Belgium; Economic stress; Pays de Herve; Marriage; Migration; Mortality
Abstract :
[en] In the early nineteenth century, eastern Belgium was the first region on the European continent to follow the British example of industrialization based on textiles, coal, and iron. Rural areas were faced with old problems and new opportunities. On the one hand, they faced intensified population pressure due to population growth and the decline of proto-industrial production. On the other hand, new industrial jobs in growing cities beckoned rural workers. Examines the range of demographic responses to economic stress in this transitional period through an analysis of two very different rural societies. The correlations between prices and demographic behaviours in the early nineteenth century mostly disappeared after 1850. Rural people were able to shift from a ‘defensive logic’, which families used to protect themselves against hard times, to positive choices intended to take advantage of new opportunities.
Research Center/Unit :
Laboratoire de Démographie
Disciplines :
History
Author, co-author :
Oris, Michel; Université de Genève - UNIGE
Alter, George; University of Michigan > Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)
Neven, Muriel ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences historiques > Département des sciences historiques
Language :
English
Title :
Individuals and communities facing economic stresses: a comparison of two rural areas in 19th century Belgium
Publication date :
2005
Main work title :
Living Standards in the Past: New Perspectives on Well-Being in Asia and Europe
Alter, G. (1984) 'Work and Income in the Family Economy: Belgium, 1853 and 1891'. Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 15(2): 255-76.
Alter, G. (1988) Family and the Female Life Course. The Women of Verviers, Belgium, 1849-1880. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Alter, G. (1996) 'The European Marriage Pattern as Solution and Problem:Household of the Elderly in Verviers, Belgium, 1831', in A. Bideau, A. Perrenoud, K. A. Lynch, and G. Brunet (eds.), Les systèmes démographiques du passé. Lyon: Programme Rhône-Alpes de Recherches en Sciences sociales, pp. 4-19.
Alter, G. (1999) 'Vieillir dans les ménages d'une ville industrielle: l'impact de l'âge de migration (Verviers, début du XIXe siècle)'. Annales de Démographie Historique, 2: 9-29.
Alter, G. Capron, C., Neven, M., and Oris, M. (2002) 'When Dad Died: Household Economy and Family Culture in 19th Century East Belgium', in R. Derosas and M. Oris (eds.), When Dad Died. Individuals and Families Coping with Family Stress. Bern: Peter Lang, pp. 401-32.
Alter, G. and Oris, M. (1999a). 'Access to Marriage in the East Ardennes During the 19th Century', in I. Devos and L. Kennedy (eds.), Marriage and Rural Economy. Western Europe Since 1400. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 133-51.
Alter, G. and Oris, M. (1999b) 'Fertility and Fecundity in 19th Century Ardennes'. Social Science History Association Meeting, Fort Worth, 11-15 November.
Alter, G. and Oris, M. (2000) 'Mortality and Economic Stress. Individual and Household Responses in a Nineteenth-Century Belgian Village', in T. Bengtsson and O. Saito (eds.), Population and Economy: From Hunger to Modern Economic Growth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 335-70.
Alter, G., Oris, M. and Servais, P. (1999) 'Prices, Crises, and Mortality in the Belgian Ardennes'. Unpublished paper, PIRT, Indiana University.
André, R. and Pereira-Roque, J. (1974) La démographie de la Belgique au 19e siècle. Brussels: Université de Bruxelles.
Bengtsson, T. (2004) 'Living Standards and Economic Stress', in T. Bengtsson, C. Campbell, J. Z. Lee et al., Life Under Pressure. Mortality and Living Standards in Europe and Asia, 1700-1900. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
Bengtsson, T. and Campbell, C. (1998) 'Microanalysis of Effects of Short-term Economic Stress on Mortality', in Núñes, C. E. (ed.), Debates and Controversies in Economic History. Proceedings of the Twelfth International Economic History Congress. Madrid: Fundación Ramón Areces e Fundación Fomento de la Historia Económica, pp. 115-31.
Bengtsson, T. and Saito, O. (2000) 'Introduction', in T. Bengtsson and O. Saito (eds.), Population and Economy: From Hunger to Modern Economic Growth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1-20.
Bruneel, C., Daelemans, F., Dorban, M., and Vandenbroeke, C. (1987) 'Population et subsistances dans l'espace belge, XVIe-XIXe siècles', in A. Fauve-Chamoux (ed.), Evolution agraire et croissance démographique. Liège:Ordina, pp. 293-324.
Capron, C. and Oris, M. (2000) 'Ruptures de cohabitation entre parents et enfants dans les villes et les campagnes du Pays de Liège au 19e siècle', in A. Bideau, P. Bourdelais, and J. Légaré (eds.), De l'usage des seuils. Structures par âge et âges de la vie. Paris: Société de Démographie historique, pp. 229-69.
Degrève, D. (1982) Le commerce extérieur de la Belgique 1830-1913-1939. Présentation critique des données statistiques. Brussel: Académie royale de Belgique.
Deprez, M. (1948) 'Essai sur le mouvement des prix et des revenus en Belgique au début du 19e siècle'. Ph.D. Thesis in History, University of Liège.
De Saint-Moulin, L. (1969) La construction et la propriété des maisons expressions des structures sociales. Seraing depuis le début du XIXe siècle. Brussels: Crédit communal.
Desama, C. (1985) Population et révolution industrielle. Evolution des structures démographiques à Verviers dans la première moitié du 19e siècle. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.
Devos, I. (1999) 'Marriage and Economic Conditions Since 1700: The Belgian case', in I. Devos and L. Kennedy (eds.), Marriage and Rural Economy. Western Europe since 1400. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 101-32.
Dillen, K. (2001) 'From One Textile Centre to Another: Migrations from the District of Ghent to the City of Armentières During the Second Half of the 19th Century. A Closer Look at the Underlying Mechanisms of 19th Century Migration'. Revue Belge d'Histoire Contemporaine, 31: 3-4, 431-52.
Gadisseur, J. (1981) 'Le triomphe industriel', in L'industrie en Belgique. Deux siècles d'évolution, 1780-1980. Ghent: Crédit Communal de Belgique & Société Nationale de Crédit à l'Industrie, pp. 75-84.
Gadisseur, J. (1990) Le produit physique de la Belgique 1830-1913. Présentation critique des données statistiques. Introduction générale. Agriculture. Brussels: Palais des Académies.
Goosens, M. (1992) The economic development of Belgian agriculture: a regional perspective, 1812-1846. Brussels: Académie royale de Belgique.
Guinanne, T. W. (1997) The Vanishing Irish. Households, migration, and the rural economy in Ireland, 1850-1914. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Gutmann, M. P. (1988) Towards the Modern Economy. Early Industry in Europe, 1500-1800. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Harvey, A. C. and Jaeger, A. (1993) 'Detrending, Stylized Facts and the Business Cycle'. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 8: 231-47.
Haesenne-Peremans, N. (1981) La pauvreté dans la région liégeoise à l'aube de la révolution industrielle. Un siècle de tension sociale (1730-1830). Paris:Les Belles-Lettres.
Hélin, E. (1993) 'Vie et mort des bassins industriels', in E. Hélin, Recherches et essais (1947-1990). Liège: C.I.P.L, pp. 121-48.
Hoyois, G. (1981) L'Ardenne et l'Ardennais. L'évolution économique et sociale d'une région. Brussels: Editions culture et civilisations.
Langewiesche, D. and Lenger, F. (1987) 'Internal Migration: Persistence and Mobility', in K. J. Bade (ed.), Population, Labor and Migration in 19th and 20th Century Germany. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, pp. 87-100.
Leboutte, R. (1987) 'Au carrfour des transitions: fécondité, niveau de vie et culture populaire'. Annales de Démographie historique, pp. 175-211.
Lee, J. Z. and Campbell, C. (1997) Fate and Fortune in Rural China. Social Organization and Population Behavior in Liaoning 1774-1873. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.
Lesthaeghe, R. (1977) The Decline of Belgium Fertility, 1800-1970. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Moch, L. P. (1992) Moving Europeans. Migrations in Western Europe since 1650. Bloomington-Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
Neven, M. (1997) 'Epidemiology of Town and Countryside. Mortality and Causes of Death in East Belgium, 1850-1910'. Revue Belge d'Histoire Contemporaine, 27(1-2): 39-82.
Neven, M. (2000) 'Dynamique individuelle et reproduction familiale au sein d'une société rurale. Le Pays de Herve dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle'. Ph.D. thesis in History, University of Liège, 3 vols.
Neven, M. (2003) 'Terra Incognita: Migration of the Elderly and the Nuclear Hardship Hypothesis'. The History of the Family. An International Quarterly, 8(2): 267-95.
Ó Gráda, C. (1993) Ireland Before and After the Famine: Explorations in Economic History, 1808-1925, 2nd edn. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Oris, M. (1994) Bibliographie de l'histoire des populations belges. Bilan des travaux des origines à nos jours, Liège: Derouaux Ordina.
Oris, M. (1997) 'Le champ migratoire de Seraing entre 1857 et 1900. L'impact de la dépression économique sur l'attraction d'une grande ville industrielle'. Revue du Nord, 79 (April/September): 531-47.
Oris, M. (1998) 'A Brief Discussion on the Economic Series in 19th Century Belgium'. Eurasia Project on Population and Family History. Working Paper Series 19.
Oris, M., Derosas, R., and Breschi, M. (2004), 'Infant and Child Mortality', in T. Bengtsson, C. Campbell, J. Z. Lee et al., Life Under Pressure. Mortality and Living Standards in Europe and Asia, 1700-1900. Cambridge. MA: MIT Press, pp. 359-98.
Patriarca, S. (1986) 'Farmers, spinners, weavers and their families:protoindustry and the factory system in Charneux, Belgium, 1770-1870'. Masters thesis in History, Austin, TX: University of Texas.
Preston, S. H. (1996) 'Population Studies of Mortality'. Population Studies, 50(3): 525-36.
Reher, D. S. (1997) Perspectives on the Family in Spain. Past and Present. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Scholliers, P. (1989) 'Introduction', in P. Scholliers (ed.), Real Wages in 19th and 20th Century Europe: Historical and Comparative Perspectives. New York/Oxford: Berg, pp. 3-12.
Scholliers, P. (1991) 'Le travail des femmes mariées et le niveau de vie en Belgique au 19e siècle à travers les budgets de familles ouvrières', in Société Belge de Démographie (ed.), Historiens et populations. Liber Amicorum Etienne Hélin. Louvain la Neuve: Académia, pp. 729-45.
Scholliers, P. (1993) 'The Cost of Living in Nineteenth Century Belgium'. Studia Historica Oeconomica. Liber Amicorum Herman Van der Wee. Leuven:Universitaire Pers, pp. 221-38.
Scholliers, P. (1994) 'Pain et inégalités sociales aux XIXe et XXe siècles', in Une vie de pain. Faire, penser et dire le pain en Europe. Brussel: Crédit Communal, pp. 111-23.
Scholliers, P. (1996) 'Real Wages and the Standard of Living in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries'. Vierteljahrschrift fur Sozial- und Wirtschaftesgeschichte, 83(3): 307-33.
Ségalen, M. (1980) Mari et femme dans la société paysanne. Paris:Flammarion.
Ségalen, M. (1987) 'Life-course patterns and peasant culture in France: a critical assessment'. Journal of Family History, 12(1-3): 215-23.
Servais, P. (1982a) La rente constituée dans le ban de Herve au 18e siècle. Brussels: Crédit communal de Belgique.
Servais, P. (1982b) 'Industries rurales et structures agraires: le cas de l'Entre-Vesdre-et-Meuse aux 18e et 19e siècles'. Revue belge d'Histoire contemporaine, 13: 179-206.
Servais, P. (1982c) 'Les structures agraires du Limbourg et des Pays d'Outre-Meuse du 17e au 19e siècle'. Annales E.S.C., 37(2): 303-19.
Servais, P. (forthcoming) 'Transmissions patrimoniales en période de transitions industrielles: les campagnes liégeoises au XIXe siècle', in P. Bertrand and A. Amalric (eds.), Actes du Colloque 'Pouvoir de familles et familles de pouvoir'. Toulouse: Université de Toulouse.
Vandenbroeke, C. (1984) Vlaamse koopkracht gisteren, vandaag en morgen. Leuven: Kritak.
van den Eeckhout, P. and Scholliers, P. (1997) 'Social History in Belgium: Old Habits and New Perspectives'. Tijdschrift voor Sociale Geschiedenis, 23(2): 147-81.
Van der Herten, B., Oris, M., and Rogiers, J. (eds.) (1995) La Belgique industrielle en 1850. Brussels: Crédit Communal.
Vandermotten, C. and Vandewattyne, P. (1985) 'Les étapes de la croissance et de la formation des armatures urbaines en Belgique'. La Cité belge d'aujourd'hui: quel avenir? Bulletin trimestriel du Crédit Communal de Belgique, 39(154): 41-62.
Vanhaute, E. (1992) Heiboeren: bevolking, arbeid en inkomen in de 19de eeuwse Kempen. Brussels: Free University of Brussels Press.
Vliebergh, E. and Ulens, R. (1912) L'Ardenne. La population agricole au XIXe siècle. Brussels: A.Dewit.
Yoo, Tae-Ho (1996) 'L'effet de la conjoncture économique sur la nuptialité en Belgique'. Recherches économiques de Louvain, 32: 469-86.
