Abstract
The first chapter aims to provide the theoretical framework of the book, analysing the concepts of “work” and “labour” in the Early Modern period. Terms like “free-unfree labour”, “tributary labour”, “productive and reproductive labour”, “pluriactivity” have by now integrated in historiography the simplistic identification of “labour” with “salaried labour”. This identification sounds inadequate for the modern period, and even more so for the early modern one, because it does not consider the various declensions of labour, leaving at the borders of the analysis a great number of workers. Besides the deepening of these categories, the chapter will show how the concept of labour (and the self-awareness of workers) changed in different times and different places.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Applebaum, Herbert. 1992. The Concept of Work: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. New York: State University of New York Press.
Betti, Eloisa. 2016. “Gender and Precarious Labor in a Historical Perspective: Italian Women and Precarious Work between Fordism and Post-Fordism”. International Labor and Working-Class History, No. 89, Spring 2016: 64–83.
Bonazza, Giulia; Ongaro, Giulio (eds.). 2018. Libertà e coercizione: il lavoro in una prospettiva di lungo periodo. Palermo: NDF Editore.
Cerutti, Simona. 2015. “Who is below? E. P. Thompson, historien des sociétés modernes: une relecture”. Annales. Histoire, Sciences sociales, 70e année, n° 4, octobre-décembre 2015: 931–955.
Cristofori, Alessandro. 2018. “Lavoro libero e lavoro non libero nel mondo romano: quale libertà?”. In Libertà e coercizione: il lavoro in una prospettiva di lungo periodo, Giulia Bonazza and Giulio Ongaro (eds.). Palermo: NDF Editore, 1–36.
De Vito, Christian. 2017. “Precarious Pasts. Labour flexibility and labour precariousness as conceptual tools for the historical study of the interactions among labour relations”. In On the Road to Global Labour History, Karl-Heinz Roth (ed.). Leiden-Boston: Brill, 219–240.
De Vito, Christian. 2018. “Passato precario. Flessibilità e precarietà del lavoro come strumenti concettuali per lo studio storico delle interazioni tra rapporti di lavoro”. In Libertà e coercizione: il lavoro in una prospettiva di lungo periodo, Giulia Bonazza and Giulio Ongaro (eds.). Palermo: NDF Editore, 123–162.
Di Tullio, Matteo. 2016. “Popolazione, mestieri e mobilità del lavoro nella Lombardia del Cinquecento”, in La popolazione italiana del Quattrocento e Cinquecento. G. Alfani, A. Carbone, B. Del Bo, R. Rao (eds.). Udine: Forum, 99–114.
Ehmer, Josef. 2001. “History of the Concept of Work”. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 24 (2001): 669–674.
Ehmer, Josef; Lis, Catharina. 2009. “Introduction”, in The Idea of Work in Europe from Antiquity to Modern Times. J. Ehmer, C. Lis (ed.). Farnham: Ashgate.
Ganßmann, Heiner. 1992. “Ein Versuch über Arbeit”. in Geschichte denken. Ein Notizbuch für Leo Löwental, F. Hager (ed.). Leipzig: Reclam, 254–293.
Hofmeester, Karin and Moll-Murata, Christine. 2011. “The Joy and Pain of Work: Global Attitudes and Valuations, 1500–1650. Introduction”. International Review of Social History, 56 (2011): 1–23.
Mocarelli, Luca. 2009. “The Attitudes of Milanese Society to Work and Commercial Activities. The Case of the Porters and the Case of the Elites”. In The Idea of Work in Europe from Antiquity to Modern Times, J. Ehmer, C. Lis (eds.). Farnham: Ashgate, 101–121.
Mocarelli, Luca. 2011. “Attitudes to Work and Commerce in the Late Italian Renaissance: A Comparison between Tomaso Garzoni’s La Piazza Universale and Leonardo Fioravanti’s Dello Specchio Di Scientia Universale”. International Review of Social History, 56 (2011): 89–106.
Negri, Antimo. 2002. “Per una storia del concetto di lavoro nella cultura filosofica ed economica occidentale”. In Il lavoro come fattore produttivo e come risorsa nella storia economica italiana, S. Zaninelli, M. Taccolini (eds.). Milano: Vita e Pensiero, XIII–XL.
Sarti, Raffaella. 2017. “Criados rurales: el caso de Italia desde una perspectiva comparada (siglos XVI al XX)”. Mundo Agrario, 18/39, 2017: 1–32.
Sarti, Raffaella; Bellavitis, Anna and Martini, Manuela. 2018. “Introduction”. In What is Work? Gender at the Crossroads of Home, Family, and Business from the Early Modern Era to the Present, R. Sarti, A. Bellavitis, M. Martini (eds.). New York-Oxford: Berghahn.
Thomas, Keith. 1964. “Work and Leisure”. Past & Present, 29 (Dec. 1964): 50–66.
Thompson, Edward P. 1963. The Making of the English Working Class. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd.
Tilly, Charles and Tilly, Chris. 1998. Work under capitalism. Boulder: Westview Press.
van der Linden, Marcel. 2011. “Studying Attitudes to Work Worldwilde, 1500–1650: Concepts, Sources, and Problems of Interpretation”. International Review of Social History. 56 (2011): 25–43.
van der Linden, Marcel. 2016a. “Dissecting Coerced Labor”. In On Coerced Labor. Work and Compulsion after Chattel Slavery, M. van der Linden, M. Rodríguez García (eds.). Leiden – Boston: Brill, 293–322.
van der Linden, Marcel. 2016b. Workers of the World: Essays Toward a Global Labour History. Leiden: Brill.
van der Linden, Marcel and Rodríguez García, Magaly (eds.). 2016. On Coerced Labor. Work and Compulsion after Chattel Slavery. Leiden – Boston: Brill.
Weber, Max. 1991. L’etica protestante e lo spirito del capitalismo. Milan: Rizzoli.
Whittle, Jane (eds.). 2017. Servants in Rural Europe (1400–1900). Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer.
Zimmerman, Bénédicte. 2001. “Work and Labor: History of the Concept”. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 24 (2001): 16561–16565.
Zürcher, Erik-Jan (ed.). 2013. Fighting for a Living. A Comparative History of Military Labour 1500–2000. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mocarelli, L., Ongaro, G. (2019). Work and Labour: Meanings and Concepts. In: Work in Early Modern Italy, 1500–1800. Palgrave Studies in Economic History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26546-5_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26546-5_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-26545-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-26546-5
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)