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

A meticulously researched 1999 study of the community and collective action of French peasants in the Loir-et-Cher region in the nineteenth century.

Alan R. H. Baker (Author)

9780521642132, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 March 1999

396 pages, 23 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm, 0.75 kg

'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

The individualism of the French peasantry during the nineteenth century has frequently been asserted as one of its most striking characteristics. In this 1999 book, Alan Baker challenges this orthodox view and demonstrates the extent to which peasants continued with traditional, and developed new, forms of collective action. He examines representations of the peasantry and discusses the discourse of fraternity in nineteenth-century France in general before considering specifically the historical development, geographical diffusion and changing functions of fraternal voluntary associations in Loir-et-Cher between 1815 and 1914. Alan Baker focuses principally upon associations aimed at reducing risk and uncertainty and upon associations intended to provide agricultural protection. A wide range of new voluntary associations were established in Loir-et-Cher - and indeed throughout rural France - during the nineteenth century. Their historical geography throws new light upon the sociability, upon the changing mentalités, of French peasants, and upon the role of fraternal associations in their struggle for survival.

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.

Subject Areas: Historical geography [HBTP]