Troubles populaires au XVIIIème siècle et conscience de classe : une préface à la Révolution Française

Abstract

Basing his remarks on recent studies of popular disturbances in the XVIIIth century, the author questions the idea that was put forward not long ago concerning the decline of « emotions » at the end of the « Ancien Régime ». Althought there were no longer any great outbursts such as those of the pre- ceeding century, new and more frequent disturbances took place on specific occasions. Their character changed : one notes the decline of the religious element, the modification of anti-fiscal uprisings, but, in a contrapuntal fashion, disturbances took place more and more over the subsistance question, or the anti-seignorial struggle, and in conflicts about work or between age groups. The beginnings of political awareness accompanied these confrontations and brought forth new themes such as the famine pact or the figure of the «accapareur ». 1789 hardly appears « like a thunderbolt out of a clear, blue sky ». Popular action cannot be reduced to a simple rearguard struggle about backward- looking themes. It truly defined the specificity of the French social struggles which the Revolution was to come to grips with.

Environmental shocks, religious struggle, and resilience: a contribution to the economic history of Ancien Régime France

“…For more details on the plausible mechanisms driving this relationship and a brief overview of the theoretical background, see Appendix II.A. For a literature survey, see Le Roy Ladurie (1974), Lemarchand (1990), andAubert (2015).…”