Entre el padre y el patrón. La organización del trabajo trashumante en la montaña riojana (S. XVIII)

This article studies one aspect of the pre-industrial world of the uplands, namely the labour organisation of transhumant shepherds, These were paid workers who depended on the labour market. The approach of this article is to try to understand the logic of a complex labour organization which can be analyzed as the result of a long-drawn out series of interactions. There are two objectives: on the one hand, to reach a better understanding of economic and social aspects of the work of the shepherd, and on the other hand, to understand the importance of the labour market in the social reproduction of peasant holds Two complementary perspectives are accomplished. Firstly, the work of the shepherds is viewed as an institutional mechanism intended to accumulate profit on the part of the livestock farmers. who took advantage of their social position to obtain docile and cheap labour. Secondly, shepherding is identified as a family-based phenomenon complemented with the other varied work typical of an upland economy.