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Proto-industrialization, sharecropping, and outmigration in nineteenth-century rural Westphalia.
- Source :
-
The Journal of peasant studies [J Peasant Stud] 2001; Vol. 29 (1), pp. 1-30. - Publication Year :
- 2001
-
Abstract
- This article examines proto-industrialization and the social relations of production in a rural parish in eastern Westphalia that experienced large-scale outmigration to the American Midwest in the mid-nineteenth century. Relying on local and individual-level Prussian tax and emigration records, the study identifies and analyses the socio-economic background of the migrant cohort in terms of proto-industrial activity and peasant economy. Preceded by the downfall of domestic textile industries due to British industrial competition, outmigration was highly selective, drawing individuals from specific socio-economic niches. Landless sharecroppers - linked by debt and labour obligations to better-off peasants and landlords - were underrepresented in the migration, while smallholding peasants and day-labourers - 'free' to commodify their labour power through the sale of home-produced textile products or seasonal migratory labour - were overrepresented. The findings of the study have implications for an understanding of the localized nature of the relations of production in proto-industrial regions, the historical nature of German emigrations, and the dynamics of the German transition to industrial capitalism in the nineteenth century.
- Subjects :
- Agriculture economics
Agriculture education
Agriculture history
Agriculture legislation & jurisprudence
Crops, Agricultural economics
Crops, Agricultural history
Developing Countries economics
Developing Countries history
Efficiency physiology
Emigrants and Immigrants education
Emigrants and Immigrants history
Emigrants and Immigrants legislation & jurisprudence
Emigrants and Immigrants psychology
Emigration and Immigration history
Emigration and Immigration legislation & jurisprudence
Germany ethnology
Government Regulation history
History, 19th Century
Industry economics
Industry education
Industry history
Industry legislation & jurisprudence
Local Government
Taxes economics
Taxes history
Taxes legislation & jurisprudence
Commerce economics
Commerce education
Commerce history
Commerce legislation & jurisprudence
Rural Health history
Rural Population history
Social Change history
Socioeconomic Factors
Transients and Migrants education
Transients and Migrants history
Transients and Migrants legislation & jurisprudence
Transients and Migrants psychology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0306-6150
- Volume :
- 29
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- The Journal of peasant studies
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 18546587
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150412331311019a