On The Move: Mobility in Perm’ Province, 1880-1914

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Rowson, Jonathan J. O. (2020) On The Move: Mobility in Perm’ Province, 1880-1914. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.

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Abstract

This thesis examines mobility in provincial Russia in the late Imperial era (1880-1914). During this period, the Imperial state introduced new migration legislation which gave lower-class people increased opportunities to move for economic purposes. This thesis examines lower-class trajectories and temporalities in Perm’ Province, a region located on European Russia’s far periphery. It outlines the key socio-economic drivers for increased population and goods mobility at the turn of the twentieth century in the rural, industrial, and urban economies. Lower-class people were dynamic economic agents who made informed decisions to better their individual or household economies, adapting their trajectories and working practices to changing economic conditions, state policy, and new infrastructure developments. In doing so, this thesis contributes to the growing literature on population mobility, lower-class socio-economic agency and lived experiences, and the relations between periphery and metropole in late Imperial Russia.

This thesis also uses mobility as a lens to explore broader themes within late Imperial society. It analyses the intersections of mobility with economic, societal, power, and spatial dynamics in both the regional and national context, in order to stress mobility’s fundamental role within the late Imperial provincial economy. This approach allows for an exploration of how provincial Russian household economies were impacted by global trends in key commodity markets, and how increased mobility could have destabilising effects on local market forces. In contrast to studies which refer to the late Imperial era as one of nationwide ‘industrialisation’ and ‘modernisation’, commonly driven by urbanisation, this study draws on archival material from Perm’, Ekaterinburg, Tomsk, Tobol’sk, and St. Petersburg to demonstrate that Perm’ Province did not undergo significant urbanisation, and in fact experienced localised de-industrialisation. Thus, this regional case study of population mobility elucidates the cyclical and non-linear nature of late Imperial Russia’s economic development.

Item Type: Thesis (University of Nottingham only) (PhD)
Supervisors: Badcock, Sarah
Baron, Nick
Keywords: MOBILITY, MIGRATION, LOWER-CLASS, INDUSTRY, LABOUR, WORK, RUSSIA, 19TH CENTURY, URALS
Subjects: D History - General and Old World > DK Russia. Soviet Union. Former Soviet Republics
H Social sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Faculties/Schools: UK Campuses > Faculty of Arts > School of History
Item ID: 60465
Depositing User: Rowson, Jonathan
Date Deposited: 08 Feb 2024 14:41
Last Modified: 08 Feb 2024 14:41
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/60465

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