Fraternity among the French Peasantry: Sociability and Voluntary Associations in the Loire Valley, 1815–1914

ISBN-13: 9780521642132 / Angielski / Twarda / 1999 / 396 str.

Alan R. H. Baker (University of Cambridge)

Opis

Using meticulous archival research, Alan Baker challenges the orthodox portrayal of nineteenth-century French peasants as individualists and examines the extent to which they both continued with traditional forms of community action and developed new forms of collective action. More specifically, he examines the development and spread of voluntary associations in Loir-et-Cher, on the southwestern margin of the Paris Basin. He focuses on associations aimed at reducing risk and uncertainty (mainly livestock insurance associations, mutual aid societies, and volunteer fire brigades), and on associations intended to provide agricultural protection.

Recenzje

'Without doubt, Baker has produced path-breaking work which demonstrates how voluntary associations 'were significant in shaping new ways of thinking and living, and important in refashioning social relationships''. Hugh Cloud, Economic History Review

Spis treści

Preface; 1. Peasants and peasantry in nineteenth-century France; 2. The theory and practice of fraternal association in nineteenth-century France; 3. Loir-et-Cher during the nineteenth century: period, place and people; 4. Insurance societies; 5. Mutual aid societies; 6. Fire-fighting Corps; 7. Anti-Phylloxera syndicates; 8. Agricultural associations; 9. Synthesis: conclusions, comparisons and conjectures.