Chapter Female social mobility in an impartible inheritance society at the end of the pre-industrial era (north-eastern Catalonia, 1750-1825)

Abstract

This paper aims to contribute to the study of female social mobility through marriage, by presenting a study case for north-eastern Catalonia, during the second half of the 18th century. This is a region where there was a strong system of impartible inheritance based on male primogeniture, so that it was women who moved into the families of the heirs, while paying a dowry accordingly. It is precisely the combination of the value of the dowry with the occupation of the bride's and groom's family that permits to better understand the dynamics of social mobility that brides experienced at the time of marriage. The results obtained suggest that male primogeniture pushed many women towards downward social mobility, despite certain mechanisms to mitigate it.