Religion and the Demographic Revolution

In the 1960s Christian religious practice and identity declined rapidly and women's lives were transformed, spawning a demographic revolution in sex, family and work. The argument of this book is that the two were intimately connected, triggered by an historic confluence of factors. Canada, Ireland, UK and USA represent different stages of secularisation for the book's study. Using statistical evidence from government censuses, Brown demonstrates how secularisation was deeply linked to demographic change. Starting with the distinctive features of the 1960s, the book quantifies secularisation's scale, timing and character in each nation. Then, the intense links of women's sexual revolution to religious decline and their changing patterns of marriage, coupling and birthing are explored. Finally the secularising consequences of economic change, higher education and women's expanding work roles are examined. Connecting religious history with the history of population, this volume unveils how the historian and sociologist need to engage with the demographic enormity of the decline of Christendom. CALLUM G. BROWN is Professor of Religious and Cultural History at the University of Dundee.