Peasant families in Northern Russia: nineteenth-century regional patterns

Abstract

'In the light of case studies on Central Russia, with its accent on handicrafts and migrant wage-earning, and the agrarian provinces of the south, scholars interested in the peasant family are inclined to speak of two regional models. This paper considers household arrangements in 10 northern-Russian communities in the 1830s and 1890s, drawing particular attention to the combinations of living arrangements with economic and institutional frameworks. By combining the findings with data on the economic areas of the Northern Region, it is possible to formulate a picture of the geographical distribution of living arrangements in these two periods. In addition to family systems that existed elsewhere in European Russia, evidence is also found for two previously undescribed patterns.' (author's abstract)