The political economy of post-reproduction society

For decades, in society after society, fertility rates have been falling below the level needed to maintain the population over time, apparently permanently so. Most societies continue to grow, but are set to shrink as falling fertility outweighs greater longevity. They are no longer reproducing themselves. This article offers an historical materialist perspective on the political economy of post-reproduction society, arguing that there is a structural tendency in capitalism for the rate of fertility to fall. It identifies two overlapping processes in the global development of capitalism since the 1960s, the first selectively widening opportunities beyond marriage and child-bearing, the second bringing all individuals and governments under the discipline of the politics of global competitiveness. The resulting dynamics bring daily and generational reproduction into fundamental contradiction with each other, in ways that are differentiated by race, class, and location. The international and supranational agencies supportive of the development of the world market accept that falling rates of fertility will not be reversed, and promote policies intended to hasten the development of capitalism on a global scale, while the attitudes of governments vary, in accordance with their socio-cultural politics and the level of their commitment to a politics of global competitiveness.