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In Between Market and Charity: Child Domestic Work and Changing Labor Relations in Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Istanbul
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 June 2020
Abstract
This article focuses on children taken by Istanbulite families for upbringing and employment in the Ottoman capital during the 1800–1900 period. It suggests that domestic child labor which was shaped by the concept of ‘charity’ and economic interests during the first half of the nineteenth century progressively turned into wage labor during the second half of the century. The study claims that the nineteenth century witnessed a transformation of labor relations in the domestic service market, implying the transition from reciprocal to commodified labor. The labor of children employed in domestic services underwent a monetization process throughout the nineteenth century. Parallel to this monetization, the status of children under foster care or in domestic service came to be determined by standardized legal contracts.
- Type
- Changing Labor Relations in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © International Labor and Working-Class History, Inc., 2020
Footnotes
This study is a part of research project (No: 114K862) funded by Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK). We thank Hülya Canbakal, Sara Nur Yıldız, Jan Lucassen, Karin Hofmeester and anonymous reviewers for their suggestions.
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