The Enclosure Movements – A Path towards Social Differentiation? Lessons from Southern Sweden in the 19th Century
Author
Summary, in English
From the end of the 18th century, agriculture in Sweden changed dramatically due to enclosures in the parishes with freeholders. In the parishes with noble tenants, land was instead redistributed according to a manorial landlords’ decision. The first aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of the enclosure movements on social differentiation. The second aim of this paper is to compare the social differentiation in parishes with freeholders and noble tenants. A sample of 13 parishes is used in which the social differentiation is studied 20 years before and after the parishes were enclosed. The effect of the enclosures is also studied with panel data in a general least square regression with the share of landless and semi-landless people as the dependent variable along with the independent variables enclosure, type of district, population growth, a lagged variable for population growth and ownership structure in the parishes. Overall, a limited effect is found in this paper regarding the impact of enclosures on social differentiation. The results reveal that the type of district and ownership structure mattered. Evidence here indicates that social differentiation was most pronounced in the plain districts and in the manorial parishes.
Department/s
Publishing year
2008
Language
English
Full text
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Document type
Student publication for Master's degree (one year)
Topic
- History and Archaeology
Keywords
- enclosure
- social differentiation
- freeholders
- noble tenants
- landless and semi-landless people
- parish.
- Social and economic history
- Ekonomisk och social historia
Supervisor
- Mats Olsson