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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.
Sommario
Household strategies for survival: an introduction Laurence Fontaine and Jürgen Schlumbohm; Negotiating a living: Essex pauper letters from London, 1800¿1834 Thomas Sokoll; 'It is extreme necessity that makes me do this': some 'survival strategies' of pauper households in London's West End during the early eighteenth century Jeremy Boulton; Using microcredit and restructuring households: two complementary survival strategies in late eighteenth-century Basrcelona Montserrat Carbonell; Poor Jewish families in early modern rural Swabia Sabine Ullmann; Industrious households: survival strategies of artisans in a Southwest German town during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Dennis A. Frey Jr.; Individualization strategies among city dwellers in contemporary Africa: balancing the shortcomings of community solidarity and the individualism of the struggle for survival Alain Marie; Finding the right balance: financial self-help organizations as sources of security and insecurity in urban Indonesia Hotze Lont; Stepping on two boats: urban strategies of Chinese peasants and their children Danyu Wang.
Riassunto
This book considers the 'labouring poor' as actively pursuing a whole range of strategies for survival. Building and maintaining networks of kinship and neighbourhood was equally important, as was negotiating support from institutions. This illuminating book examines the European past using case studies from present-day situations in Asia and Africa.
