This book analyzes shifts in the relations of families, households, and individuals in a single German village during the transition to a modern social structure and cultural order. The findings call into question the idea that the more modern society became, the less kin mattered. Rather, the opposite happened. During "modernization," close kin developed a flexible set of exchanges, passing marriage partners, godparents, political favors, work contacts, and financial guarantees back and forth. These new kinship systems were fundamental for class formation. The author also repositions women...
This book analyzes shifts in the relations of families, households, and individuals in a single German village during the transition to a modern socia...
One of the most important works in social history of recent decades, this landmark study deals with the ordinary experiences of people who lived in a village in Southern Germany. By focusing on the internal relations of the family, David Sabean explores the ways in which the family shaped both property and production in Neckarhausen. Situated on the upper Neckar river, between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alp, Neckarhausen provides a classic example of small peasant agriculture characterized by ever more intensive use of soils as succeeding families worked ever smaller plots of land. In...
One of the most important works in social history of recent decades, this landmark study deals with the ordinary experiences of people who lived in a ...
