Original scientific paper
THE STRUCTURE OF PEASANT FAMILIES IN THE REGIONS OF PRIGORIJE AND ZAGORIJE (1918-1941)
Suzana Leček
; Croatian Institute of History, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
During the interwar era, the peasant family in the Prigorije and Zagorije region of north eastern Croatia (Zagreb countryside) was the fundamental unit of economic production. It adapted its structure (number of members) and economic activities to wider social changes, above all else the expansion of a capitalist money economy on the one hand and the lack of occupational and social opportunities to relieve excess labour on the other.
To ensure various sources of income and to take advantage of as many opportunities offered by the market as it could, the peasant family retained a complex structure, this way it could direct its members to different types of economic activity. Complex social structures were retained longer on larger land holdings. On smaller holdings, which made up the majority, complex structures were more temporary, that is to say, they were retained during "crisis" phases in life, such as when a couple was newly married with young children or when parents reached an advanced age.
The peasant family with its adaptable structure, its planning of its members economic activities, its support in times of an individual's unemployment, infirmity or old age, ensured by these strategies its own continuity, but it also offered those individuals who left home some support in the difficult economic conditions current at the time. It was the only source of social security on which one could count.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
212209
URI
Publication date:
1.12.1999.
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