MadMonzer
Temporarily embarrassed liberal elite
1yr ago
This paper (I have seen the same theory in other places, but don't know how many independent sources it has) suggests that Northern European houseproud culture is a lingering effect of home-produced dairy products being sold outside the home in the Early Modern Age - dairying required the highest hygiene standards of any farm activity.
The obvious test is whether olive oil people and their descendants are less houseproud than butter people and their descendants. I wouldn't know how to test this given the obvious issues with the accuracy of intra-European racial stereotypes. This theory is of course perfectly consistent with the idea that Medieval peasants lived in filth - it predicts that Northern Europeans didn't become houseproud until semi-commercial dairying became a thing.
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Notes -
This paper (I have seen the same theory in other places, but don't know how many independent sources it has) suggests that Northern European houseproud culture is a lingering effect of home-produced dairy products being sold outside the home in the Early Modern Age - dairying required the highest hygiene standards of any farm activity.
The obvious test is whether olive oil people and their descendants are less houseproud than butter people and their descendants. I wouldn't know how to test this given the obvious issues with the accuracy of intra-European racial stereotypes. This theory is of course perfectly consistent with the idea that Medieval peasants lived in filth - it predicts that Northern Europeans didn't become houseproud until semi-commercial dairying became a thing.
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