Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c47g7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-17T00:38:51.659Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Economic condition and demography among the Mahishyas of Chakpota village, Howrah district, West Bengal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Premananda Bharati
Premananda Bharati
Affiliation:
Anthropometry and Human Genetics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta, India
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Demographic and socioeconomic data were collected from the Hindu, Mahishya caste community of Chakpota village, Amta Police Station area, Howrah district, West Bengal, to examine the possible effects of economic differences on fertility and mortality, and their potential genetic consequences. The age structure of the low, medium and high economic groups suggests decreasing growth potentials from the former to the latter, with a recent decline of fertility in all the three groups. Analogously, a trend of fertility and mortality decline from the low to high economic groups seems to exist, although with some exceptions. The index of total selection intensity (I) is the highest in the low economic group. Genetic selection seems to be sensitive even to very small differences in economic condition, among related subpopulations of the same population, sharing very similar physical environmental stresses.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , July 1981 , pp. 345 - 356
Copyright
Copyright © 1981, Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bajema, C.J. (1971) Natural Selection in Human Populations: the Measurement of Ongoing Genetic Evolution in Contemporary Societies. Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Bean, R. & Wood, C. (1974) Ethnic variations in relationship between income and fertility. Demography, 11, 629.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bogue, D.J. (1969) Principles of Demography. Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Cavalli-Sforza, L.L.& Bodmer, W.F. (1971) The Genetics of Human Populations. Freeman, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Chang, G.C., Warren, R.D. & Pendleton, B.F. (1979) Testing and clarifying a macromodel of socioeconomic change and fertility. Soc. Biol. 26, 30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crow, J.F. (1958) Some possibilities for measuring selection intensity in man. Hum. Biol. 30, 1.Google ScholarPubMed
Dutt, J. M. (1962) Demographic notes on Harappa skeletons. In: Human Skeletal Remains from Harappa. Memoir No. 9, Anthropological Survey of India, Calcutta.Google Scholar
Fisher, R.A. (1930) The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection. Clarendon Press, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frisancho, A.R., Klayman, J.E. & Matos, J. (1976) Symbiotic relationship of high fertility, high childhood mortality and socioeconomic status in an urban Peruvian population. Hum. Biol. 48, 101.Google Scholar
Grabill, W.H., Kiser, C.V. & Whelpton, P.K. (1958) The Fertility of American Women. Wiley, New York. Cited in Mitra (1966).Google Scholar
Lorimer, F., Fortes, M., Busia, K.A., Richards, A.I., Reining, P. & Mortara, G. (1954) Culture and Human Fertility. Unesco, Paris.Google Scholar
Mamdani, M. (1972) The Myth of Population Control. Monthly Review Press, New York.Google Scholar
Mitra, A. (1978) India's Population. Aspects of Quality and Control, Vol. 1. Abhinav Publications, New Delhi.Google Scholar
Mitra, S. (1966) Income, socioeconomic status and fertility in the United States. Eugen. Q. 14, 223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nag, M. (1962) Factors Affecting Human Fertility in Nonindustrial Societies: a Cross-cultural Study. Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven.Google Scholar
Nag, M., White, B.N.F. & Peet, R.C. (1978) An anthropological approach to the study of the economic value of children in Java and Nepal. Curr. Anthrop. 19, 293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Malley, L.S.S. & Chakravarti, M. (1909) Bengal District Gazetteer, Howrah. Bengal Secretarial Book Depot, Calcutta.Google Scholar
Pearl, R. (1939) The Natural History of Population. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Risley, H.H. (1891) The Tribes and Castes of Bengal, Vol. 1. Bengal Secretariat Press, Calcutta.Google Scholar
Spuhler, J.N. (1962) Empirical studies on quantitative human genetics. In: The Use of Vital and Health Statistics for Genetic and Radiation Studies, pp. 241–252. United Nations, New York.Google Scholar
United Nations (1973) The Determinants and Consequences of Population Trends, Vol. 1. Population Studies, No. 50, United Nations, New York.Google Scholar
US Bureau of the Census (1950) Current Population Report. Series P. 20, No. 27. Washington, D.C. Cited in Mitra (1966).Google Scholar
US Bureau of the Census (1953) Current Population Report. Series P. 20, No. 46. Washington, D.C. Cited in Mitra (1966).Google Scholar
Verma, K.K. (1977) Culture, Ecology and Population. National Publishing House, New Delhi.Google Scholar
Whelpton, P.K. & Kiser, C.V. (Eds.) (1950) Social and Psychological Factors Affecting Fertility, Vol. ii. Milbank Memorial Fund, New York. Cited in Mitra (1966).Google Scholar
Yanakura, A. (1959) An approach to cultural basis of infant mortality in India. Popul. Rev. 3, 39.Google Scholar