Conclusion

Abstract

The difficulty in writing a work that draws upon both social history and population history is that each has its own special needs and concerns. Yet both potentially offer a great deal to each other. The concern with context promoted by social history can only aid population studies, which constantly seeks to explain the quantities it uncovers. The desire on the part of demographic historians to uncover the larger structures and realities that shape population dynamics provides a wider focus to the more particularistic world of social history. The key lies in finding a fruitful common ground.