	Culture shapes every part of one’s life, people do not simply live by their biological instincts.  There is much more to people then their genetics, our need to survive directs us to be more complex with our behaviors and ways of life. Culture forms us, from what kind of personalities people develop to how many children families have. Culture influences reproduction, fertility, personality and identity to name a few things. The following summarizes the main topics of the chapter dedicated to those four points, from Barbara Miller’s Cultural Anthropology 3rd edition. I will start with a summary of the chapter and conclude with some of my opinions of the topics.
	The first section of the chapter discusses modes of reproduction, which is the dominant pattern of population change through fertility and mortality in a culture. In the foraging mode, birth intervals were often many years apart. This can be accounted for because of two factors: breastfeeding and low body fat, which both suppress ovulation and make it less likely to conceive. In the agricultural mode high birth rates can be attributed to pronatalism, or the attitude or policy that encourages having many children. This is necessary to have high birth rates in order to have a large labor force to work the land in this category, and is a rational strategy because of this fact. 
	The industrial mode is much different, with declines in reproduction. This happens two ways, either by replacement-level fertility or below-replacement-level fertility. In the first way, the number of births equals the number of deaths, which means the population size stays about the same. Below-replacement-level fertility, on the other hand, is when the number of births is less then the number of deaths, and means population size decreases. Children in industrial socialites cannot help with labor demands, so the trend is to have fewer children and focus on them more. During demographic transitions, in which a society changes from agricultural to industrial, the pattern of fertility and mortality change from high to low levels. Three unique features of the industrial mode of reproduction are stratified reproduction, population aging, and high levels of scientific technology in aspects of pregnancy. 
	Biological aspects of fertility include menarche and menopause, which mark when pregnancy can happen. Culture standards of when intercourse can happen differ at times, and depend on gender, class, race and ethnicity. Intercourse frequency does not correlate directly to fertility, against popular assumptions. In many parts of the world which have high fertility rates, as many as one hundred of the year’s days are viewed as days of abstinence. This means that high fertility does not mean high frequency of intercourse. 
	There are many levels at which people decide to have children. At the family level children’s labor value, support of ageing parents, mortality rates and economic costs are considered. At the state or government level, population growth is promoted depending on economic factors, from employment and tax bases to filling military ranks and dealing with an aging population. The global level tries to promote family planning based on Western views.
