Guilds, Labour and the Urban Body Politic

Fabricating Community in the Southern Netherlands, 1300-1800

Nonfiction, History, European General
Cover of the book Guilds, Labour and the Urban Body Politic by Bert De Munck, Taylor and Francis
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Bert De Munck ISBN: 9781351245760
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Publication: December 1, 2017
Imprint: Routledge Language: English
Author: Bert De Munck
ISBN: 9781351245760
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication: December 1, 2017
Imprint: Routledge
Language: English

This book presents a new view on the relation between labour and community through a focus on craft guilds. In the Southern Netherlands, occupational guilds were both powerful and governed by manufacturing masters, enabling the latter to imprint their mark upon urban society in an economic, socio-cultural and political way. While the urban community was deeply indebted to a corporative spirit and guild ethic originating in medieval Germanic and Christian traditions, guild-based artisans succeeded in being accepted as genuine political (and, hence, rational) actors – their political identity and agency being based upon their skills and trustworthiness.

In the long run, this corporative spirit and power inexorably waned. Yet this book shows that an adequate understanding of the development of European modernity – i.e., proletarianisation and the emergence of a modern economy and modern economic and political thinking – requires taking seriously the ruins upon which it is build. These histories can actually be recounted as purifications of sorts, in which the economic was separated from the political, the individual from the social, and the transcendent from the material. While the religiously inspired corporative nature of the urban body politic waned, the urban artisans lost their credibility as political (and rational) actors.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

This book presents a new view on the relation between labour and community through a focus on craft guilds. In the Southern Netherlands, occupational guilds were both powerful and governed by manufacturing masters, enabling the latter to imprint their mark upon urban society in an economic, socio-cultural and political way. While the urban community was deeply indebted to a corporative spirit and guild ethic originating in medieval Germanic and Christian traditions, guild-based artisans succeeded in being accepted as genuine political (and, hence, rational) actors – their political identity and agency being based upon their skills and trustworthiness.

In the long run, this corporative spirit and power inexorably waned. Yet this book shows that an adequate understanding of the development of European modernity – i.e., proletarianisation and the emergence of a modern economy and modern economic and political thinking – requires taking seriously the ruins upon which it is build. These histories can actually be recounted as purifications of sorts, in which the economic was separated from the political, the individual from the social, and the transcendent from the material. While the religiously inspired corporative nature of the urban body politic waned, the urban artisans lost their credibility as political (and rational) actors.

More books from Taylor and Francis

Cover of the book Resourcing the Start-Up Business by Bert De Munck
Cover of the book Critical Perspectives on Food Sovereignty by Bert De Munck
Cover of the book Theorizing Digital Rhetoric by Bert De Munck
Cover of the book Political Representation in Times of Bailout by Bert De Munck
Cover of the book Crime and Local Television News by Bert De Munck
Cover of the book A Vos Marques! by Bert De Munck
Cover of the book Religion and Media in China by Bert De Munck
Cover of the book The Curriculum of the Future by Bert De Munck
Cover of the book Liberal Religion by Bert De Munck
Cover of the book Female Ascetics by Bert De Munck
Cover of the book Chemical Warfare and Chemical Terrorism by Bert De Munck
Cover of the book Remote Control by Bert De Munck
Cover of the book Nationalism and Ethnicity in a Hindu Kingdom by Bert De Munck
Cover of the book International Health Worker Migration and Recruitment by Bert De Munck
Cover of the book Progressive Politics and the Training of America's Persuaders by Bert De Munck
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy