Main trends of research in the social and human ... - unesdoc - Unesco

398 Jean Bourgeois-Pichat
141. The third sector of research relating to human procreation covers everything
that has a bearing on birth control.
People did not wait to be thoroughly acquainted with the biological and
physiological mechanisms of conception, or with the social, economic and psychological
motivations of the founding of a family, before passing on to the
practical applications of birth control. Incidentally, biology and physiology come
into play again here with the research aimed at discovering contraceptives that
are increasingly effective and increasingly easy to use.
Here, the Americans undoubtedly take the lead, and mention should be made
of the work done by the National Committee on Maternal Health. Experiments
now in progress would seem to indicate the possibility in the near future of
ensuring, by means of a single injection, the temporary sterility of a woman for
an unlimited length of time that can be chosen at will and in advance.
A whole series of surveys of couples has also been undertaken concerning
acceptance of contraceptive practices : acceptance in principle, choice ofmethods,
distribution of information, etc.
Lastly, in all countries that have adopted an active birth control policy, the
effects of this policy need to be closely followed, and a methodology for assessing
these effects is gradually being evolved.
Economic development
142. A third topic around which several lines of research can be grouped is the
relationship between population trends and economic and social development.
A first series concerns the problems raised by the developing countries. A
recent work produced by G. Myrdal with the help of several associates35 gives
a remarkable account of research in progress. Information is also to be found in
United Nations publications, and more particularly in the work entitled Deter-
minants and Consequences of Population Trends, which summed up the state of
our knowledge some fifteen years ago and is now being revised. In the past,
similar researches were conducted in France and led to the publication of a
work on the developing countries. They have lately been resumed and a new
work on the developing countries is soon to be published. In these various
works, problems have been approached from the macro-economic angle. More
or less complicated models have been elaborated, in which the population
variable is set beside the economic variables.
143. Another series of researches is centred round the preparation of forecasts
of the active population. In this case, the population is no longer considered
as a whole; a distinction is drawn between the different sectors of activity and
professions.
In outlining the kind of collaboration that might be established between
economists and demographers, it was shown that the assistance which could be
provided by the latter was mainly in the form of projections: producer and con-
sumer projections (individuals, households, towns, villages, etc.); projections
according to the mode of living (urban, rural); projections according to situa-
tion in the labour force (retired persons, widows, etc.).