Savoirs marchands ou artisanaux ? Normes et pratiques en tension dans la formation aux métiers parisiens, XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles

Abstract

This paper studies the way merchants could acquire particular skills in two important eighteenth century merchant guilds of Paris (haberdashers and grocers). It shows how shopkeepers and wholesalers held some distinctive capacities, but shared an urban superiority that was based above all on social skills, whose validation requested lighter and faster formalities than within craft guilds. Mature and enriched artisans, who wanted to become merchants, as well as those who were caught trading clandestinely, could purchase them quite easily, or make them recognized, thus contributing to intergenerational social mobility

Keywords

• apprenticeship
• merchant guilds
• craft guilds
• social skills
• shopkeeper and wholesaler