Occupational structure and labour mobility in historical perspective: Italy and the Mediterranean

Project overview

This research project explores the evolution of occupational structures and labour mobility from a long-term perspective. It addresses both the way people worked and were on the move in the past and specifically how their occupational choices, migrations and labour relations were affected by global dynamic forces such as warfare mobilization or structural economic changes. By focusing on Italy and the Mediterranean area from the late medieval period to the beginning of the nineteenth century, the project aims to shed new light on the continuity and changes in work, labour mobility, and geographical diffusion of economic activities. In collaboration with the Digital Laboratory for Mobility Research (MobiLab), the research will combine quantitative and qualitative analysis of empirical sources (such as census or lists of convicts and slaves) with the use of digital tools. In particular, GIS techniques will be used in order to map the mobility of people and their shifting occupations as well as to improve the understanding of mobility phenomena from an analytical point of view.

Subprojects

Occupation and Health in Padua Between the 19th and 20th Centuries

This project aims to examine the relationship between occupation, residence, and mortality in the city of Padua from the late 19th to the early 20th century. By analyzing death records preserved in the “Anagrafi” collection at the State Archive of Padua, we will study how individuals’ social and occupational status evolved over time in relation to mortality. Our goal is to shed light on the connections between causes of death, occupation, and urban stratification during this crucial period in Italian history. The research will contribute to a deeper understanding of the socio-economic dynamics in the Padua area during the transition to industrialization and will provide valuable insights into the broader debate on the relationship between professional status, urban stratification, and public health in post-unification Italy.

Work and Migration in Padua: Occupational Mobility in the Early 20th Century

This project (student: Marta Cannicci) seeks to investigate occupational mobility to and from Padua in the early 20th century. Drawing on immigration and emigration register held at the Padua State Archives, it examines the occupational profile and social stratification of migr
ants recorded by the registry office. In particular, we will use HISCO and HISCLASS to analyze the relationship between occupational titles and places of origin and destination, as well as the interplay between mobility and social class. Furthermore, a gender perspective is incorporated by considering the impact of migrants’ gender on occupational patterns and mobility trajectories. By doing so, the project aims to shed light on the occupational demands of Padua -and, more broadly, northern Italy- at the beginning of the twentieth century, along with the varying propensities of different social classes for territorial mobility.

Intergenerational mobility and occupational status in the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy

This project seeks to investigate the patterns of intergenerational mobility and occupational status within the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy. By examining marriage publication records, we will analyse how individuals’ social status evolved across generations. Our goal is to illuminate the mechanisms that shaped social stratification during this crucial period in European history. This research will contribute to a deeper understanding of socio-economic dynamics in central-northern Italy between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and provide valuable insights into the broader discussion on preindustrial social mobility.

Occupational structure and labour mobility.

A first aspect of the research project directed by Prof. Andrea Caracausi deals with the link between changing occupational structures and labour mobility in the Republic of Venice between the early sixteenth century and the beginning of the modern period (1500-1850). Discussing the consequences of political and economic changes that occurred in this period, this project aims ultimately to reconstruct the evolution of the occupational structure in the diverse territories of the Venetian Republic and to explain its determinants using an innovative statistical methodology. It also deals with social, economic and gender aspects using micro-historical approaches to reconstruct labour relations and labour mobility.  In particular, it uses a verb-oriented approach in order to reconsider occupations as well as concepts as work, care and domestic labour in a gendered perspective. Thanks to Gis methods, it focuses on the movement of urban and rural people as represented by judicial sources, correspondences and diaries.

Past projects

Woman’s work in rural Italy (1500-1800). This project (post-doc fellow Dr. Mattia Viale) aims to provide a better understanding of the historical dynamics surrounding gender and work between the sixteenth and the eighteenth century in rural Italy. By incorporating diverse research methodologies and exploring various geographical contexts across the peninsula, we strive to shed light on the multifaceted nature of female participation in the pre-industrial labour force.

Mobility and forced labour. A second aspect of the research project coordinated by the postdoctoral fellow Benoît Maréchaux explores the phenomena of forced mobility of convicts and slaves transported to the galleys of Genoese galley contractors who worked for the Spanish Empire in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. The research will reconstruct the transnational flows of prisoners, analyze the agency of forced mobility and measure mortality in order to discuss the impact of coerced labor and migrations in the past and the way prisoners worked, moved and died in the early modern Mediterranean. This research is part of the project “Forced mobility before the sovereign state. Convict flows, composite polities and the business of galley warfare in the Mediterranean (1528-1715)” carried out at the DiSSGeA within the framework of the Mobility and Humanities project.

(1/2020-3/2021).