We use individual-level census data for England and Wales for the period 1851–1911 to investigate the interplay between social class and geographical context determining patterns of childbearing during the fertility transition. We also consider the effect of spatial mobility or lifetime migration on individual fertility behavior in the early phases of demographic modernization. Prior research on the fertility transition in England and Wales has demonstrated substantial variation in fertility levels and declines by different social groups; however, these findings were generally reported at a broad geographical level, disguising local variation and complicated by residential segregation along social class and occupational lines. Our findings confirm a clear pattern of widening social class differences in recent net fertility, providing strong support for the argument that belonging to a certain social group was an important determinant of early adoption of new reproductive behavior in marriage in England and Wales. However, a relatively constant effect of lower net fertility among long-distance migrants both before the transition and in the early phases of declining fertility indicates that life course migration patterns were most likely factor in explaining the differences in fertility operating through postponement of marriage and childbearing.

中文翻译：

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重新审视英格兰和威尔士的生育率转变：社会阶级和移民的作用。

我们使用英格兰和威尔士 1851 年至 1911 年期间的个人层面人口普查数据来调查社会阶层和地理环境之间的相互作用，这些相互作用决定了生育转变期间生育模式。我们还考虑了在人口现代化的早期阶段，空间流动或终生迁移对个人生育行为的影响。先前对英格兰和威尔士生育率转变的研究表明，不同社会群体的生育率水平和下降趋势存在显着差异；然而，这些发现通常是在广泛的地理层面上报告的，掩盖了当地的差异，并因社会阶层和职业界线的居住隔离而变得复杂。我们的研究结果证实了近期净生育率中社会阶层差异扩大的明显模式，为英格兰和威尔士的婚姻中早期采用新的生殖行为的重要决定因素的论点提供了强有力的支持。然而，在转型前和生育率下降的早期阶段，远距离流动人口净生育率较低的影响相对恒定，这表明生命过程中的迁移模式最有可能解释推迟婚育造成的生育率差异。 .