional cultures
Document language
English
Publication Year
2014
Page/Pages
p. 19-47
Journal
Historical Social Research, 39 (2014) 1
Issue topic
Cultural life scripts
DOI
https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.39.2014.1.19-47
ISSN
0172-6404
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed