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The book sees procreation, the forgotten basis of population dynamics, and its macrohistorical results through the lenses of world-system analysis in a nondogmatic way. This interdisciplinary book sheds light on the historical paths leading to the current unprecedented numbers of humans on the globe, fuelled by the capitalist demand for labor and mediated by the role of women in society. Procreation and Population is a critical text, opposing the current disciplinary fences that demonstrably hinder our comprehension of social phenomena. Attentive to gender relations, the book boldly tracks "the big picture" of population dynamics and its most reliable theories in times of postmodernist taboos on generalizations and on the search for the historical laws of human society.

Surrogate motherhood is expanding all over the world. Debates rage over how public policy should consider the signing away of the parental rights of birth mothers in favor of a 'commissioning' couple or an individual. In this book, Daniela Danna describes the situation in English-speaking countries and worldwide, from California to Greece, presenting the legal alternatives regulating (or not) these peculiar exchanges. Should surrogacy remain a private agreement? Should it be treated as an enforceable contract? Are surrogate mothers workers? What happens inside the countries that have chosen different ways of handling this new and controversial matter? And, the most important question of all: How can we live in this era of new techno-medical possibilities and try to stay human? Can we resist commodification in the field of human relations concerning procreation?Contract Children discusses the different ways available to obtain a child through surrogate motherhood. It is fundamental reading for anyone wanting to be involved in the surrogacy process. It gives prospective surrogate mothers and infertile couples the background information necessary for their own informed decision. It is also an essential instrument for policy makers and activists in the field of women's rights, social justice, and children's rights. The question of how to publicly deal with surrogate motherhood touches upon our social vision of motherhood, ultimately marking the position of women in contemporary society

Abstract This article describes and analyzes the Expo 2015 in Milan, building on the work of Alf Hornborg on the 'Machine' to discusses material and ideological processes of this mega-project. Hornborg calls attention to the social inequalities enabling the employment of technology in production (not only in the capitalist worldeconomy) and to its cultural underpinnings, among them money fetishism. With mega-events, the geoculture of the capitalist world-economy extols 'growth' and 'development' and celebrates the interstate system, legitimating public expenditures with a media-hyped importance of the event. The cultural force of megaevents obtains social acceptance of the unequal exchanges at their material core. Under Expo 2015's slogan "Feeding the planet, energy for life", agricultural land was destroyed to build a cement platform the size of a small city in a space of unbounded capitalism where labor laws were suspended and fiscal advantages were granted to firms. The Italian state paid for the basic infrastructure, while foreign states (and the corporations present) provided for their own pavilions. Ideologically, Expo 2015 celebrated the capacity of states and the transnational companies to 'technological advances.' Technology was presented as an autonomous force in history, propagating a vision of humanity acting on nature through a 'purified' technology independent of social relations of production. The 'Milan Charter', the Expo's cultural legacy, produced and reproduced the hegemonic geoculture which presents technology as the solution to social problems. Keywords: Expo 2015, mega-events, the Machine, human ecology, Alf Hornborg

World-systems analysis has given scant attention to population dynamics. Overlooked are large-scale macrohistorical population trends and their microhistorical foundation on procreative decisions-decisions which are taken by a historically changing subject of procreation: local elders or other authorities, head(s) of the household, couples, and women. The discipline of demography is also not as helpful as it could be, given its basis in modernization theory, which fails to recognize intentionality in reproduction in pre-capitalist societies. It assumes a model of "demographic transition" from a state of "natural fertility" to a state of conscious family planning, while also treating mortality as independent of fertility Marxism recognized the importance of population as a source of labor for profit and capital accumulation. With its tools Sydney Coontz developed a demand for labor theory explaining in particular the decrease in the birth rate in England and the United States at the turn of the century This theory was f urther developed by anthropologists of the "mode of product ion and population pat terns " who, with other authors, offer useful theories and insights to advance world-historical research on population. This article explores connections between population dy namics and world-systems analysis. I explore six key questions at different levels of analysis, including: 1) Are there world-systems ' imperatives concerning human reproduction?; 2) Do human reproduction imperatives differ across world-systems.'?; 3) How do the (eventual) systems requirements get transmitted to households and individuals'?; 4) Why do people have children.'?; 5) Who is the subject of procreation decisions'?; and 6) How is the number of offspring chosen? Finally, I offer guidelines for applying the six questions to the capitalist world-economy.

"Family" has been a contested institution for the first Italian gay movement in the Seventies, sharing the feminist rebellion against patriarchy. It was Arci Gay that started using the word famiglie (in the plural) in the 90s during the political campaigns for a legal recognition of same-sex couples, while more radical groups still contested the term. In the mainstream political debate, the use of the singular family vs the plural families became a sign of closure or opening towards the GLBT movement's requests. National polls and Eurobarometers have tested the level of social acceptance for same-sex unions and adoptions overtime, and are a good source to describe the changing social situation for families with lesbian and gay parents. In 2000s political groups formed specifically around the issue of GLBT parenting. The word omogenitorialitÀ was coined after the french example, and used in the political debate. Notwithstanding the long debate and the diffusion in many countries all over the world of the recognition of same-sex partnerships and parenthood, in Italy no law has been approved yet, and opposition is still strong.

En este articulo me enfrento el dilema político y cultural de la distinción entre matrimonio de conveniencia y matrimonio forzado. Después de realizar una revisión de la literatura, me baso en las entrevistas realizadas en el 2009 en la región italiana de la Emilia-Romagna para presentar las opiniones de los participantes en la investigacion. Con la ayuda de la herramienta teórica del materialismo cultural, argumento que la cuestión de la distinción se puede abordar desde dos puntos de vista diferente: por una parte, la distinción es clara cuando se basa en el reconocimiento (aunque sea tardío) de una imposición a través de la violencia física o psicológica por parte del sujeto, mientras que, por otra parte, el análisis sociológico del proceso de construcción y expresión del consenso presenta un amplia área gris, que es tema de debate tanto en la literatura científica como en la vida cotidiana. Sólo la primera definición de matrimonio forzoso, la subjetiva, puede legitimar el inicio de una acción de intervención concreta por parte de los poderes públicos -pero tal intervención no puede cerrar el debate sobre el valor efectivo del consenso que en muchos casos se da en los matrimonios de conveniencia. ; In questo articolo affronto il dilemma politico e culturale della distinzione tra matrimoni combinati e matrimoni forzati o imposti. Dopo una rassegna della letteratura in materia, utilizzo le interviste raccolte nel 2009 nella regione italiana dell'Emilia-Romagna per presentare le opinioni dei partecipanti alla ricerca. Con l'aiuto dello strumento teorico del materialismo culturale infine argomento che la questione della distinzione può essere affrontata da due punti di vista diversi: da una parte la distinzione è chiara in quanto basata sul riconoscimento (anche tardivo) di un'imposizione tramite violenza fisica o psicologica da parte del soggetto, mentre dall'altra l'analisi sociologica del processo di costruzione ed espressione del consenso rivela una vasta zona grigia, che è oggetto di dibattito nella letteratura scientifica quanto nella vita quotidiana. Solo la prima definizione di matrimonio forzato, quella soggettiva, può legittimare l'inizio di un'azione di intervento concreto da parte dei pubblici poteri - ma ciò non può fermare il dibattito sull'effettivo valore del consenso dato in molti casi di matrimoni combinati. ; In this article I deal with the political and cultural dilemma of the distinction between arranged and forced or imposed marriages. After a review of the literature, interviews collected in 2009 in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna are used to illustrate the views of the participants to the research. With the help of the theoretical tool of cultural materialism, I argue that the question can be approached from two different points of view: on the one hand, the distinction is clear as it is based on the recognition (even a late one) of an imposition by physical or psychological violence on the part of the subject; on the other hand sociological analysis of the process of construction and of expression of consent reveals a vast gray area that is object of debate in the scientific literature as well as in everyday life. Only the first definition of forced marriage, the subjective one, can justify the start of a concrete intervention by the public authorities - but this cannot stop the debate on the actual value of the consent given in many cases of marriages.