Capp, B. (2003). When Gossips Meet: Women, Family, and Neighbourhood in Early Modern England. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
This book presents the findings of archival research focused on the period from the mid-16th century to the early 18th century. It draws on sources from a range of archives from both urban and rural communities, and seeks to give voice to ordinary women for whom historical records are much sparser than they are for members of the elite. Chapter 7 is particularly concerned with community matters, using diverse material from cases of slander that were brought to court to poems from the period that cast doubt on the probity of some aspect of community members' behaviour (often sexual). The argument is made that gossip could break the reputations not only of individuals but of whole streets, parishes, or towns, and this is why slanders were so vigorously contested. Other aspects of gossip performed more innocent functions of information exchange and support in ways that resemble modern debates about social capital. Gossip could also have the effect of reinforcing particular codes of appropriate behaviour, and Laurier, Whyte et al's * study can be regarded as a modern-day equivalent of the point being made about how community morality is reproduced through everyday talk. This book is also interesting to read in conjunction with Tarbin's* book on women, identities and communities in early modern Europe.