Kelet- és Nyugat-Európa agrártársadalmi dualizmusa – tavalyi hó?
The Dualism of East- and West-European Agrarian History – a Concept beyond Recall?

Summary/Abstract: The paper looks at the development and possible uses or advantages of the spatial typologies of agrarian societies that were developed a hundred years ago in German history. These were dual typologies, contrasting East and West, and hinged on different ways of peasant subjection in the context of reinvigorated early modern manorial economy in the East and the absence of such a subjection to a manor (Gutsherrschaft) in the West. There is an attempt made here to point out major inconsistencies of the terms as employed by those conceiving them and especially by their heirs in contemporary scientific discourse. Although there were some important modifications of the concept that tried to concentrate on the economic behaviour and economic activities of lords and peasants, the terms, notions, typologies developed at the end of the 19th century have been quite resistant to change and are still very much in use. Part of the answer for this continuing power simply lies in the absence of better models giving deeper insights or a better interaction with other disciplines. The article tries to review some contemporary attempts at developing typologies that do not hinge on the relationship of the peasant and the economy of the lord, but are based on a wider consideration. The wider concept looks at the question, which institutions lordly domination and peasant subjection in peasant societies are built upon, e.g. any typology of peasant subjugation is set not above, but within peasant society itself. For this, a new interaction with historical anthropology has been developed by contemporary historians of agrarian society in Germany.

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