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England's Demographic Changes During The Industrial Revolution

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England’s experience with change in demographic is one that is almost entirely based on pure simple cause and effect. For them everything was basically stemmed from a need. No matter which model one chooses to use as the basis of one came because of the other either there was a larger population which required more or, there was more money and people felt more comfortable in having more children. Under either model it stems all from economic reasons. France experienced demographic change in the industrial revolution entirely different from the English. France in general was a country that had a much more complicated social structure than England. (Cobban, p. 163) While it can be seen that England’s demographic change was indeed economically…show more content…
In 1792 a divorce law was created that was for both men and women, this law allowed for more or less divorce on demand for either party for any reason. This along with it becoming more common to use condoms and their more widespread availability were other key societal factors in keeping their birthrates much lower than the other countries. Along with this idea also is the fact that since French peasants believed in primogeniture meaning the oldest son inherited all the land and the younger sons lived mostly as just celibate permeant farm hands. Therefore, it was in the French peasants’ best interest to try and have as few kids as possible so as to not have this problem. (Urdank, Lecture 15) However, as progressive as France may have been with them trying to keep their birthrates lower for many reasons it did indeed have its drawbacks. Due to these facts they were one of the countries who industrialized much later than others around them. (Urdank, Lecture 15) This is a fact that many French writers to this very day look rather regretfully on. (Wrigely, p. 71) However, due to their later industrialization France was able to keep their artisan culture as well as remain far more rooted in smaller time agriculture. (Urdank, Lecture
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