The Making of Capitalism in France: Class Structures, Economic Development, the State and the Formation of the French Working Class, 1750-1914

Erscheinungsjahr 2019
ISBN: 978-90-04-27632-1
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 189, 314 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 239 mm, Gewicht: 612 g

Reihe: Historical Materialism Book

Very few authors have addressed the origins of capitalism in France as the emergence of a distinct form of historical society, premised on a new configuration of social power, rather than as an extension of commercial activities liberated from feudal obstacles. Xavier Lafrance offers the first thorough historical analysis of the origins of capitalist social property relations in France from a 'political Marxist' or (Capital-centric Marxist) perspective. Putting emphasis on the role of the state, The Making of Capitalism in France shows how the capitalist system was first imported into this country in an industrial form, and considerably later than is usually assumed. This work demonstrates that the French Revolution was not capitalist, and in fact consolidated customary regulations that formed the bedrock of the formation of the working class.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lafrance, Xavier

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wirtschaftsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Geschichte der Revolutionen Französische Revolution
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Ideologien Marxismus, Kommunismus
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Geschichte
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftsgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Problematising Capitalism

Importing Capitalism to France

Chapter 1 The Old Regime False Start: Attempts at Liberal Reforms

and the Absence of a Transition to Capitalism in Absolutist France

Absolutist France vs Capitalist England

British Competition and French Liberal Reactions

An Extensive Mode of Economic Development

Chapter 2 Non-Capitalist Industrialisation in Post-Revolutionary France

Nineteenth-Century France Economic Development: The Revisionist Account

Contrasting French and English Nineteenth-Century Industrial Development

The Non-Competitive Nature of French Markets

The Development of Cotton Production and Metallurgy

Opportunity-Driven Growth in Non-Competitive Markets

Chapter 3 The French Revolution and the Customary Regulation of Labour

Reassessing the French Revolution

Guilds and Workers’ Struggles under the Old Regime

The Persistence of Customary Regulations and Aspects of Labour Emancipation in Post-Revolutionary France

The Absence of Labour Subsumption by Capital in Post-Revolutionary France

Chapter 4 The Rise of the French Working Class: Republican and Socialist Struggles against Extra-Economic Exploitation

The Composition and the Making of the French Working Class

Notables, the State, and the Perpetuation of Non-Capitalist Surplus Appropriation

Pinning Down Social Ills, Naming the Antagonists

The Revolution of 1830 and the Rise of a Republican-Socialist Working Class

The Revolution of 1848 and the (Interrupted) Rise of the Democratic and Social Republic

Chapter 5 The State-Led Capitalist Transformation of French Industry

Geopolitical Competition and Capitalist Industrialisation

Building Foundations: The Making of a Competitive Market

The Erosion of Customary Regulations and the Subsumption of Labour

The Emergence of Capitalist Patterns of Investment

Changing Modes of Surplus Appropriation and (Partial) State Restructuring

Chapter 6 Capitalism and the Re-Making of the French Working Class

The Re-Composition of the Working Class

The Labour Movement under the Second Empire and the Paris Commune

The Rise of the Strike: Refusing the Depoliticisation of Production

The Transformation of Class Relations and the Rise of an Autonomous Socialist Working-Class Movement

Conclusion

References

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Xavier Lafrance, Ph.D. (2013), York University, is Professor of political science at the Université du Québec à Montréal. With Charles Post, he is the editor of Case Studies in the Origins of Capitalism (Palgrave 2018).