CHAPTER OUTLINE

I. Introduction

II. The Population of Twentieth-Century Europe

III. Economic Structures: The Decline of Agriculture

A. Continuing Industrialization

B. The Service Economy

C. Age, Gender, and the Labor Force

IV. The Vital Revolution of the Twentieth Century:

Mortality and Life Expectancy

V. The Life Cycle: Marriage and Divorce

A. Childbirth, Birth Control, and Abortion

VI. The Continuing Vital Revolution

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CHAPTER 30

THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC STRUCTURE

OF CONTEMPORARY EUROPE

T

he twentieth century opened with both the

economic structures and the social structures

of Europe in the middle of a continuing his-

toric change. Chapter 30 surveys these

changes, beginning with a study of the population

of Europe—one of the most important indicators of

socioeconomic change since the middle of the eigh-

teenth century. The chapter shows how the population

growth of the previous two centuries continued but

slowed greatly by the end of the twentieth century. It

also looks at continuing urbanization, a trend that made

Europe a predominantly urban civilization. The study

of population also explains how Europe changed from

a society that lost millions of emigrants in 1900 to a

society attracting millions of immigrants.

The twentieth century began with a mixed econ-

omy of agriculture and industry, in which industrializa-

tion was the dominant trend. Agriculture steadily

shrank as a segment of the European economy until it

employed less than 10 percent of the population of

western Europe at the end of the century. The triumph

of the industrial economy did not last long, however, as

a third sector of the economy—the service sector—be-

came dominant. The chapter traces some of the impli-

cations of these changes, such as the shifting role of the

young, the elderly, and women in the economy.

Chapter 30 concludes with a look at social

changes. It explains how the vital revolution of modern

history accelerated, reducing the mortality rate so

much that the average life expectancy of Europeans

grew from forty-five years in 1900 to seventy-five years

in 1990. It also examines changes in the family, such as

earlier marriage, smaller family size, and divorce. To

explain these changes, the chapter considers the

controversial history of birth control and abortion.

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