INTERMEDIATE GROUPS: SOCIAL IDENTITY, LEVELS OF WEALTH AND PATTERNS OF CONSUMPTION (LISBON AT THE END OF ANCIENT REGIME)

Abstract

The analysis of schemes of social representation and social vocabulary in Portugal showed that, at the end of the Ancient Regime, although absent in the legal framework, the notion of intermediate strata and the visions of the society that included it were widespread. In fact, there are several evidences that Portuguese and foreign authors referred to the intermediate layers, in general, and to its modus vivendi, in particular. Focusing on 376 inventories carried out in Lisbon between 1755 and 1836, we seek to analyse the levels and composition of wealth, and patterns of consumption of the different socio-economic groups. This study follows a comparative approach, because it confronts different groups, but its main goal is to focus on the intermediate layers.

Keywords
Intermediate groups; wealth; consumption