rship of land, the male's role in the family, and marriage patterns. Common partnership of land means that although one person was registered as the proprietor, he was merely the representative for the entire family (Macfarlane, 1979, p. 20). The family owned and worked on the land without receiving wages and the crops were grown for family consumption. As far as individual rights were concerned, ". . . a single individual had little or no right to claim a specific share as 'his' or 'hers' and to do what he or she willed with it" (Macfarland, 1979, p. 21). Fundamentally, the household was the main unit of social and economical organization.
In peasant society, the authority pattern is "patriarchal" in nature (Macfarlane, 1979, p. 26). As far as the division of labor goes, the patriarchal head holds all the authority and there is no one to oppose him. He has power over his children, and also power over his wife. In fact, although women were hard workers and also very responsible for the domestic unit, ". . . a woman did not hold property rights over the household if male members of the family lived" (Macfarland, 1979, p. 27).
The marriage patterns of peasant society seem to indicate that marriages occurred mainly to increase family labor. This is supported by three observations: 1) most of the marriages occurred at a very early age; 2) marriages were arranged with no romantic basis whatsoever; and 3) marriage in peasant society was inevitable; the need for more labor compelled all wome
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