Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 July 2008
The extent to which it is possible to recognize distinctive patterns of marriage and fertility within sub-groups of the rural population is examined by an analysis of the fertility experience of 294 females who lived in a single village in southern Normandy at some period between 1901 and 1975. Aggregate analysis demonstrates the existence of differential fertility between classes. Examination of circumstantial evidence for individual sub-groups suggests that attitudes towards capital accumulation and inheritance are the major explanatory factors for these differentials.