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7 - Class divisions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2009

Frank McArdle
Affiliation:
Hewitt Associates
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Summary

The members of the community of Altopascio fell within three classes, the peasantry, the leaseholders, and the notables. The term ‘class’ will not be used to identify groups of comparable income, but rather persons who share the same general relationship to the productive process. That relationship not only constitutes a common interest among members of the group but it also serves to differentiate the group from other ‘classes’ of the society with their own particular role in the system of production.

The peasants were the primary producers of the estate's revenues, so it is only fitting that a discussion of social classes and social structure should begin with them.

What, though, do we mean by ‘peasantry’? It is a start, but surely not enough, to describe peasants as rural cultivators. The anthropologist Professor Eric Wolf has made a distinction between peasants and other rural cultivators. Peasants are not farmers, i.e., entrepreneurs engaged in the business of commercial agriculture. The peasant is instead primarily occupied in satisfying the subsistence needs of his household. Professor Wolf also makes a helpful distinction between peasants and primitives:

In primitive society, producers control the means of production, including their own labor, and exchange their own labor and its products for the culturally defined equivalent goods and services of others. […]

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Altopascio
A Study in Tuscan Rural Society, 1587-1784
, pp. 156 - 181
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1978

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  • Class divisions
  • Frank McArdle
  • Book: Altopascio
  • Online publication: 25 October 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511561221.008
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  • Class divisions
  • Frank McArdle
  • Book: Altopascio
  • Online publication: 25 October 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511561221.008
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Class divisions
  • Frank McArdle
  • Book: Altopascio
  • Online publication: 25 October 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511561221.008
Available formats
×