European Family History

ABSTRACT

Hajnal's and Laslett's models of family and household have dominated research for over three decades. While a growing body of scholarship has questioned the operation of these models in detail, the view of the uniqueness of the West with its small families still has wide currency. The present work explores the ‘East–West’ paradigm as used by family historians, challenging both the evidence and its conceptual premise. It demonstrates the cultural roots of this thinking and argues that socio-economic factors are much more important determinants of household structure than geographical and cultural ones for an understanding of families in the past.

Keywords:

• European family history
• household structure
• zadruga
• cultural stereotypes
• East and West