Household Forms and Living Standards in Preindustrial France: From Models to Realities

Abstract

The study raises the question of whether it is possible to verify Rowntree's and Chayanov's models of recurrent poverty and economic tensions during the life course of proletarian families, by using recent French studies on peasants and urban workers since the seventeenth century. Using evidence from preindustrial France about the poor, the study examines family size and the amplitude of social differentiation in the rural and urban context. The number of children living at home does not appear to have a negative influence on the standard of living. No correlation was found in Rheims between the appearance or nonappearance of families on the tax rolls and the vital evolution of the family life course. These findings indicate the absence of family-regulated poverty over time.