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  3. Property, Production, and Family in Neckarhausen, 1700–1870
  • Cited by 54
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
February 2010
Print publication year:
1991
Online ISBN:
9780511572579
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511572579
Subjects:
Area Studies, Social and Cultural Anthropology, European History after 1450, History, European Studies, Anthropology
Series:
Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology (73)
Information

Book description

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'.

Reviews

"In this excellent study Sabean brings together a wealth of material illuminating in detail the fate of a village and its families during a crucial period in Germany history....this is a superb historical and ethnographic study of a German village, which anthropologists and others will refer to for a long time to come." American Ethnologist

"...Sabean has written by far the best historical study of kinship and family relations in the German countryside." American Historical Review

"There is a great deal in this book to stimulate the imagination...an excellent book." Canadian Journal of History

"...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

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