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Research Reports John Knodel Rossarin Soottipong Gray Porntip Sriwatcharin Sara Peracca Religion and Reproduction: Muslims in Buddhist Thailand Report No. 98-417 Research Reports Population Studies Center PSC University of Michigan The Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan is one of the oldest population centers in the United States. Established in 1961 with a grant from the Ford Foundation, the Center has a rich history as the main workplace for an interdisciplinary community of scholars in the field of population studies. Today the Center is supported by a Population Research Center Core Grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) as well as by the University of Michigan, the National Institute on Aging, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Mellon Foundation. PSC Research Reports are prepublication working papers that report on current demographic research conducted by PSC associates and affiliates. The papers are written by the researcher(s) for timely dissemination of their findings and are often later submitted for publication in scholarly journals. The PSC Research Report Series was begun in 1981 and is organized chronologically. Copyrights are held by the authors. Readers may freely quote from, copy, and distribute this work as long as the copyright holder and PSC are properly acknowledged and the original work is not altered. PSC Publications Population Studies Center, University of Michigan http://www.psc.lsa.umich.edu/pubs/ 1225 S. University, Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2590 USA [email protected] Voice: 734-998-7176 Fax: 734-988-7415 Religion and Reproduction: Muslims in Buddhist Thailand by John Knodel Rossarin Soottipong Gray Porntip Sriwatcharin Sara Peracca Research Report No. 98-417 July 1998 Abstract: The present study examines the contrast between Muslim repro- ductive attitudes and behavior in Thailand and those of Buddhists, especially in the southern region. Results are based primarily on a large regional survey directed towards this topic and supplemental focus group discussions among Muslims in Southern Thailand. We interpret Muslim reproductive patterns from the perspectives of the major hypotheses that have been invoked in the social demographic literature to explain links between religion and fertility. These hypotheses go part way in helping understand what appears to be a complex and context specific relationship. Nevertheless, the linkages be- tween religion, ethnic and cultural identity, and political setting that appear to operating are more complex than can be fully accounted for by even a combi- nation of the existing hypotheses. Data set used: 1994 Survey of Knowledge, Attitude and Family Planning Practice in the Southern Region of Thailand. Authors Affiliations: John Knodel, Population Studies Center, University of Michigan, USA Rossarin Soottipong Gray, Social Statistics Division, National Statistical Office, Thailand Porntip Sriwatcharin, Social Statistics Division, National Statistical Office, Thailand Sara Peracca, Population Studies Center, University of Michigan, USA Acknowledgments: Research was supported by NIH grant D43 TW/HD00657 from the Fogarty International Center and NICHD to the Population Studies Center of the University of Michigan. Chanpen Saengtienchai provided valuable assistance in the analysis of the focus group data. Gavin Jones provided helpful comments on interpretation of some results. The encouragement and coopera- tion of Chintana Pejaranonda, Director of the Social Statistics Division, National Statistical Office, Thailand and discussions with Gavin Jones helped facilitate this report. Introduction Social scientists have long recognized that religion influences a wide range of social behavior (Lenski, 1961). Within social demography, religion is frequently cited as an important component in explaining group variation in marriage patterns as well as reproductive attitudes and behavior (Chamie, 1981; Goldscheider, 1971; Reynolds, 1988). Such studies have explored current differentials and changes over time. Socially patterned differences are also found within religious groups suggesting that cultural and socio-economic diversity within groups is also significant in determining patterns of familial behavior. In research on reproduction in the developing world, probably more attention has been focused on the influence of Islam than on any other major religion. Considerable evidence has accumulated documenting that high levels of fertility characterize the majority of Muslim communities (Ahmed, 1985; Nagi, 1984). Recently, however, some Islamic countries and communities have experienced fertility decline (Obermeyer, 1994). In the present study, we focus on Muslims in Thailand and contrast their reproductive behavior and attitudes with those of Buddhists, especially in the Southern region. The relationship between religion and reproduction is particularly interesting in the case of Thailand where nationally, over the last few decades, total fertility fell from over six to about two births per woman and contraceptive prevalence rose to over 70 percent of reproductive aged women by the 1990s (Knodel, Chamratrithirong, and Debavalya, 1987; Guest, 1994; Hirschman et al., 1994; Knodel et al., 1996; National Statistical Office, 1997:14, 112). Theravada Buddhism, the predominant religion in Thailand, is thought to be an important aspect of the Thai setting that facilitated reproductive change. The link between religion and fertility decline through Buddhism‘s influence on the dominant Thai value system has been discussed extensively in prior research (Knodel, Chamratrithirong, and Debavalya, 1987). Of interest for the present analysis, however, is the fact that the Muslim minority has been exceptional in not participating fully in the changes in reproductive patterns that have characterized the rest of the Thai population. Prevailing Hypotheses Past studies of religion and reproduction have often interpreted the relationship within a framework of one or more of four hypotheses commonly referred to as the characteristics hypothesis, the particularized theology hypothesis, the interaction hypothesis, and the minority status hypothesis. In the present analysis, we assess the applicability of each to the Thai situation. The characteristics hypothesis asserts that religious affiliation per se has little or no independent influence but rather it is the differences in the demographic, social and economic composition of religious groups that largely account for observed differences in reproductive behavior (Goldscheider, 1971, p.272-273). Several studies have indeed found that fertility differentials between religious groups largely disappear once these attributes of members 1 are statistically controlled (Ahmad, 1985; Johnson, 1993; Kollehlon, 1994). Virtually no researcher disagrees with the need to control for differing demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of individuals when studying reproductive differentials between religious groups. However, most expect the relationship to be go beyond such differences and to involve influences more intrinsic to religion itself. The particularized theology hypothesis argues that differences in fertility are found as a result of the specific doctrines of a religion. In its simplest form, differences in reproduction among religious groups are attributed to the presence or absence of specific religious tenets directly regarding contraception, abortion and family size. However, the hypothesis can also incorporate the influence of doctrines and beliefs that bear on reproductive behavior and attitudes in a more indirect way, such as those that deal with the familial and societal roles of women as well as related preferences for having children of a particular sex. An extension of this framework recognizes that religion extends beyond doctrines, rites and customs and typically prescribes a particular but more comprehensive normative structure that guides familial and social life (Goldscheider, 1971, p.272). Thus religion is seen as affecting cultural norms and the more general patterning of social interactions. Nevertheless, most studies relying on this framework concentrate on the more straightforward effect of the religion’s positions regarding family size and birth control (Goldscheider, 1971, p.283). The characteristics and particularized theology hypotheses are often combined to explain fertility differentials (Goldscheider, 1971:273). Chaimie (1981) draws on both in his interaction hypothesis which allows for change in the relationships between religion and fertility to occur over time in response to socio-economic change. He argues that religious fertility differentials depend on the interaction of the socioeconomic levels of the religious groups and the moral attitudes of the religious community regarding procreation and fertility control. Chamie applies the hypothesis within the framework of the demographic transition. He predicts that fertility differentials between religious groups are most pronounced during the course of the overall population’s transition from traditionally high to low modern levels fertility as some groups, due to their particularized theology, are slower than others to respond to the socio-economic forces that depress fertility. In contrast, differentials are expected to be minimal prior to the onset of fertility transition, when deliberate limitation of family size is absent regardless of religious affiliation, and again during the post transition period, when conformity to pronatalist
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