National Character and Public Spirit in Britain and France, 1750-1914

In a work of unusual ambition and rigorous comparison, Roberto Romani considers the concept of 'national character' in the intellectual histories of Britain and France. Perceptions of collective mentalities influenced a variety of political and economic debates, ranging from anti-absolutist polemic in eighteenth-century France to appraisals of socialism in Edwardian Britain. Romani argues that the eighteenth-century notion of 'national character', with its stress on climate and government, evolved into a concern with the virtues of 'public spirit' irrespective of national traits, in parallel with the establishment of representative institutions on the Continent. His discussion of contemporary thinkers includes Montesquieu, Voltaire, Hume, Millar, Burke, Constant, de Staël and Tocqueville. After the mid-nineteenth century, the advent of social scientific approaches, including those of Spencer, Hobson and Durkheim, shifted the focus from the qualities required by political liberty to those needed to operate complex social systems, and to bear its psychological pressures. Machine generated contents note: PartI 1750-1850 France 1 All Montesquieu's sons: the place of esprit gineral, caractere national, and mceurs in French political philosophy, 1748-1789 2 After the Revolution: Stael on political morality 3 From republicanism to industrialism and national character: Melchiorre Gioja, Charles Dupin, and Continental political economy, 1800-1848 4 The French Restoration dispute over mores and Tocqueville Great Britain 5 Between Whiggism and the science of manners: Britain, 1750-1800 6 British views on Irish national character, 1800-1846 Part II 1850-1914 7 The demise of John Bull: social sciences in Britain, 1850-1914 8 Durkheim's collective representations and their background 9 Socializing public spirit, 1870-1914 Conclusion Index.

In a work of unusual ambition and rigorous comparison, Roberto Romani considers the concept of "national character" in the intellectual histories of Britain and France. Perceptions of collective mentalities influenced a variety of political and economic debates, ranging from anti-absolutist polemic in eighteenth-century France to appraisals of socialism in Edwardian Britain. Romani argues that the eighteenth-century notion of "national character", with its stress on climate and government, evolved into a concern with the virtues of "public spirit" irrespective of national traits, in parallel with the establishment of representative institutions on the Continent.

Romani considers a distinction between 'national character' as a static and stereotype-laden concept, and 'public spirit' as a notion suggesting the necessity of certain qualities to operate free institutions. Many major authors of the period 1750-1914 (like Montesquieu, Voltaire, Hume, Millar, Burke, Tocqueville, Spencer, Hobson and Durkheim) are considered This chapter does not focus on the multifaceted meaning of terms so widely used as moeurs, manieres, or even caractere national.