ABSTRACT
Solidarities were the cohesive forces holding society together, and they included rank, honour and reputation; family, household and kinship; faith and church; state and obedience to the king; seigneurial and patron-client ties; sociability; work-related ties; and regional ties, including village and neighbourhood loyalties. Nobles in town began to socialize in coffee houses, salons, theatres, concerts, receptions and academy meetings, and so developed new ties of sociability. Women ran urban households that were at the same time workshops, and dealt with servants, employees, apprentices, journeymen, customers and neighbours. Solidarities in women’s lives included not only family, kinship and household ties, but also work ties created by farm labour, craft production, small-scale commerce and managing family businesses or estates. Cartesian rationalism became popular among Parisian intellectuals, who developed intellectual solidarities based on shared scientific interests. Beggars lacked the solidarities of work, honour, reputation, sociability, patron-client and seigneurial ties, and civic obedience.
