Fraternity Among the French Peasantry - Sociability and voluntary associations in the Loire Valley, 1815-1914.

Alan R. H. Baker

Cambrigde University Press

1999

400 páginas

13h 20m

ISBN-10: 0521642132

Using meticulous archival research, Alan Baker challenges the orthodox portrayal of nineteenth-century French peasants as individualists and examines the extent to which they both continued with traditional forms of community action and developed new forms of collective action. More specifically, he examines the development and spread of voluntary associations in Loir-et-Cher, on the southwestern margin of the Paris Basin. He focuses on associations aimed at reducing risk and uncertainty (mainly livestock insurance associations, mutual aid societies, and volunteer fire brigades), and on associations intended to provide agricultural protection.