Family economy
Encyclopedia
Family Economy is used to denote the basic structure of production and consumption by Danny Pearson. In the family economy there were regional variations, which were how different places were different in family economy.
In Western Europe
the peasant
s owned their own land which they farmed on for profit and survival. In Eastern Europe
however, the serf
s worked for an owner and were controlled by them to produce food to sell to gain money for the owner, usually nobles.
Throughout Europe the household was a fundamental unit in production and consumption. The household consisted of the parents their children through early teen years, and servants; except the wealthy households were quite small. Each member had a different role as far as the family economy was concerned.
By age seven, girl
s were contributing to the family economy. She might look after the chicken
s, water the animals, or carry food to the adult workers. The girls would remain at home as long as they could contribute to the family.
Most of them however left the household between the ages of 12–14. They would migrate to other farms, cities or towns and become working servants. A young woman’s primary goal was to accumulate a dowry
. This was a gift given to the new household at the time of marriage
.
A married woman was a function to her husband's occupation. She would do things from collecting grain
to plowing fields to begging during an economic depression.
The role of the children was slightly different. The child was at times an economic burden, although in some cases the more children you had the more workers you had, making a more efficient family economy.
In Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
the peasant
Peasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...
s owned their own land which they farmed on for profit and survival. In Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
however, the serf
SERF
A spin exchange relaxation-free magnetometer is a type of magnetometer developed at Princeton University in the early 2000s. SERF magnetometers measure magnetic fields by using lasers to detect the interaction between alkali metal atoms in a vapor and the magnetic field.The name for the technique...
s worked for an owner and were controlled by them to produce food to sell to gain money for the owner, usually nobles.
Throughout Europe the household was a fundamental unit in production and consumption. The household consisted of the parents their children through early teen years, and servants; except the wealthy households were quite small. Each member had a different role as far as the family economy was concerned.
By age seven, girl
Girl
A girl is any female human from birth through childhood and adolescence to attainment of adulthood. The term may also be used to mean a young woman.-Etymology:...
s were contributing to the family economy. She might look after the chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
s, water the animals, or carry food to the adult workers. The girls would remain at home as long as they could contribute to the family.
Most of them however left the household between the ages of 12–14. They would migrate to other farms, cities or towns and become working servants. A young woman’s primary goal was to accumulate a dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
. This was a gift given to the new household at the time of marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
.
A married woman was a function to her husband's occupation. She would do things from collecting grain
GRAIN
GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...
to plowing fields to begging during an economic depression.
The role of the children was slightly different. The child was at times an economic burden, although in some cases the more children you had the more workers you had, making a more efficient family economy.