Property, Production, and Family in Neckarhausen, 1700–1870

This landmark study of family relations in a village in southern Germany is the product of deep reflection on anthropological approaches to historical problems.

David Warren Sabean (Author)

9780521385381, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 January 1991

537 pages
23.6 x 15.8 x 2.9 cm, 0.83 kg

"...merits close reading by everyone working on the family, women, agricultural change and property not only in continental Europe, but anywhere in the world. It will even make the type of generalizations we so easily make in the context of teaching Western Civ much more questionable, requiring the rewriting of lectures we had thought satisfactorily up-to-date. That extra work may make many of us hope that Sabean takes as long to finish his book on kinship as he did this one, for it will certainly be just as challenging." Merry E. Wiesner, Journal of Social History

This landmark study of family relations in a village in southern Germany is the product of deep reflection on anthropological approaches to historical problems. David Sabean is concerned to recover the tenor of marital relationships within a particular context of production and surplus extraction; he is concerned equally with capturing the logic of gender and generational conflict within strategies of subsistence and survival, the fabric of rights and obligations, and the coherence of life trajectories. Sabean's analysis of Neckarhausen is a challenge to conventional notions about modernization and family and kinship. As population increased and an influx of captial brought about a reorganization of agricultural production, for managing the forces of social reproduction. Peasants, it turns out, were innovative and flexible, experimenting with new commodity markets. The 'green revolution' at the dawn of the modern era is shown to have had a tremendous impact on the utilization of labor. Intensification of agriculture completely reorganized women's schedules, bringing about a new labor discipline and a crisis in marital relationships. Arguing for the concept of 'property' as a fundamental tool for social analysis, Sabean examines the peculiarities of property devolution, the distribution of tools, and the sale of land. His book is a stunning example of history written from the perspective of 'everyday life'.

List of tables
Abbreviations
Abbreviations of sources
Weights, measures, and coinage
On reading kinship diagrams
Glossary
Preface
Introduction
1. Productive forces and social differentiation
2. Magistrates and records
3. The ideology of the house
4. Patterns of marital conflict
5. The changing context of production
6. Marital relations in the context of production
7. Marital estate
8. State and estate
9. Marital fund
10. Generational transition
11. Reciprocities of labor and property
12. Reciprocities in parent - child relations
13. Authority, solidarity, and abuse, 14. Family charges on the transfer of property
15. The real estate market
16. Kinship and the sale of property
Conclusion
Appendix
Bibliography
Index.

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