Response to Henry Heller’s ‘The Longue Durée of the French Bourgeoisie’

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Beik
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Class Conflict ◽  
Early Modern France ◽  
Modern France ◽  
Longue Duree ◽  
Longue Durée

Beik criticises Heller’s mechanical view of the dynamic role of the bourgeoisie in the rise of capitalism in early-modern France. While they agree that the primary class-conflict was between the nobility and the peasantry, Beik stresses the slow emergence of genuine capitalist social relations and the cooptation of the bourgeoisie by a monarchical state which was still propping up the feudal regime, whereas Heller views mercantile activity and production increases as evidence of rising capitalism.

Human intentionality in the functionalist theory of social change: the role of French provincial intendants in state-society differentiation

2005 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Clark
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Historical Evolution ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
Early Modern France ◽  
Human Intentionality ◽  
Modern France ◽  
State And Society ◽  
Functionalist Theory

This paper seeks to assess the validity, in a particular historical case, of two ways of thinking in functionalist literature about the role of human intentionality in social change. It does so by means of an analysis of the contribution of French provincial intendants of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to the differentiation of state and society. It is argued that if functionalists are to build a theory of social change it is necessary that they deal more directly with the question of human intentionality. Four historical views, each positing a different relationship between intentionality and the evolution of the state in Early Modern France, are outlined as different approaches to understanding the establishment of the institution of intendants and the part they played in state-society differentiation. The historical evolution of French intendants is traced and 1066 actions by intendants and the French crown during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are analysed to determine the extent to which intendants contributed to state-society differentiation and whether they and the crown did so intentionally.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Marie Seong-Hak Kim
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Social Life ◽  
The State ◽  
Early Modern France ◽  
Modern France ◽  
History Of ◽  
Proper Subject ◽  
Cultural Turn

Historiography of early modern France has of late taken a definite social and cultural turn as scholars shied away from political and intellectual history. While the value of illuminating social life and practices is undisputable, examination of the sources of law, including legal texts and juristic writings, and of the role of the political authorities in creating the state legal hierarchy is indispensable before a theorization of interaction between law and society can be envisaged. How the legal system comprising various sources of law in early modern France functioned to meet the changing needs of society and also the growing institutional demands of the state presents an important question to historians and jurists alike. History of custom as law articulates the concept of custom and its relationship to royal sovereignty and provides a clear path to our understanding of the absolute monarchy. Literature on custom is now large enough that the literature itself is a proper subject of research.

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