Insurgent Identities: Class, Community, and Protest in Paris from 1848 to the Commune

Gould, Roger V.

ISBN 10: 0226305619 / ISBN 13: 9780226305615

Published by University of Chicago Press, 1995

Former library book; May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G0226305619I4N10

Synopsis:

In this important contribution both to the study of social protest and to French social history, Roger Gould breaks with previous accounts that portray the Paris Commune of 1871 as a continuation of the class struggles of the 1848 Revolution. Focusing on the collective identities framing conflict during these two upheavals and in the intervening period, Gould reveals that while class played a pivotal role in 1848, it was neighborhood solidarity that was the decisive organizing force in 1871.

The difference was due to Baron Haussmann's massive urban renovation projects between 1852 and 1868, which dispersed workers from Paris's center to newly annexed districts on the outskirts of the city. In these areas, residence rather than occupation structured social relations. Drawing on evidence from trail documents, marriage records, reports of police spies, and the popular press, Gould demonstrates that this fundamental rearrangement in the patterns of social life made possible a neighborhood insurgent movement; whereas the insurgents of 1848 fought and died in defense of their status as workers, those in 1871 did so as members of a besieged urban community.

A valuable resource for historians and scholars of social movements, this work shows that collective identities vary with political circumstances but are nevertheless constrained by social networks. Gould extends this argument to make sense of other protest movements and to offer predictions about the dimensions of future social conflict.

About the Author: Roger V. Gould (1963-2002) was associate professor of sociology at the University of Chicago and editor of the American Journal of Sociology. He is also the author of Collision of Wills: How Ambiguity about Social Rank Breeds Conflict, published by the University of Chicago Press.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Insurgent Identities: Class, Community, and ...
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication Date: 1995
Binding: Paperback
Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket