European Society Eastern New Mexico University欧洲社会东新墨西哥大学波特尔斯校园.ppt

European Society in the 18th Century Ancien regime (previous government or state) Rural Society Seigneurial rights, peasant obligations Urban Society Family Economy Population Growth Accepted practices challenged by the Enlightenment Society of the Old Regime “Mankind are happier in a state of inequality and subordination.” Dr. Samuel Johnson Ancien Regime: European society before 1789 Hierarchy and stratification Privilege of aristocracy and churches Foundation resting upon rural laboring force Slow challenge of urban society European Society in the 18th Century Nobility Daniel Defoe: Gentlemen were such who live on estates, and without the mechanism of employment England (200 families, only title holder considered noble) France (ca. 4,000, all members of family considered noble) Privileges (exemption from the taille in France, for example) Rural society Nobles (aristocrats with titles of nobility: barons, counts or earls, dukes) hold seigneurial rights Gentry (untitled aristocrats in Britain) Yeoman farmers (wealthier farmers, owning some land) Tenant farmers (England) and peasants (Continent) Continental peasantry: owe feudal dues, esp. labor obligation Fluid bottom: laboring poor, prostitutes, vagrants, and thieves Life in the Cities Life in the Cities: Rising bourgeoisie (wealth political ambition) Spectrum of merchant class (ship owner vs. tradesman) Reflects growing trade and consumption of new goods (sugar, tea, coffee, rum, tobacco, cotton) Urban laboring poor (journeymen, domestic servants…) Marginalized destitute (beggars, vagrants, criminals) Poverty of the city Property, crime, and prison Population growth after 1750: 1750: 140 million 1790: 190 million (26% increase in 40 years) Family in 18th century Europe Trends Family economy its vulnerability Foundling hospitals In 1770s 1/3 of all babies born in Paris abandoned Danger of childbirth New ideas about childhood Views about women Population Change (millions), 1750-1790 European Society