Cultural Capital and Fertility: A Study among Married Women Aged 15-49 in the City of Rasht

During the last few decades, reducing fertility rates to the below replacement level has been widespread in Iran but the experience of Gilan province is significant in this regard. According to the latest estimates in 2020, the total fertility rate of this province was 1 child. The present study aims to investigate the subjective reasons for low fertility rates. The theoretical approach of the study is the approach of Pierre Bourdieu's capital and the concept of "cultural capital" and its constituent components (embodied, objectified and institutionalized). The research method is survey, the data collection tool is questionnaire, the statistical population is married women aged 15-49 in Rasht, the method is random cluster sampling and the sample size is 391. The findings show that childlessness and low childbearing are common reproductive behaviors and the majority of respondents (about 67%) do not decide to reproduce. According to the findings, there is a significant and inverse relationship between cultural capital and all its dimensions (embodied, objectified and institutional) and reproductive behavior (the number of live births per woman) and with increasing cultural capital, fertility decreases. Accordingly, although structural factors play a role in fertility, attitudes, tastes, values and consequently choices are also important and there is a need to harmonize the mental expectations and objective position of families.