Le monde des pauvres à Paris au XVIIIe siècle

The World of the Poor in Paris during the Eighteenth Century Facing the world of the haves the asocial way of life of the have-nots poses threat Thus the judicial archives only reflect the criminal life of the sub-proletariat which has definitively fallen below the threshold of poverty. Although destitution is generally equated with a libertine existence, one of debauchery, fornication and abandoned children, in fact, misfortune tends to force into the streets those who were unable to prepare for hard times during their active years. Abandoned wives, widows, the invalid, the unemployed, victims of work-related accidents, bankrupts and deserters from the four corners of the kingdom enter the gates of the capital as outlaws, and find themselves reduced to the largesse of the Parisians. While the history of the Parisian sub -proletariat during the Enlightenment evades the strict accounting of statistical demography, nevertheless, the judicial archives expose the behavior of the poor to analysis. There one learns that Paris acquits itself badly of its debt to the needy, refuses to aid certain categories of the ill or invalid who seek hospitalization at the "Hôtel-Dieu", the "Quinze -Vingts", or the "Hôpital Général", and grants a humiliating charity — in any case one which is hardly humane — , to the pauper, for whom the absence of funds, a fixed domicile, or employment already aggravate the situation. Ultimately, if this physically diminished world commands the attention of the forces of order, it is because these beggars are obliged to assure their survival at the expense of organized society.Romon Christian. Le monde des pauvres à Paris au XVIIIe siècle. In: Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations. 37ᵉ année, N. 4, 1982. pp. 729-763