Journal of History & THE EUROPEAN FAMILY AND ECONOMY: CENTRAL THEMES AND ISSUES

ABSTRACT: This article explores ways in ~vliich recent work on the European peasant household by economic historians, demographers, anthropologists, sociologists and wonien 5 historians fits together. The main rinddying thread is the interworking of economic factors with various aspects of family structure and horisehold strategies. It examines the effects of institutional and econoniic factors on family structure. It then examines the effects of family structure on inheritance strategies, demographic strategies, and econonric strategies within the household. It traces the growth of protoindustrialization theory and evaluates its iitility in a revised form. It explores the effects of tfieprotoindustrial hoicsehold on the broader economy arid on family power and affective relationships such as patriarchy, gender roles, attitudes toward children, and sibling relatiotisliips. The purpose of this article is to reflect upon how the intense study of the peasant household in Europe has changed over the last decades; how the various studies by economic historians, anthropologists, demographers, sociologists, and women’s historians might fit together; and to explore some of my own thoughts on the field Richard L Rudolph is Professor of History at the University of hfinnesota. His primary research interests are the social and economic history of Russian and of eastern and central Europe. focusing on the interrelationship of economic change and the peasant household. He is currently working on a history of the family in Russia and Eastern Europe