Fate and Honor, Family and Village: Demographic and Cultural Change in Rural Italy Since 1800 - Rudolph M. Bell - Libros - The University of Chicago Press - 9780226042084 - 1 de noviembre de 1979
En caso de que portada y título no coincidan, el título será el correcto

Fate and Honor, Family and Village: Demographic and Cultural Change in Rural Italy Since 1800 1st edition


Recibe un correo electrónico cuando el artículo esté disponible
¿Tienes un perfil? Iniciar sesión
Recibe notificaciones sobre nuevos lanzamientos de Rudolph M. Bell
Añadir a tu lista de deseos de iMusic

Aún no valorado

The Italian peasantry has often been described as tragic, backward, hopeless, downtrodden, static, and passive. In Fate and Honor, Family and Village, Rudolph Bell argues against the characterizationmore by reconstructing the complete demographic history of four country villages since 1800. He analyzes births, marriages, and deaths in terms of four concepts that capture mroe accurately and sympathetically the essence of the Italian peasant life: fortuna (fate), onore (honor, dignity), famiglia (family), and campanilismo (village).

Fortuna is the cultural wellspring of Italian peasant society, the world view from which all social life flows. The concept of fortuna does not refer to philosophical questions, predestination, or value judgments. Rather, fortuna is the sum total of all explanations of outcomes perceived to be beyond human control. Thus, in Bell's view, high mortality does not lead peasants to a resigned acceptance of their fate; instead, they rely on honor, reciprocal exchanges of favors, and marriage to forge new links in their familial and social networks. With thorough documentation in graphs and tables, the author evaluates peasant reactions to time, work, family, space, migration, and protest to portray rural Italians as active, flexible, and shrewd, participating fully in shaping their destinies.

Bell asserts that the real problem of the Mezzogiorno is not one of resistance to technology, of high birth rates, or even of illiteracy. It is one of solving technical questions in ways that foster dependency. The historical and sociological practice of treating peasant culture as backward, secondary, and circumscribed only encourages disruption and ultimately blocks the road to economic and political justice in a postmodern world.


286 pages

Medios de comunicación Libros     Hardcover Book   (Libro con lomo y cubierta duros)
Publicado 1 de noviembre de 1979
ISBN13 9780226042084
Editores The University of Chicago Press
Páginas 286
Dimensiones 159 × 237 × 24 mm   ·   474 g
Lengua Inglés  

Mas por Rudolph M. Bell

Mostrar todo

Más del mismo editor