Fraternity Among the French Peasantry

Using meticulous archival research Alan Baker challenges the orthodox portrayal of nineteenth-century French peasants as individualists and examines the extent to which they both continued with traditional forms of community action and developed new forms of collective action. More specifically he examines the development and spread of voluntary associations in Loir-et-Cher on the southwestern margin of the Paris Basin. He focuses on associations aimed at reducing risk and uncertainty (mainly livestock insurance associations mutual aid societies and volunteer fire brigades) and on associations intended to provide agricultural protection.