Preface; 1. Introduction; Part I. The Theoretical Debate: 2. Malthusian theories of population; 3. Utilitarian theories of fertility; 4. The foundations for a theory; Part II. Research Design: 5. A natural history of the research; 6. A chapter of errors; 7. Survey research; Part III. Marriage and childbearing in post-war England; 8. Marriage; 9. Thinking about children; 10. Images of family life; 11. Uncertainty, negotiation and change; 12. Controlling births; 13. Trends in family size and spacing; Appendix A. The samples; Appendix B. Interview schedule for the pilot study; References; Index.