confined to a small elite and where there is no temptation to view the child as an unfortunate by-product of an act of self-indulgence. In such a society there might be something close to an adequate appreciation of the astounding ability to bring new human beings into existence. People who have little explicit awareness of theoretical considerations regarding procreation may yet have a powerful sense of the rightness and value of bearing and rearing children. They readily step into the role of parent, with the behavioural expectations and obligations implied in the role. One reason they do so is the opinion of others. To contradict societal expectations in so minor a matter as style of clothing is both difficult and relatively rare. (Young people who rebel against their parents’ taste in clothing are usually conforming with a peer group.) To some extent this is a result of our need for social approval or at least to avoid criticism and scorn. Even apart from the need for approval, hearing a particular opinion from all or most of our colleagues can easily move us to suppose that it is right. When people who marry are expected to bear and raise children, and raise them in a particular way, they are likely to conform to those expectations. Another reason why people adopt roles is the example of others, especially the example of persons they admire and with whom they identify. Young people who admire their parents or other role models will tend to identify with them and imitate them. Institutions build habits. I get into the habit of going to the grocery store when food supplies run low. I have been conditioned to do so. Often the habit that develops is not only a physical routine but also an intellectual conviction along with moral strength. There is a sort of collective habit by which, if no other forces intervene, a society will tend to repeat the ways in which activity has been organized in the past, ways that have become familiar and comfortable. Until they are convinced otherwise, people will stay with the practice that has worked rather than entrust their own and their society’s welfare to untested innovations. The supposition of young people that in entering marriage they will bear and raise children is to some extent the result of a collective habit.
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