One of the main topics of nineteenth-century literature is the burning need to have children. The middle class was coming into existence, capitalism was being born, and the middle class needed to transfer its wealth to the next generation. That’s why it was crucial to have the next generation. Charles Dickens’s Dombey and Son, Clarín’s His Only Child, and Galdós’s Fortunata and Jacinta are great examples of such books.
Before, the aristocracy was obsessed with having an heir. But now, all of a sudden, it wasn’t just the aristocracy and the peasants that formed the society. A new, rapidly growing, suddenly literate and increasingly propertied group of people appeared on the scene. A whole cultural apparatus sprang into existence to entertain and express this new large group. The novel, which suddenly became massively popular, spoke to and for this new middle class. Marriage and children, the main vehicles of transmitting wealth, became the main topic. There was suddenly wealth to transmit and a belief that this was a situation that would continue in the future.
Today, the economic conditions that necessitated a large middle class no longer exist. The form of statehood that made it possible no longer exists either. The middle class is getting eroded by this change. A few members of the former middle class are moving upwards, into the newly formed transnational, cosmopolitan elite. The rest are moving downwards, into an undifferentiated mass of superfluous people. They are not much needed by the economy. They are definitely not needed in a way that would let them acquire some kind of property that they would want to pass down to heirs. Instead of a necessity, having children becomes a status symbol for the elite and a severely limiting, near-heroic feat for the former middle classes.
There’s no longer the same kind of need for workers. Consequently, there’s not the same kind of need for children. That’s the world of post-work.
Clarissa's Blog 
Capitalism was mostly invented in the 17th century in Holland and England starting with the corporation (the East India Companies) as well as finance and insurance to raise capital to build the ships and defend against loses such as from storms and pirates. (No Zeihan global trade doesn’t depend on the US Navy.)
The 19th century was when capitalism was reformed, especially by the anti-slavery movement when people needed to justify their inherited wealth.
I think a lot of woke capitalism such as criticism of Nike is a modern version of this. The current generation are inheriting the largest transfer of wealth in human history.
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