Migration, occupational identity, and societal openness in nineteenth-century Belgium

International Review of Social History

Volumn 50, Issue 4, 2005, Pages 179-218

  Van De Putte, Bart ^a   Oris, Michel ^a   Neven, Muriel ^a   Matthijs, Koen ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 29344472376     PISSN: 00208590     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0020859005002117     Document Type: Article

References (90)

1. Marco H.D. van Leeuwen and Ineke Maas, "Social Mobility in a Dutch Province, Utrecht 1850-1940", Journal of Social History, 30 (1997), pp. 619-644.
2. Andrew Miles, Social Mobility in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century England (Basingstoke [etc.], 1999).
3. Jürgen Kocka, "Family and Class Formation: Intergenerational Mobility and Marriage Patterns in Nineteenth-Century Westphalian Towns", Journal of Social History, 17 (1984), pp. 411-433, 423.
4. Simon Szreter, Fertility, Class and Gender in Britain 1860-1940 (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 23-29;
5. Steve Hochstadt, Mobility and Modernity. Migration in Germany, 1820-1989 (Ann Arbor, MI, 1999).
6. de ecuw", Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Nieuwste Geschiedenes, 4 (1973), pp.109-169;
7. Peter Scholliers, Wages, Manufactures and Workers in the Nineteenth-Century Factory: The Voortman Cotton Mills in Ghent (Oxford [etc.], 1995).
8. Joël Mokyr, Industrialization in the Low Countries, 1795-1850 (New Haven, CT [etc.], 1976), p. 27.
9. Claude Desama and Catherine Bauwens, "Une petite ville au coeur de la révolution industrielle: Verviers et le travail de la laine", in Bart Van der Herten, Michel Oris, and Jan Rogiers (eds), La Belgique industrielle en 1850: deux cents images d' un monde nouveau (Brussels, 1995), pp. 87-128.
10. Catherine Capron, "Une analyse statistique des migrations à partir d'un registre de population. Application au cas de Limbourg (est de la Belgique), 1847-1866", in Dominique Barjot and Olivier Faron (eds), Migrations, cycle de vie familial et marché du travail (Paris, 2002), pp. 65-94, 69.
11. Anne Jacquemin, "Alliances et reproductions sociales à Liège entre 1840 et 1890", in Guy Brunet, Antoinette Fauve-Chamoux, and Michel Oris (eds), Le choix du conjoint (Paris, 1998), pp. 107-130, 108-109.
12. Paul Bairoch, De Jéricho à Mexico. Villes et économie dans l'histoire (Paris, 1985), p. 344.
13. Muriel Neven, "Mortality Differential and the Peculiarities of Mortality in an Urban-Industrial Population: A Case Study of Tilleur, Belgium", Continuity and Change, 15 (2000), pp. 297-329.
14. Koen Matthijs, Jan Van Bavel, and Use Van de Velde, Leuven in de 19de eeuw. De bevolking: een spiegel van het dagelijkse leven (Leuven, 1997).
15. We chose to use the social position of the fathers as it is the position of the fathers that is used in the analysis of partner selection.
16. For HISCO, sec Marco H.D. van Leeuwen, Ineke Maas, and Andrew Miles, HISCO: Historical International Standard Classification of Occupations (Leuven, 2002).
17. For HISCLASS, see M.H.D. van Leeuwen and I. Maas, "HISCLASS", paper presented at the 5th European Social Science History Conference (Berlin, 24-27 March 2004);
18. I. Maas and M.H.D. van Leeuwen, "SPSS recode job from HISCO into HISCLASS", May 2004.
19. Capron, "Une analyse statistique";
20. Desama and Bauwens, "Une petite ville";
21. de eeuw: de enquête van L. Variez (Brussels, 1985).
22. Muriel Neven, "Espaces ruraux et urbains au XIXe siècle: trois régimes démographiques belges au coeur de la révolution industrielle", Popolazione e storia, 2 (2002), pp. 35-62, 50.
23. Idem,Muriel Neven Individus et familles: les dynamiques d'une société rurale. Le Pays de Herve dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle (Liège, 2003).
24. Machteld De Metsenaere, "Le choix du conjoint, indicateurs des changements linguistiques à Bruxelles au XIXe siècle", in Brunet, Fauve-Chamoux, and Oris, Le choix du conjoint, pp. 77-92.
25. Marco van Leeuwen and Ineke Maas, "Huwelijksmobiliteit in Friesland tussen 1850 en 1929", It Beaken, 63 (2001), pp. 64-178;
26. Frans van Poppel, Aart Liefbroer, Jeroen Vermunt, and Wilma Smeenk, "Love, Necessity and Opportunity: Changing Patterns of Marital Age Homogamy in the Netherlands, 1850-1993", Population Studies, 55 (2001), pp. 1-13;
27. de-eeuwse Vlaamse steden (Leuven, Aalst en Gent)" (Ph.D., Catholic University of Leuven, 2003).
28. On the role of spatial proximity, see Jacquemin, "Alliances et reproductions socials", pp. 121-122.
29. Denis Bertholet, Le bourgeois dans tous ses états; le roman familial de la Belle Epoque (Paris, 1987);
30. George Alter, Family and the Female Life Course: The Women of Vermers, Belgium, 1849-1880 (Madison, WI, 1988), pp. 145-147.
31. Marco van Leeuwen and Ineke Maas, "Partner Choice and Homogamy in Sweden in the Nineteenth Century: Was there a Sexual Revolution in Europe?", Journal of Social History, 36 (2002), pp. 101-123;
32. Edward Shorter, The Making of the Modern Family (New York, 1975), pp. 157-159;
33. Bart Van de Putte and Koen Matthijs, "Romantic Love and Marriage: A Study of Age Homogamy in Nineteenth-Century Leuven", Belgisch Tijdscbrift voor Nieuwste Geschiedenis, 21 (2001), pp. 579-619;
34. Frans van Poppel, Aart Liefbroer, and Wendy Post, "Vers une plus grande homogamie d'âge entre conjoints: différences entre les classes sociales et différences régionales aux Pays-Bas, 1812-1912", Annales de Démographie Historique, (1998), pp. 73-110, 75-76.
35. Peter Borscheid, "Romantic Love or Material Interest: Choosing Partners in Nineteenth-Century Germany", Journal of Family History, II (1986), pp. 157-168;
36. François Héran, "Finding a Spouse: A Survey of How French Couples Meet", Population: An English Selection, i (1989). pp. 91-121.
37. William Sewell, "Social Mobility in a Nineteenth-Century European City: Some Findings and Implications", Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 7 (1976), pp. 225-230.
38. Steve Hochstadt, "Demography and Feminism", in P. Robertson (ed.), An Experience of Women: Pattern and Change in Nineteenth-Century Europe (Philadelphia, PA, 1982), pp. 541-560, 544.
39. Michel Oris and Emiko Ochiai, "Family Crisis in the Context of Different Family Systems: Frameworks and Evidence on When Dad Died", in Renzo Derosas and Michel Oris (eds), When Dad Died: Individuals and Families Coping with Distress in Past Societies (Berne [etc.], 2002), pp. 17-79, 45-47.
40. Didier Blanchet and Denis Kessler, "La mobilité géographique, de la naissance au mariage", in Jacques Dupâquier and Denis Kessler (eds), La, société française au XIXe siècle. Tradition, transition, transformations (Paris, 1992), pp. 343-377, 346.
41. Michel Oris, Catherine Capron, and Muriel Neven, "Le poids des réseaux familiaux dans les migrations en Belgique orientale au 19e siècle. Peut-on quantifier?", in Eugenio Sonnino (ed.), Living in the City (Rome, 2002), pp. 151-178.
42. Grazyna Ryczkowska, "Accès au mariage et structures de l'alliance à Genève, 1800-1880", (M.A. thesis, University of Geneva, 2003), esp. pp. 106-110, 121-123.
43. Bierbeek is an exception since the mean age at marriage declined earlier. See Koen Matthijs, De mateloze negentiende eeuw. Bevolking, huwelijk, gezin en sociale verandering (Leuven, 2001).
44. Muriel Neven, Individus et familles, ch. 9;
45. Michel Oris, "The Age at Marriage of Migrants During the Industrial Revolution in the Region of Liège", The History of the Family: An International Quarterly, 5 (2000), pp. 391-413, 408-409.
46. Van de Putte, "Het belang van de toegeschreven positie". The role of migration is probably somewhat different in the countryside. Most migrants are born rather close to the village of marriage and are not necessarily "special"; they did not come from far away nor did they "leave" their old social environment.
47. Yves Quairiaux and Jean Pirotte, "L'image du Flamand dans la tradition populaire wallonne depuis un siècle", Res publica. Revue de l'Institut belge de science politique, 20 (1978), pp. 391-406;
48. Jacquemin, "Alliances et reproductions socials". For other studies of segregation according to geographical origin on the marriage market,
49. see Van de Putte, "Het belang van de toegeschreven positie", on Flanders;
50. Jacquemin, "Alliances et reproductions socials", on the Flemish in Liège; Leslie Page Moch, Moving Europeans: Migration in Western Europe since 1650 (Bloomington, IN [etc.], 1992), pp. 143-147;
51. Patricia van den Eeckhout and Peter Scholliers, "Social History in Belgium: Old Habits and New Perspectives", Tijdschrift voor Sociale Geschiedenis, 23 (1997), pp. 147-181, 160.
52. Anne Jacquemin, "Un éclairage de la sociabilité en milieu urbain ̀ partir des actes de mariages liégeois (1840-1890)", Congrès de Liège des 20-23 octobre 1992 (Liège, 1994), pp. 346-360;
53. Oris, "The Age at Marriage".
54. See for example Scarlett Beauvalet-Boutouyrie, La démographie de l'époque moderne (Paris, 1999), p. 125;
55. Miles, Social Mobility, p. 145;
56. Kathlijn Pittomvils, "De Gentse maatschappijen van onderlinge bijstand in de eerste helft van de negentiende eeuw. Solidariteit, staking en/of segmentering?", Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Nieuwste Geschiedenis, 25 (1994-1995), pp. 433-479.
57. Sewell, "Social Mobility in a Nineteenth-Century European City";
58. see also Miles, Social Mobility, ch. 4.
59. Grazyna Ryczkowska and Gilbert Ritschard, "Mobilités sociales et spatiales. Parcours intergénérationnels d'après les mariages genevois, 1830-1880", paper presented at the 5th European Social Science History Conference (Berlin, 24-27 March 2004).
60. Diana Cooper-Richet, Le peuple de la, nuit: mines et mineurs en France (XIX-XXe siècle) (Paris, 2002);
61. Claude Gaier, Huit siècles de houillerie liégeoise: histoire des hommes et du charbon à Liège (Liège, 1988).
62. Neven, "Mortality Differential and the Peculiarities of Mortality in an Urban-Industrial Population", pp. 297-329;
63. Scholliers, De Gentse metaalbewerkers, p. 36.
64. In Verviers, as late as 1906 the Textile Workers Federation included The Federation of Combed Woolworkers, The Federation of Carded Woolworkers, The General Association of Weavers, The Wool Washers, and five others groups.
65. Michel Oris, "Le contexte économique et social", in Histoire des Sciences en Belgique (Brussels, 2001), pp. 37-70, 41.
66. Claude Gaier, Quatre siècles d'armurerie liégeoise (Liège, 1976);
67. René Leboutte, Reconversions de la main-d'oeuvre et transition démographique. Les bassins industriels en aval de Liège. XVIIe-XXe siècles (Paris, 1988).
68. Martine Ségalen, Mari et femme dans la société paysanne (Paris, 1980).
69. Muriel Neven and Michel Oris, "Contrôle religieux, contrôle social: la fécondité dans l'est de la Belgique dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle", Annales de Démographie historique, 2 (2003), pp. 5-32.
70. Van de Putte, "Het belang van de toegeschreven positie".
71. Ibid. Van de Putte, "Het belang van de toegeschreven positie".
72. For Grenoble, see Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, "La démographie des Lumières", in Histoire de la France urbaine, t. 3. La ville des temps modernes de la Renaissance aux Révolutions (Paris, 1998), pp. 293-347, 301.
73. For Geneva, see Ryczkowska and Ritschard, "Mobilités sociales et spatiales".
74. André Capiteyn, Johan Decavele, Christine Van Coile, and Herman Vanderlinden, Gentse torens achter rook van schoorstenen. Gent in de periode 1860-189; (Ghent, 1983).
75. Wilfred Uunk, Who Marries Whom? The Role of Social Origin, Education and High Culture in Mate Selection of Industrial Societies During the Twentieth Century (Nijmegen, 1996).
76. Jan Dhondt, "La région gantoise. L'industrie cotonnière", in Pierre Lebrun, Marinette Bruwier, Jan Dhondt, and George Hansotte (eds), Essai sur la révolution industrielle en Belgique, 1770-1847 (Brussels, 1979), pp. 75-160;
77. Claude Gaier, Huit siècles de houillerie liégeoise (Liège, 1988).
78. Michel Oris, "Une démographie des familles dans le tourbillon de la révolution industrielle", in Anne-Lise Head-Hönig, Luigi Lorenzetti, and Béatrice Veyrassat (eds), Famille, parenté et réseaux en Occident (XVIIe-XXe siècles). Mélanges offerts à Alfred Perrenoud (Geneva, 2001), pp 37-52.
79. We chose to use logistic regression analysis rather than log-linear analysis because the latter is difficult to use if there are many cells with zero or low frequencies in the mobility (or partner selection) table. This problem is particularly acute when adding many variables (with many categories) to the analysis. The advantage of log-linear analysis is the neat control of the effect of group sizes. We cope with this problem by introducing a group size variable in the logistic regression analysis; Van de Putte, "Het belang van de toegeschreven positie".
80. In technical terms, the parameters are odds ratios (of the odds of marrying heterogamously for a category of the independent variable divided by the odds of marrying heterogamously for the reference category).
81. The introduction of this group size variable controls for the distribution of the social origin of both brides and grooms. If the distribution of the social origin of the grooms changes, that leads to changing numbers of grooms assigned to specific group size values. If we take the perspective of the bride, the same results appear. We take the perspective of the groom simply to demonstrate the logic of controlling for group sizes, as a didactic trick.
82. The increase in heterogamy in Tilleur and Limbourg is not significant. The social structure changed over time, The number of lower-skilled workers among Limbourg fathers (of both brides and grooms) declined after 1873, as did the number of farmers (but only of grooms); the number of unskilled workers rose, although only among fathers of brides. Such changes in Limbourg's social structures are not easy to interpret. They are essentially artificial and due to territorial changes in the early 1880s.
83. Note that though these changes might not be very large, the contrasting trends between Liège and Verviers are striking.
84. The borderline significance is partly related to the rather low number of observations for the first periods. If we use Liège as the reference category, and Tilleur (which is in fact part of Liège and shares similar characteristics, such as the large number of Flemish and foreign migrants), then the period effects are significant (0.637 for period 1 and 0.658 for period 2).
85. For Tilleur the conclusions are more difficult, because of the low number of observations and the more complicated situation due to the extremely large number of migrants. We assume that the main schism lay between Walloon natives and migrants on the one hand and foreigners and Flemish migrants on the other.
86. Van de Putte, "Het belang van de toegeschreven positie". This observation for Ghent was made using a different class scheme (SOCPO scheme). In the period 1800-1850 the level of heterogamy was 6 per cent higher than in the period 1851-1890, but 10 per cent higher if the observation is limited to the lower classes, for whom the strongest effects are expected. Using HISCLASS, which differs in some ways from SOCPO, this decrease is less sharp.
87. Alter, Family and the Female Life Course.
88. We limit the analysis to the Flemish cities, as it is only for these cities that we have observations for the period 1891-1913.
89. It is difficult to explain this, but we must add here that heterogamy might also mean upward mobility, and one cannot exclude the notion of the father as a tool for upward mobility rather than as a "keeper of homogamy".
90. It took some time for the labour movement to become a nationwide mass movement. In our opinion, it was only after 1890 that the broader process of demographic class formation started, understood as the process by which boundaries among the lower classes disappeared while the boundary between the middle class and the lower classes remained. This period is not under observation for Verviers, so we cannot consider whether heterogamy among the lower classes increased after that date. Van de Putte ("Het belang van de toegeschreven positie") observed this pattern of demographic class-formation for the industrial cities of Aalst and Ghent after 1890. Using a different class scheme (SOCPO scheme) an increase was observed in heterogamy for both Ghent and Aalst. The different results for Ghent are mainly the result of the use of some sector-based social classes by HISCLASS (SOCPO does not use sector as a criterion). The effect of the different classification is strongest in the period 1851-1890 in Ghent, so there is no recognition of an increase in heterogamy for the period 1891-1913 compared with 1851-1890.