Historic European Household Structures and the Capitalist World-Economy

Abstract

This study approaches the history of household patterns in early modern Europe from the perspective of Wallersteinian world-system theory. It is shown that the European core during this time was characterized predominantly by simple nuclear households. By contrast, the European periphery and semiperiphery were far more likely to be characterized by complex households. We explain these relationships in terms of the mode of labor control predominating in each zone of the world-economy. Simple nuclear households become the norm where labor is being freed from traditional feudal bonds and where capitalist labor markets exist. Complex households are most likely to persist under traditional feudal relationships because they constitute adaptations to the labor needs that arise under such circumstances. Complex households are also common, although somewhat less so, where sharecropping is a predominant mode of labor control.