The Politics of Provisions
Food Riots, Moral Economy, and Market Transition in England, c. 1550–1850
Seiten
2010
Routledge (Verlag)
978-0-7546-6581-6 (ISBN)
Routledge (Verlag)
978-0-7546-6581-6 (ISBN)
Food marketing and consumption were matters of politics as much as economics as England became a market society. In exploring the dynamics of negotiations over subsistence during industrial revolution and political evolution, this book focuses on wars and famines in modern world history.
The elemental power of food politics has not been fully appraised. Food marketing and consumption were matters of politics as much as economics as England became a market society. In times of dearth, concatenations of food riots, repression, and relief created a maturing politics of provisions. Over three centuries, some eight hundred riots crackled in waves across England. Crowds seized wagons, attacked mills and granaries, and lowered prices in marketplaces or farmyards. Sometimes rioters parleyed with magistrates. More often both acted out a well-rehearsed political minuet that evolved from Tudor risings and state policies down to a complex culmination during the Napoleonic Wars. 'Provision politics' thus comprised both customary negotiations over scarcity and hunger, and 'negotiations' of the social vessel through the turbulence of dearth. Occasionally troops killed rioters, or judges condemned them to the gallows, but increasingly riots prompted wealthy citizens to procure relief supplies. In short, food riots worked: in a sense they were a first draft of the welfare state. This pioneering analysis connects a generation of social protest studies spawned by E.P. Thompson's essay on the 'moral economy' with new work on economic history and state formation. The dynamics of provision politics that emerged during England's social, economic and political transformations should furnish fruitful models for analyses of 'total war' and famine as well as broader transitions elsewhere in world history.
The elemental power of food politics has not been fully appraised. Food marketing and consumption were matters of politics as much as economics as England became a market society. In times of dearth, concatenations of food riots, repression, and relief created a maturing politics of provisions. Over three centuries, some eight hundred riots crackled in waves across England. Crowds seized wagons, attacked mills and granaries, and lowered prices in marketplaces or farmyards. Sometimes rioters parleyed with magistrates. More often both acted out a well-rehearsed political minuet that evolved from Tudor risings and state policies down to a complex culmination during the Napoleonic Wars. 'Provision politics' thus comprised both customary negotiations over scarcity and hunger, and 'negotiations' of the social vessel through the turbulence of dearth. Occasionally troops killed rioters, or judges condemned them to the gallows, but increasingly riots prompted wealthy citizens to procure relief supplies. In short, food riots worked: in a sense they were a first draft of the welfare state. This pioneering analysis connects a generation of social protest studies spawned by E.P. Thompson's essay on the 'moral economy' with new work on economic history and state formation. The dynamics of provision politics that emerged during England's social, economic and political transformations should furnish fruitful models for analyses of 'total war' and famine as well as broader transitions elsewhere in world history.
John Bohstedt is Professor emeritus in the Department of History at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA, and author of Riots and Community Politics in England and Wales, 1790-1810.
Contents: 'We'd rather be hanged than starved!': the politics of provisions; The genesis of provision politics, 1580-1650; The recession of provision politics, 1650-1739; Bolting mills and marketplaces: the formative generation of provisions politics, 1740-1775; A viable, but doomed, provision politics, 1782-1812; The decadence of the politics of provisions, 1812-67; Conclusions: provision politics from the book of orders to World War One; Bibliography of works cited; Index.
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 28.9.2010 |
|---|---|
| Verlagsort | London |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 156 x 234 mm |
| Gewicht | 725 g |
| Themenwelt | Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Mittelalter |
| Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Neuzeit (bis 1918) | |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte | |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie | |
| ISBN-10 | 0-7546-6581-X / 075466581X |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-7546-6581-6 / 9780754665816 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
Mehr entdecken
aus dem Bereich
aus dem Bereich
Geschichte einer Augsburger Familie (1367-1650)
Buch | Softcover (2024)
Kohlhammer (Verlag)
CHF 47,60
der epische Kampf um das Heilige Land
Buch | Hardcover (2025)
C.H.Beck (Verlag)
CHF 49,95
