Teenaged Criminals in the Cities of the Kharkiv Viceroyalty, 1780 – 1796

The period of the Kharkiv Viceroyalty was a crucial time in the history of eastern Ukrainian lands. Great imperial reform met the traditional world; and the created symbiosis of Enlightenment rhetoric and local practices will lay the foundations for the future of the lands of the former Slobodian regiments. Historian Volodymyr Masiychuk uses existing sources – court documentation, crime and perpetrator characteristics – to shed light upon everyday practices. Deviation frequently helps us understand the norm and behavioral motivations. The study of the history of childhood and teens holds the key to understanding culture as a whole; the system of socialization and coming of age allows us to uncover relationship-forming mechanisms in society. The study of teenage crime serves as a key to understanding wider social processes.

The late eighteenth century was the time the everyday urban life of the region truly formed. The predominance of traditional social relations; the exploitation of teenage labour through "apprenticeship," the primate of the trade and administration in the city overproduction, the rustic character of urban centers began at this point slowly to give way to pre-industrial society (with the emergence of manufactories, the changes in the guild system, and hired labour).Against this backdrop, Kharkiv, the center of the viceroyalty, began to distinguish itself as a city that played a significant role in all of Ukraine. Volodymyr Masliychuk maintains that the statement that for a long time Kharkiv was no different from other cities of the region should, therefore, be substantially revised.

Media Support: