Between the Fields and the City
Women, Work, and Family in Russia, 1861–1914

Charts the personal dimensions of economic social change by examining the migration of Russian peasant women's from the village to the city in the years between 1861 and the outbreak of World War I.

Barbara Alpern Engel (Author)

9780521442367, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 February 1994

272 pages
23.6 x 15.9 x 2 cm, 0.529 kg

"Engel's book is a valuable contribution to our understanding of peasant culture, gender, urbanization, and the circumstances faced by Russia's working class. Her perceptive and sensitive use of disparate sources, including comparative works on women in Europe and fascinating archival evidence for the experiences of individual female peasants, is particularly noteworthy. Engel also sheds light on the perplexing issue of working women's limited political involvement." Laurie Bernstein, Labor History

This book charts the personal dimensions of economic social change by examining the significance and consequences of Russian peasant women's migration from the village to the factory and/or city in the years between the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 and the outbreak of World War I. The author uses case studies to explore the effects of urbanisation and industrialisation on the relationship of the migrant to the peasant household, and on family life and personal relations. It differs from other studies in looking at both village and city; in the treatment of personal life, and in drawing on a wealth of archival data, most of it for the first time. The focus on women and the family provides a fresh perspective on the social history of late Imperial Russia.

List of illustrations
List of tables
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Patriarchy and its discontents
2. The woman's side
3. Out to work
4. Between the fields and the factory
5. On their own in the city
6. Women in the margins/marginalising women
7. Making a home in the city
Conclusion
A note on sources
Index.

Subject Areas: Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], European history [HBJD]