Theo Engelen

Arthur P. Wolf

This volume results from a conference on the 1965 Hajnal hypothesis at Stanford University in 1999. Scholars from all over the world reviewed the contribution Hajnal's hypothesis made to our knowledge of historical demography. First, the hypothesis is placed in its historiographic context. Geography comes next. Hajnal distinguished Western Europe from the rest of the world because marriage there was late and non-universal. By contrast, in Eastern Europe, but even more so in Asia, young and universal marriage dominated. The second part of this book explores these geographic divisions, covering Western, Eastern, and Southern Europe, Japan, India and China. The third part of the volume introduces new issues and thus revises and even extends Hajnal's hypothesis into patriarchy, the role of children, women's labor, servants, and illegitimacy. This volume is the first in the series Life at the Extremes. The demography of Europe and China edited by Chuang Ying-Chang (Academia Sinica, Taiwan), Theo Engelen (Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands) and Arthur P. Wolf (Stanford University, U.S.A.). Book jacket.

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