The influence of the market on household survival strategies in preindustrial Europe

After underlining the fact that poverty was a constant threat for 70 to 80 % of the population of pre-industrial Europe, the paper highlights the role played by the market in household survival strategies. It then examines the way in which informal finance provided the capital required for entry into the market and shows that the common people, and women in particular, were actors in the system, as borrowers, as lenders, and as intermediaries. It goes on to argue that while the roles and legal status imposed on women closed off many lines of activity, the market gave them a legal means to carve out spaces of freedom. Finally, it describes the progressive exclusion of the poor, beginning in the 18th century, from most of the markets to which they traditionally had access.