Paths to Childlessness Yesterday and Today. Book Review: Chrastil R. (2020) How to Be Childless: A History and Philosophy of Life without Children. New York: Oxford University Press
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2023.6.2522Keywords:
childlessness, A Better World, demographic transition, legacy, regret, aging, Western historyAbstract
This review offers a critical perspective on the book “How to be Childless: A History and Philosophy of Life without Children” by Rachel Chrastil. The book presents an introduction to the modern history of childlessness providing a comprehensive understanding of the multiplicity and complexity of paths to childlessness in history and modern times. The author examines the structure and all chapters of the book devoted to the formation of the idea of choosing childlessness in Western countries, as well as a few mythologized plots that often arise in the debate on childlessness. The author of the review is convinced that the material summarized in the book might be useful in social studies of family and reproductive behavior, including in the context of the pronatalist agenda dominant in modern Russia.
Acknowledgements. The publication was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RSF), project No. 22-28-00625, https://rscf.ru/en/project/22-28-00625/.
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