El impacto demográfico de las creencias. Una evaluación desde el siglo XVIII español
ISSN: 1696-702X
Year of publication: 2014
Volume: 32
Issue: 2
Pages: 51-76
Type: Article
More publications in: Revista de Demografía Histórica-Journal of Iberoamerican Population Studies
Abstract
Cognitive sciences attach special importance to the analysis of beliefs in the development of our life and health. Usually, the high mortality of the old demographic regime has been attributed to economic and public health factors. In this article we show how these factors are inseparable from an interpretation of the world that enforces the subordination of individual freedom to preserve traditional beliefs and customs. And that supports, as well, the inferiority of women to men and the dualism between spirit and body. Throughout the eighteenth century Spain we discuss the demo0graphic implications of this cognitive system and its regional variations. The socio-economic organization of a community is shown not only as a way of using the human and natural resources but also as an implicit strategy against the precarious survival