This book
is about the nature of social structure and change in England during
the five centuries leading up to the Industrial Revolution. Drawing
upon detailed studies of English parishes and a growing number of other
intensive local studies, as well as diaries, legal treatises and other
sources, the author examines the framework of change in England. He
describes and analyses the general theories put forward by Macaulay,
Marx, Weber and by more recent historians and sociologists concerning
the transition from a peasant to a capitalist society. By drawing on
parallel work by anthropologists and rural economists on the nature
of peasant social structure, Dr Macfarlane is able to provide a set
of indices by which to measure England during this period. His conclusions
challenge current views on many major issues: for example, in relation
to the nature of property, production, inheritance practices, household
and kinship structure, and social and geographical mobility.
The author
suggests that there has been a basic misinterpretation of English history
and that this has considerable implications both for our understanding
of modern British and American society, and for current theories concerning
the preconditions of industrialization. Marx and Weber base their accounts
of social change on the English experience: consequently their general
views are also challenged. This book is therefore an explanaiton both
of the nature of English society and of its crucial differences from
other European nations. At the same time it is a persuasive argument
that the major theories of social transition must be radically re-thought.
Contents
Introduction
1 The nature
of a peasant society
2 When
England ceased to be a peasant society: Marx, Weber and the historians
3 English
economy and society in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
4 Ownership
in England from 1350 to 1750
5 Ownership
in England from 1200 to 1349
6 English
economy and society in the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries
7 England
in perspective
8 Some
implications