Widows, Sons, and Old-Age Security in Rural Maharashtra
A Comment on Vlassoff
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4267190 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mead T Cain, Mead Cain (Population Council, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1991 |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 519-528 |
| Publication date | 1991-11-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Population Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0032-4728 • E-ISSN: 1477-4747 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/0032472031000145676 |
| OpenAlex | W2095006486 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 15 |
| References cited | 2 |
Carol Vlassoff has taken issue with me on a number of points in a recent article in this journal.' Vlassoff wishes to argue that sons in South India (and, in all likelihood, in South Asia more generally) are not of great value or importance as sources of security to their parents, be they elderly and/or widowed; and, therefore, reproductive decisions are uninfluenced by security concerns or the expectation that security needs in old age or otherwise will be taken care of by sons (or, for that matter, by daughters). I am assigned the opposing view: that sons are important sources of security for elderly parents and that concerns about old-age security inform fertility decisions. (I accept Vlassoff's attribution in the first case - that sons are an important source of security - but would demur in the case of fertility motivations. I do believe that security concerns motivate fertility decisions, but neither I nor anyone else have provided much evidence on motivations, nor have I claimed to provide such evidence.) By considering the circumstances of a sample of widows from a village in Satara District in Maharashtra, India, and the extent to which they rely on sons for support, Vlassoff hopes to provide support for her argument. Primarily through case-study material which describes the circumstances of widows in this village, but also by comparing the incomes of widows with different living arrangements, Vlassoff claims broad support for her argument. A close reading of her evidence, however, suggests a very different conclusion. On the basis of the material presented by Vlassoff, one can say very little, one way or another, about the role of sons in this setting (or any other setting in South Asia) as a source of old-age security; certainly, nothing in the article would lead one to believe that in the vast majority of cases sons do not care for their aged or infirm parents. Furthermore, the data presented in the article have no bearing at all on the criteria for reproductive decisions and, therefore, Vlassoff has no basis for commenting on the salience of security concerns for such decisions
Geography · Old Age Security · Population · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Demography · Insurance, Mortality, Demography, Risk Management
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| Citations per year | 0.45 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1993 - 2012 (20) |
| Highly cited | No |