Alan Macfarlane

1
Alan Macfarlane

• Macfarlane is an anthropologist and historian
• He is from Britain, but was born in India in 1941
• He received his M.A. and D.Phil from Worcester
  College, Oxford

2
Macfarlanes Career

• He was a lecturer of social anthropology at the
  University of Cambridge from 1975-1981
• He became professor of anthropological science in
  1991
• In 1981 he was appointed a fellow at Kings
  College, Cambridge

3
Macfarlanes Career

• He was with the Department of Social Anthropology
  at Cambridge University for 34 years and is now
  an Emeritus Professor and Life Fellow
• His first publication called Population Crisis
  Anthropologys Failure was published in 1968

4
Macfarlanes Career

• His article Demographic Structures and Cultural
  Regions in Europe was published in 1981
• Some of his work is still being translated into
  other languages but his publishing career stopped
  around 2005-2006

5
Demographic Structures and Cultural Regions in
Europe

• Published in 1981 by Cambridge Anthropology
• In his article Macfarlane looks at the
  relationship between demography and the modern
  world

6
Main Arguments

• His main argument is to show how culture,
  referring specifically to demography(birth,
  marriage, and death), had an effect on shaping
  modern Europe
• To support his argument he uses Hajnals theory
  a line separates Europe into east and west and
  this line creates different marriage and birth
  patterns

7
Main Arguments

• He also uses the recent theory that there is also
  a line that separates Europe into north and south
• North of the line households were closer and
  smaller while in the south families were bigger
  and extended

8
Summary of Article

• Macfarlane uses these two theories to examine
  different regions and explain why some areas had
  differing rates in births, marriages, and deaths
• Throughout the article he also explores the
  relationship between demography and economy,
  politics, and technology

9
Summary of Article

• So while Macfarlane presents many good arguments
  it is still hard to determine exactly what key
  factor contributes to differing demography in
  Europe.