'Because family and friends got easily weary of taking care': A new perspective on the specialization in the elderly care sector in early modern Holland

This article investigates the causes of the remarkable growth in and specialization of elderly care institutions in the Netherlands during the early modern period, and relates these developments to a number of major changes in the household formation process, which had both a direct and an indirect impact on the need for elderly care in general and on the relationships between the elderly and next of kin (partners, children, and other family members). Some specific features of the specialization in care, such as the care provisions for couples, point towards an underlying change in these relat... Mehr ...