Upland Communities: Environment, Population and Social Structure in the Alps since the Sixteenth Century (Cambridge Studies in Population, Economy and Society in Past Time, Series Number 8)

This book follows the social, economic and demographic transformations of the Alpine area from the late Middle Ages. Its aim is to reassess the image of the upland community which emerges from the work of historians, geographers and social anthropologists. The book therefore deals at length with such problems as the causes and consequences of emigration and patterns of marriage and inheritance in favouring or hampering the adjustments of local populations to changing economic or ecological circumstances, and tackles the vexed question of the relative importance of cultural and environmental factors in shaping family forms and community structures. Although its foundation lies in a long period of anthropological fieldwork conducted in an Alpine community, Upland Communities relies on the methods and conceptual tools of historical demography. Combined with a long-term historical perspective, its broad comparative approach unveils an unexpected diversity in regional and spatial demographic patterns and questions a number of deep-rooted but ultimately misleading notions concerning mountain society and its alleged backwardness in the past.

this Book Follows The Social, Economic And Demographic Transformations Of The Alpine Area From The Late Middle Ages.

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follows The Social, Economic, And Demographic Transformations Of The Alpine Area From The Late Middle Ages To The Present. Draws On Historical And Anthropological Studies To Question Accepted Theories Of How People Have Adapted To The Environment, Especially As It Has Changed. Also Explores The Relative Importance Of Culture And Environment In Shaping Social Structures. Annotation C. Book News, Inc., Portland, Or (booknews.com)

When Lucien Febvre wrote, in 1922, that 'il n'y a point une sorte d'unite de la montagne, he was reacting against those followers of Ratzel who stressed the similarities found in the social and economic life of upland populations in order to demonstrate that analogous geographical conditions always entail analogous developments.