The Problem of the Application of the Term Second Serfdom in the History of Central Eastern Europe: The Case of Lithuanian Economy in the 16th-19th Centuries (until 1861) (original) (raw)
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The Romanian Journal for Baltic and Nordic Studies, 2013
The article is devoted to the presentation of the economic conceptions of the most influential non-Marxist (Karl Bücher, Max Weber) and neo-Marxists (Witold Kula, Immanuel Wallerstein) disclosing their analytical value in the investigations of the typologization of Lithuania‘s social economic history in the 16th-19th centuries (up to 1861). It is established that K. Bücher’s and M. Weber’s conceptions of economic development are best suited to analyze the qualitative changes in the organization of the economic life of the most developed countries in Western Europe (primarily – England) rather than the socio-economic reality of the less developed countries. For the research of the latter better suited are the Marxist (W. Kula‘s model of the feudal economy) and the neo-Marxist (I. Wallerstein’s capitalist world-system conception) concepts analyzing the economic development of less developed countries. The typological diagnosis of Lithuania‘s social economic history in the 16th-19th ce...
The Romanian Journal for Baltic and Nordic Studies, 2012
This paper desires to draw attention to some stereotypes that simplify perception of historical reality, but nevertheless still prevail in historiography. There is a very common statement about the so-called second edition of serfdom (based on manorial-serve economy) that spread all around the Eastern Europe region in the 16th century. This turn in social development is usually explained as determined by internal as well as external factors. If the problem considered is placed under Marxist views, one can distinguish two extreme poles: traditional Marxism and world-system approach. Supporters of traditional Marxism emphasize internal factors while adherents of world-system attitude accentuate external factors. The author argues that the regime of serfdom established in Moldova until 1600 is not consistent with the classic model. In this case, one can talk only about another type of second serfdom that differs from that of Eastern Germany as well as from Central Europe. It would be a...
The Romanian Journal for Baltic and Nordic Studies, 2018
The paper compares for the first time in historiography the Lithuanian manorial-serf economy and Latin American hacienda economic systems of the second half of the 18th century to the second half of the 19th century in the context of the capitalist world system (CWS). The main focus will be on the explication in macro level of similarities and differences of structures and development trends of these systems. The analyzed period corresponds to the stage of both the dominance and intensification of manorial-serf economy in Lithuania and predominance and intensification of hacienda economy in Latin American countries and it was determined by the same factor of the industrial revolution. The study confirms the thesis that these economic systems belonged to typologically closed economic kind (they were focused on the serfdom method of production) in the global division of labor. It shows that both Lithuanian manorial-serf economy and haciendas of Latin America were not typical feudal en...
a cura di Simonetta Cavaciocchi Firenze University Press 2014 Schiavitù e servaggio nell'economia europea. Secc. XI-XVIII = Serfdom and Slavery in the European Economy. 11 th -18 th Centuries : atti della "Quarantecinquesima settimana di studi", 14-18 aprile 2013 / a cura di Simonetta Cavaciocchi. -Firenze : Firenze University Press, 2014. (Atti delle Settimane di Studi e altri Convegni, 45) http://digital.casalini.it/ ISBN (online) ISBN (print) La Settimana di Studi è stata realizzata con il contributo di: Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali La Fondazione Datini si dichiara fin d'ora disponibile ad assolvere i suoi obblighi per l'utilizzo delle immagini contenute nel volume nei confronti di eventuali aventi diritto.
2020
The aim of this book is to explain economic dualism in the history of modern Europe. The emergence of the manorial-serf economy in the Bohemia, Poland, and Hungary in the 16th and the 17th centuries was the result of a cumulative impact of various circumstantial factors. The weakness of cities in Central Europe disturbed the social balance – so characteristic for Western-European societies – between burghers and the nobility. The political dominance of the nobility hampered the development of cities and limited the influence of burghers, paving the way to the rise of serfdom and manorial farms. These processes were accompanied by increased demand for agricultural products in Western Europe.
MPIDR WORKING PAPER WP 2014-008 AUGUST 2014
Can the 16th and early 17th centuries in Poland‐Lithuania and some other east‐central European countries be characterized as a “Golden Age” in human capital? We trace the development of a specific human capital indicator during this period: numeracy. We draw upon new evidence for Poland and Russia from the early 17th century onwards; and for Belarus, Ukraine, and Lithuania from the 18th century onwards; controlling for potential selectivity issues. Poland had quite high levels of numeracy during the early 17th century, but these levels subsequently fell below those of even southern Europe. As in other countries in the area, numeracy levels in Poland were lower than those of western Europe during the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries. This finding might support the hypothesis that the second serfdom process, which gained momentum during the 17th century, was one of the core reasons why human capital accumulation was delayed in eastern Europe. The major wars in the region also had devastating effects on numeracy levels.
Occupational structure in the Czech lands under the second serfdom
The Economic History Review, 2015
A shift in occupational structure towards non-agricultural activities is widely viewed as a key component of European economic growth during the early modern 'Little Divergence'. Yet little is known about this process in those parts of eastern-central Europe that experienced the early modern 'second serfdom', the massive increase in the institutional powers of landlords over the rural population. We analyze non-agricultural occupations under the second serfdom using data on 6,983 Bohemian villages in 1654. Bohemia resembled other eastern-central, nordic and southern European economies in having a lower percentage of non-agricultural activities than western Europe. But Bohemian serfs engaged in a wide array of industrial and commercial activities whose intensity varied significantly with village characteristics. Nonagricultural activity showed a significant positive relationship with village size, pastoral agriculture, sub-peasant social strata, Jews, freemen, female household heads, and village mills, and a significant negative relationship with arable agriculture and urban agglomerations. Non-agricultural activity was also positively associated with landlord presence in the village, although the relationship turned negative at higher values and landlord presence reversed the positive effects of female headship and mills. Under the second serfdom, landlords encouraged serf activities from which they could extort rents, while stifling others which threatened their interests. 1 We would like to thank Lenka Matušíková, Pavla Jirková, and Helena Klímová for generous help with historical data sources and useful discussions of the Berní Rula; Josef Grulich and Eduard Maur for illuminating conversations about the economic history of early modern Bohemia; Steve Broadberry, Tracy Dennison, and Jean-Laurent Rosenthal for stimulating comments on earlier drafts; and seminar participants at LSE, Caltech, the EHS 2013 meeting in York, and the EHES 2013 meeting in London for helpful comments.