This paper proposes a comparative study of social mobility between peasant and commercial societies in two distinct rural areas of Europe, namely the Low Countries and Piedmont. The paper focuses on changing consumption patterns under the frame of the premodern consumer revolution to identify what kind of society was more mobile. The adoption of new facets of consumption especially in the form of novel luxuries and colonial products has long been identified as an effort from households to adopt more refined lifestyles thus improving their prestige and status relative to the rest of society. It will be shown that while commercial societies appeared better at promoting the circulation of prestigious goods across social groups, the phenomenon remained highly elitist.
Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium - ORCID: 0000-0002-7159-2125
Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium - ORCID: 0000-0003-2885-6989
Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium - ORCID: 0000-0003-4441-5403
Chapter Title
Economic growth and prosperity: two sides of the same coin? A comparison of the countryside of Antwerp and Piedmont in the long eighteenth century
Authors
Alberto Concina, Maïka De Keyzer, Jan Peeters
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0667-9.15
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2025
Copyright Information
© 2025 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
La mobilità sociale nelle società preindustriali: tendenze, cause ed effetti (secc. XIII-XVIII) / Social mobility in pre-industrial societies: tendencies, causes and effects (13th-18th centuries)
Editors
Angela Orlandi
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
612
Publication Year
2025
Copyright Information
© 2025 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0667-9
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0666-2
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0667-9
eISBN (xml)
979-12-215-0668-6
Series Title
Datini Studies in Economic History
Series ISSN
2975-1241
Series E-ISSN
2975-1195