Kinship in Neckarhausen, 1700-1870

Description

This book analyzes shifts in the relations of families, households, and individuals in a single German village during the transition to a modern social structure and cultural order. The findings call into question the idea that the more modern society became, the less kin mattered. Rather, the opposite happened. During "modernization," close kin developed a flexible set of exchanges, passing marriage partners, godparents, political favors, work contacts, and financial guarantees back and forth. These new kinship systems were fundamental for class formation. The author also repositions women in the center of the political culture of alliances.

"...a superb piece of scholarship, which speaks to the interests of specialists working in different disciplines with different geographical concentrations." Karl Wegert, Canadian Journal of History "This volume is without doubt the most theoretically well-informed, methodologically most sophisticated, and archivally best researched work in English on the History of community-level kinship in the European past." Anjrejs Plakans, Journal of Interdisciplinary History "Powerful and thought-provoking, Sabean's work has once again clarified our 'thinking about past social processes.'" Journal of Social History