Format:
xi, 263 Seiten
,
Illustrationen, Karten
ISBN:
9780691149813
Content:
The psychology of the main social groups : motivations -- The psychology of the main social groups : information and beliefs -- The royal administration and the courts -- Deliberating bodies.
Content:
"France before 1789 presents the main features of the prodigiously complex social system of the ancien regime which proceeded the French Revolution. In doing so Jon Elster goes beyond formal institutions to show how they worked in practice. He draws on a host of examples and contemporary texts to illuminate the perverse and sometimes pathological effects of this system and seeks to provide a detailed analysis of the political institutions that undergirded it. Whereas Tocqueville, in his famous analysis of the ancient regime, wanted to understand the old regime as a prelude to revolution, Elster views it as a prelude to constitution-making prompted by and intended to resolve these perversities. He views these as overlapping, yet important enough to render distinct. In addition to defending a particular set of substantive propositions about the conditions which led to the Constituent Assembly, Elster argues for a specific methodological approach to history, which emphasizes supplementing the historian's craft with approaches from the social sciences. Ultimately, he does not claim to answer the historians' questions better than they do. But he does aspire to ask and sometimes answer questions that historians have not formulated in order to better understand one of the most significant examples of collective decision-making history offers us"--
Note:
Includes bibliographical references and index
Additional Edition:
ISBN 9780691200927
Additional Edition:
Erscheint auch als Online-Ausgabe Elster, Jon France before 1789 Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, 2020 ISBN 9780691200927
Language:
English
Subjects:
History
,
Law
Keywords:
Frankreich
;
Politisches System
;
Geschichte 1700-1789
Author information:
Elster, Jon 1940-
