Être servant dan une famille urbaine polonaise aux XVIe-XXe siècles. Evolution du statut social et matériel des domestiques

Abstract

This paper´s main goal is to determine the sex and age structure of the domestic staff working in Polish families from 16th century to 1930s. This study will allow us to evaluate more precisely the social function of domestic service in urban households and the relations between masters and servants that were based on a mutual agreement. The effects of industrialization in 19th century Poland followed by essential modifications of those relations made them lose their ancient character to become more and more impersonal. The question concerns the new quality of those relatioships: are the servants considered as belonging to lower social groups? Finally our objective is to describe -in a more general perspective- the financial conditions of domestic work: forms of salaries, complementary charges, accomodations, etc.