IDENTITY AND AGENCY IN ENGLAND, 1500-1800; ED. BY HENRY FRENCH

This collection of essays is arranged around the central issue raised by a raft of new empirical research - the relationship between social identity, or the 'vision of the self', and the ways in which this can explain historical agency. If identities in early modern society were multiple, complex, and dependent on context, rather than homogenous, consistent, or easily determined, then it is difficult to make simple causal links to behaviour. This collection aims to make innovative new research on the structures of English society available to the wider scholarly audience. The essays use a number of detailed contextual case studies to explore the twin themes of the nature of identities in early modern society, and their role in influencing historical agency. They examine the variety of identities available to individuals in early modern England, and the ways in which these were invoked and employed.
This collection of essays is arranged around the central issue raised by this raft of new empirical research--the relationship between social identity, or the "vision of the self," and the ways in which this can explain historical agency. If identities in early modern society were multiple, complex, and dependent on context, rather than homogenous, consistent, or easily determined, then it is difficult to make simple causal links to behavior. This collection aims to make innovative new research on the structures of English society available to the wider scholarly audience. The essays use a number of detailed contextual case studies to explore the twin themes of the nature of identities in early modern society, and their role in influencing historical agency. They examine the variety of identities available to individuals in early modern England, and the ways in which these were invoked and employed.
With the collapse of grand narratives about 'class', how can historians explain the identity and activities of ordinary people in the past? The essays in this collection explore this problem, examining the ways in which the poor represented themselves to authority, the relationship between gender identity and status, the problems of social mobility in an unstable economy, and the politics of identity in corporate towns. Contrary to ideas celebrating an infinite diversity of identities, this volume suggests that for most people the choice of identity, and the power of people to shape their social destinies was limited, if not always predictable. These studies provide new themes and research insights into an important subject in English social history, written by some of the leading scholars currently working in these areas