Anthropology and history in Franche-Comté
Subtitle: a critique of social theory
By: Robert Layton.
Series: Oxford studies in social and cultural anthropology
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2000
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 392
Subjects: Ethnology -- France -- Franche-Comté; Franche-Comté (France) -- Social life and customs; Franche-Comté (France) -- History
Description: "This is a study of continuity and change in rural France based on fieldwork carried out over a period of 25 years, and on historical documents spanning more than 300 years. Producer co-operatives have existed in Franche-Comte since the thirteenth century. Communities there, unlike modern English villages, are highly corporate.

Robert Layton explores the relationships between inheritance rules, management of common land, household labour, and inter-household relations, as well as the impact on villages of national politics and economy. Comparison with other regions of Western Europe enables a reinterpretation of the eighteenth-century enclosures in England.

Layton presents a dialogue between ethnography and social theory, and argues for a revision of the theories of Marx, Giddens, and Bourdieu so as better to explain the mechanisms of continuity, change, and adaptation in social life."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [366-381) and index.