Publisher description for Household strategies for survival, 1600-2000 : fission, faction, and cooperation / edited by Laurence Fontaine and Jurgen Schlumbohm.
Bibliographic record and links to related information available from the Library of Congress catalog
Information from electronic data provided by the publisher. May be incomplete or contain other coding.
In pre-industrial Europe, as in developing countries today, much of the population had to struggle to survive. The livelihood of all those who lived by the work of their hands was highly insecure. This book considers the 'labouring poor' not simply as victims, but as actively pursuing a whole range of strategies for survival. These strategies included many economic activities. Building and maintaining networks of kinship and neighbourhood was equally important, as was negotiating support from institutions. Sometimes, strategies were successfully integrated within a household, while in other instances the domestic group was split and members preferred to pursue individual strategies. This illuminating book examines the European past using case studies from present-day situations in Asia and Africa.
Library of Congress subject headings for this publication: Working class History, Poor History, Cost and standard of living History, Social history, Household surveys, Working class Europe History, Cost and standard of living Europe History, Households Europe History