EH.N: CfP: XVth WEHC: Panel on Apprenticeship, Human Capital and the Social Order in the Pre-industrial World

[P.H.Wallis at lse.ac.uk]

Call for Papers -- XVth World Economic History Congress
Utrecht, Netherlands, 3-7 August 2009
Session on Apprenticeship, Human Capital and the Social Order in the
Pre-industrial World

Traditional research on apprenticeship related early modern
apprenticeship to corporative and patriarchal ideals. Apprenticeship was
seen as part of the life-cycle within a rigid social order. Apprentices
lived within their masters' households; as they trained, they were also
socialized into the craft and guild.

Recently, however, these assumptions about training and upbringing have
been questioned. Social historians have criticized the 'Ganze Haus'
model and the distinction between training and wage labour. They have
qualified the importance of institutions and emphasized the distinction
between norm and reality in apprenticeship. Economic historians have
stressed apprenticeship's importance in creating human capital, in turn
qualifying the significance of socialization. They have also debated the
impact of different institutional regimes - guilds, national regulation,
or private contracts - on apprenticeship.

This session will explore apprenticeship from several different
perspectives. The core themes are
1. Apprenticeship and the creation of human capital.
What were the institutional structures, norms and values supporting
apprenticeship?
How did these vary by place, occupation, status, period?
To what extent did the practice of apprenticeship depart from the rules?
How was apprenticeship changed by industrialization?
2. Apprenticeship and upbringing and social mobility.
How did apprenticeship intersect with social relations on the shop
floor?
Was apprenticeship a mechanism for social mobility?
How did guilds affect apprenticeship?

We invite participants to present case studies, with the aim of a
systematic comparison between different apprenticeship and training
regimes across Europe and beyond in the pre-industrial world.


Organizers:
Bert de Munck (Antwerp)
Patrick Wallis (LSE)

Participants:
Clare Crowston (Univ Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)
K. Honeyman (Leeds);
J. Humphries (Oxford)
S. Kaplan (Cornell)
T. Leunig (LSE)
C. Minns (LSE)
B. de Munck (Antwerp)
Gilles Postel-Vinay, EHESS (Paris).
P. Wallis (LSE)


Applications:
There is some limited additional space in the session. Applicants are
requested to provide a short resume containing their institutional
affiliation(s) and a brief list of their significant publications, and a
one page abstract.

Please submit applications to p.h.wallis at lse.ac.uk.

The submission deadline is March 1, 2009. Acceptance decisions will be
communicated soon afterward. We particularly encourage graduate
students to apply.

Papers will be circulated in advance, and all papers will be submitted
by 31 May 2009.

For more information on the World Economic History Congress, see:
http://www.wehc2009.org/default.asp