A Brief Analysis On Neighborhood In Early Modern England Countryside

Early modern England witnessed the transformation from an agriculture-oriented society to a commercialized society, there were great changes in many aspects. As for the research of social relationship in early modern England, the scholars have paid more attention to the kinship, patronage than the neighborhood. In fact, in the early modern England countryside, neighborhood was cherished by the humble level of people including the gentry, the yeoman and the ordinary labors. Generally speaking, the state of the neighborhood was friendly, people were integrated by an intensive net of neighborhood. The improvement of the neighborhood mainly thanks to the disintegration of the manorialism, the reinforcement of the social management, the cool family relationship, etc. The flexible and wide-extended neighborhood has played a great role in the social life in early modern England, such as the economic mutual help, the mutual dependence on feelings, the social control and so on. Moreover, the function of the neighborhood, especially its social control role, has conduced to the maintenance of social order. As a result, the neighborhood has played an important impact in the social transformation.