As human beings, we have an innate disposition to care about our well-being. We all care about staying alive, as well as about avoiding disease, physical pain, bodily harm, disability and assaults on our dignity. Adequate nourishment, water, shelter, security, satisfying work, autonomy, relationships with others and self-esteem are essential to human life and functioning. This illuminating study compares well-being across civic status, economic standing and gender during Amsterdam’s Golden Age. Utilising a multidisciplinary perspective, the author identifies the mechanisms linking people’s positions in these three systems of inequality to the wellness of their being, showing how the socioeconomic and gender hierarchies affectedtheir well-being across the lifespan.

Derek Phillips is emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Amsterdam.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS - 10INTRODUCTION - 12 -I - 13 -II - 18 -III - 19 -IV - 24IN THEIR PROPER PLACE:THE CIVIC HIERARCHY - 26 -I - 29 Regents: The Ruling Elite - 29 Common Citizens - 30 Non-Citizen Residents and Temporary Inhabitants - 34 -III - 37 Strangersin the City - 37GRADIENTS OF WEALTHAND INCOME: THEECONOMIC HIERARCHY - 42 -I - 44 The Wealthy Elite - 45 The Middling Group - 48 The Lower Orders and the Poor - 52 -II - 55 Respondingto Economic Stress - 55 -III - 59AT HOME IN AMSTERDAM:THE PHYSICALENVIRONMENTAND EARLY DEATH - 60 -I - 63 -II - 66 The Residential Environment - 67 Housing Conditions - 70 -III - 76INTIMATE INFERIORS:SERVANTS INAMSTERDAM - 78 -I - 81 -II - 82 Servantsat Work - 82 -III - 84 Vulnerabilityand Confl icts - 84 Conflicts about Earnings and Work - 85 Conflicts about Dress - 86 Conflicts about Sex and Intimacy - 89 -IV - 92 ChangingEmployers - 92 -V - 93 Preparingfor the Future - 93A SINGULARUNMARRIEDWOMEN - 96 -I - 99 TheYears before Marriage - 99 Earning a Living: Single Men and Single Women - 102 -II - 105 The Significance of Marital Status - 105 -III - 107 Courtshipand Marriage - 107 -IV - 110 Never-Married Men and Women - 110 -V - 111THE FAMILY HOUSEHOLD:HUSBAND, WIFE, ANDCHILDREN - 114 -I - 116 FamilyOrientation - 116 -II - 117 StartingMarried Life: Husband and Wife - 117 -III - 121 HavingChildren - 121 Controlling Fertility - 125 -IV - 126 Vulnerabilitiesand Early Deaths - 126 -V - 130PARENTS AND CHILDREN,BROTHERS AND SISTERS - 132 -I - 134 Mother-Child Relations - 134 -II - 137 Father-Child Relations - 137 -III - 139 GrowingUp - 139 -IV - 141 Siblings - 141 Birth Intervals: A Matter of Life and Death - 142 Grieving for Lost Children - 143 Continuing Sibling Relationships - 145 Sibling Inequalities and Discontents - 147 -V - 149LOSING A SPOUSE AND APARENT - 150 -I - 152 The Emotional Loss - 152 -II - 154 Widowhoodand the Gender Hierarchy - 154 -III - 157 TheWidows of Regents and Other Wealthy Men - 157 The Widows of Functionaries and Professionals - 158 The Widows of Master Craftsmen - 160 The Widows of Non-Citizen Residents and Temporary Inhabitants - 161 -IV - 164 Remarriage - 164 -V - 166LOSING BOTH PARENTS:AMSTERDAM ORPHANS - 168 -I - 170 BeingOrphaned - 170 Emotional Loss and the Grieving Child - 171 -II - 171 Economicand Social Support - 171 The Children of the Wealthy Elite - 172 The Children of Other Amsterdam Citizens - 173 Children of Non-Citizen Residents and Temporary Inhabitants - 178 -III - 182 TheOrphanage Experience - 182A SUMMING UP - 186NOTES - 192 introduction - 192 chapter 1 - 197 chapter 2 - 202 chapter 3 - 205 chapter 4 - 210 chapter 5 - 214 chapter 6 - 218 chapter 7 - 223 chapter 8 - 227 chapter 9 - 230BIBLIOGRAPHY - 234THE AUTHOR - 256INDEX - 258