Capitalism and the Emergence of Civic Equality in Eighteenth-Century France (Chicago Studies in Practices of Meaning)

There is little doubt that the French Revolution of 1789 changed the course of Western history. But why did the idea of civic equality—a distinctive signature of that revolution—find such fertile ground in France? How might changing economic and social realities have affected political opinions? William H. Sewell Jr. argues that the flourishing of commercial capitalism in eighteenth-century France introduced a new independence, flexibility, and anonymity to French social life. By entering the interstices of this otherwise rigidly hierarchical society, expanded commodity exchange colored everyday experience in ways that made civic equality thinkable, possible, even desirable, when the crisis of the French Revolution arrived. Sewell ties together masterful analyses of a multitude of interrelated topics: the rise of commerce, the emergence of urban publics, the careers of the philosophes, commercial publishing, patronage, political economy, trade, and state finance. __Capitalism and the Emergence of Civic Equality in Eighteenth-Century France__ offers an original interpretation of one of history’s pivotal moments. Contents 8 Introduction: The French Revolution and the Shock of Civic Equality 10 1. Old Regime State and Society 28 2. The Eighteenth-Century Economy: Commerce and Capitalism 52 I. The Emergence of an Urban Public 76 3. The Commercial Public Sphere 78 4. The Empire of Fashion 112 5. The Parisian Promenade 138 II. The Philosophes and the Career Open to Talent 158 6. The Philosophe Career and the Impossible Example of Voltaire 160 7. Denis Diderot: Living by the Pen 174 8. The Abbé Morellet: Between Publishing and Patronage 190 9. Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Self-Deceived Clientage 210 III. Royal Administration and the Promise of Political Economy 234 10. Tocqueville’s Challenge: Royal Administration and the Rise of Civic Equality 236 11. Warfare, Taxes, and Administrative Centralization: The Double Bind of Royal Finance 252 12. Political Economy: A Solution to the Double Bind? 276 13. Navigating the Double Bind: Efforts at Reform 300 Conclusion: The Revolution and the Advent of Civic Equality 342 Epilogue: Civic Equality and the Continuing History of Capitalism 374 Acknowledgments 380 References 382 Index 402 Proporcionado por el ed.: "William H. Sewell, Jr. turns to the experience of commercial capitalism to show how the commodity form abstracted social relations. The increased independence, flexibility, and anonymity of market relations made equality between citizens not only conceivable but attractive. Commercial capitalism thus found its way into the interstices of this otherwise rigidly hierarchical society, coloring social relations and paving the way for the establishment of civic equality"