The culture of giving : informal support and gift-exchange in early modern England / Ilana Krausman Ben-Amos.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ben-Amos, Ilana Krausman.

Contributor:

Louis A. Duhring Fund.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Series:

Cambridge social and cultural histories ; 12.

Cambridge social and cultural histories ; 12

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Public welfare--Great Britain--History--16th century.

Public welfare.

Gifts--Great Britain--History--16th century.

Gifts.

Charities--Great Britain--History--16th century.

Charities.

History.

Great Britain--History--1485-.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

xi, 426 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Summary:

An innovative study of gift-giving, informal support and charity in England between the late sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries. Ilana Krausman Ben-Amos examines the adaptation and transformation of varied forms of informal help, challenging long-held views and assumptions about the decline of voluntary giving and personal obligations in the transition from medieval to modern times. Merging historical research with insights drawn from theories of gift-giving, the book analyses practices of informal support within varied social networks, associations and groups over the entire period. It argues that the processes entailed in the Reformation, state formation and the implementation of the poor laws, as well as market and urban expansion, acted as powerful catalysts for many forms of informal help. Within certain boundaries, the early modern era witnessed the diversification, increase and invigoration, rather than the demise, of gift-giving and informal support.

Contents:

Gift giving and reciprocity 5

Formal/informal, voluntary/involuntary 9

Informal support and credit 12

Themes and structure 13

Part I Social spaces and reciprocities 15

1 Parents and offspring 17

Parental investment 18

Unequal exchange 29

Gendered obligations 38

2 Networks of support 45

Kinship as a support system 47

Households and neighbourhoods 58

Patrons and friends 70

3 Parishes, guilds and associations 82

Informal parochial collections 84

Guilds as providers of welfare 95

Mutual aid societies 106

4 The charitable gift 113

Testamentary bequests 115

Lifetime gifts 122

Household charities 126

Associated philanthropy 134

Part II The economy of giving 143

5 Cultivating the obligation to give 145

Inheritance, gifts and the family bond 146

Gifts, feasts and networks of trust 156

Feasting and commensality in close-knit groups 169

Controlling charitable gifts 180

6 Honour and reputation 195

The deference of written appeals 196

Gift giving as status signals 205

Displays of generosity 214

Commemorating good deeds 227

7 Discourses of giving 242

Protestantism and the imperative to give 244

Civility, liberality, reciprocity 255

Funeral sermons, good works and gifts 261

8 The perils of gifts 275

Frustration, betrayal and the collapse of the family bond 276

Spirals of resentment, insult and strife 286

Cheating, abuse and the corruption of gifts 293

Shame and humiliation 298

Part III The state, markets and gifts 307

9 Evolving boundaries 309

Exclusionary practices and state control of mobility 310

Dearth, plague and informal support 315

Labour markets and migration to towns 321

10 The invigoration of informal support 333

State policies, gifts and networks of care 334

The legal system and informal support 347

Markets, consumerism and gifts 352

Urban identities and beyond 366.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 390-417) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Louis A. Duhring Fund.

ISBN:

9780521867238

0521867231

OCLC:

172979879

Online:

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description