When Young is Old. Mamma’s boys and Low fertility in Italy

With Maya Judd, anthropologist, academic coordinator Sciences Po

 

 

The abstract :

The deep drop of fertility rates in Italy in the mid-90s to among the lowest in the world led to a flurry of theorizing, ranging from economic to cultural explanations. Yet, a gender perspective has remained remarkably absent in the study of this demographic puzzle, especially with regard to the role of men in reproduction. This research forms part of a larger body of work in which I examine important demographic points within Italian men’s lives, which directly affect their reproductive choices. Here, I focus particularly on Italian men’s late departure from the parental home. Indeed, as of 2014, 58% of Italian men aged 25 to 34 still lived at home, compared to the EU average of 28%. Using rich ethnographic data from Padua, I examine the intriguing intersection of strong intergenerational family ties and men’s late departure from the parental home. My findings suggest that a shared perception of “eternal youth” – particularly in comparison with the previous generation – influences the configuration of family relations, the distribution of economic resources, and, ultimately, reproductive decisions and attitudes towards parenting.

 

 

Biography:

Maya Judd is academic coordinator for the Master of Public Affairs and the Master in Public Policy at Sciences Po. She completed her MA and PhD in anthropology at Brown University, where she was affiliated with the Population Studies and Training Center. She holds a B.A. in anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley and a B.A. in education from the University of Padua. She spent the 2013-2014 academic year as a visiting scholar at Yale University, where she was affiliated with the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program. Her research lies at the intersection of anthropology, demography and gender with particular interests in fertility and the life course, family studies, ageing and society, public and reproductive health, and research methods. Her work has appeared in journals such as Population and Development Review and Sociological Methodology.