Coming of age in a corporate society: Capitalism, Pietism and family authority in rural Württemberg, 1590–1740

Among the commonplaces of social history is the idea that early capitalism made the family (and indeed all of society) more authoritarian and more patriarchal. The Protestant Reformation, we are told, was both an instrument and an expression of this process. This view, here starkly oversimplified, is loosely associated with the names of Marx and Weber, but has passed into common currency. In recent years, research addressing quite different issues has incidentally thrown doubt on the view that capitalism increased authority in the family. The work of recent historical demographers and social historians has undermined the idea that the repressive 'bourgeois nuclear family' dates back only to the onset of capitalism. The authority of husbands over wives was real, but often contained elements of bargaining or compromise, and certainly predated early capitalism. Similarly, recent contributions to the history of parent-child relations have concluded that' there was considerable continuity and homogeneity in methods of discipline' of children between 1500 and 1900. However, differences between areas of Europe make this apparent refutation of the old view far from clear-cut. Cultural historians continue to argue that the Protestant Reformation, throughout the parts of Europe affected by it, led to a reinforcement of patriarchal values and of the power of parents over children. Thus Thomas Robisheaux argues that in