Two Kinds of Preindustrial Household Formation System

Available data strongly suggest that the household formation systems of all populations in preindustrial northwest Europe shared common features that distinguished these populations from those of India China and many other preindustrial societies. Using censuses and similar data sources this essay describes and contrasts household formation rules common to northwest Europe simple household systems of the 17th and 18th centuries with those common to joint household systems. In northwest Europe late marriage was common for both sexes and married people were almost always in charge of their own household (with the husband as head). Before marriage young people often circulated between households as servants. In joint household systems both sexes married early and the young couple usually joined the household of which the husband was a member. Joint households (those comprising more than 1 married couple) had a tendency to split. The paper devotes special attention to the way in which the splitting of joint households operated in different societies. Another section shows how a substantial proportion of young people in preindustrial northwest Europe were servants at some stage in their lives. It is suggested that the institution of service may have been an essential part of the mechanism that by varying age and extent of marriage adjusted fertility to prevailing economic conditions. (authors) (summaries in ENG FRE SPA)