First published in 1984. Shopkeepers and master artisans had a striking presence in the history of nineteenth-century Europe, not only in the development of industrial and urban economies, but also the fabric of social life and the politics of protest. This book as a whole provides a fresh and integrated approach to the world of these shopkeepers and master artisans and illuminates much else besides in the social history of nineteenth-century Europe.

List of tables; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Shopkeepers, master artisans and the historian: the petite bourgeoisie in comparative focus; National Perspectives; 2. Between resignation and volatility: the German petite bourgeoisie in the nineteenth century 3. The petite bourgeoisie in nineteenth-century Britain: the urban and liberal case 4. The petite bourgeoisie in France, 1850-1914: in search of the juste milieu? 5. A forgotten class: the petite bourgeoisie in Belgium, 1850-1914; The Research Focus; 6. Masters and manufacturers: social values and the smaller unit of production in Birmingham, 1800-50 7. The grocery trade in nineteenth-century Paris: a fragmented corporation 8. The small shopkeepers' movement and politics in France, 1988-1914 9. The artisan family in nineteenth-century Austria: embourgeoisement of the petite bourgeoisie? 10. Rural artisans in the Beauce during the nineteenth century 11. Shopkeepers and the state in Britain, 1870-1914; Index

Geoffrey Crossick, Heinz-Gerhard Haupt