Social relations of production and fertility in a South Indian village

Abstract

The pattern of population growth in India is studied in a historical perspective and through a detailed case study of a village in Tamil Nadu. The premise of the analysis is that population reproduction is part of the social reproduction of the whole society and thus inseparable from it. In a given historical context, the demographic regime is conditioned largely by the prevailing social relations of production. The combined effects on generational reproduction of capitalist development in agriculture and in other areas of economic activity, and of the superficially well-orchestrated family planning program, depend on the gender relations and class structure of the village. Given the social reality, a government-sponsored program aimed at reducing fertility rates cannot work in isolation. It would demand a radical restructuring of the Society in a direction that can facilitate the individual's self-determination and adoption of the birth-control methods that suit the individual's working conditions and social relations. Far-reaching social and economic changes that have direct bearing on the underprivileged are, therefore, required to solve the basic problems of the masses.