Reproduce or Perish? The Artefact of the Fertility Concept and the French School of Demography ; Sich reproduzieren oder untergehen? Das Artefakt "Fertilität" und die "Französische Schule" der Demographie

Abstract

This article investigates the complicated and intertwined history between the scientific discipline of demography, the depopulation debate and the pronatalist lobby, and French republican policies from the late nineteenth century till the eve of the Second World War. The authoress suggests that central to this history is the concept and codification of fertility.