Capitalism and the Emergence of Civic Equality in Eighteenth-Century France by William H. Sewell, Jr.

Abstract

In this ambitious book, Sewell argues that the development of capitalism in eighteenth-century France led to the rise of civic equality and its triumph in the Revolution. He calls this work a Marxian analysis, but not that of mid-twentieth-century Marxists. His approach is not like that of Albert Soboul, whose The French Revolution, 1787–1799: From the Storming of the Bastille to Napoleon (New York, 1975) viewed the Revolution as the capture of the state by the bourgeoisie. Rather, his understanding is that commercial capitalism led to the expansion of “commodity-based social relations” in which goods and people were regarded alike as items in a market (7). These new relations challenged and eventually overthrew the old régime of ranks, orders, and privileges.Sewell builds on Habermas’ theoretical analysis to describe how an urban public emerged in the eighteenth century.1 Publishing, theater, music, art, restaurants, cafés, and fashion became public by entering the market. Now they could be enjoyed by anybody with the means to participate, not just a closed elite. In Chapter 4, “The Empire of Fashion,” Sewell describes in fascinating detail how silk manufacturers in Lyon closely tracked Parisian fashion (103–128). Their ability to produce new items increased the profits that they drew from exploiting their workers.The promenade, that very Parisian institution, followed a similar pattern, as Sewell describes in a tour de force of social history. The action moved from the Cours-la-Reine in the early seventeenth century, where only aristocrats could drive their carriages to see and be seen, to the Jardin des Tuileries where anyone could stroll, if suitably dressed. Later the boulevards and Palais Royal became places for promenades where all were welcome, and commerce flourished.Commerce also extended into thought. The pursuit of a career open to talent became possible for writers because of the rise of commercial publishing. The philosophes Voltaire, Denis Diderot, the Abbé Morellet, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau took advantage by publishing attacks on the privileges and restrictions of the old régime, which they saw as violating civic equality and hindering economic growth. Their careers rested on their publications, but earnings from book sales were not enough to give them the incomes that they needed. Added funds came from the celebrity that their writings brought, which attracted patrons—famously for Diderot, Catherine the Great—who entertained and supported them. Sometimes their patrons sought to implement the philosophes’ ideas when they held positions of power.The monarchy’s indebtedness, however, proved intractable to the philosophes’ solutions and eventually led to the Revolution. The government needed to raise taxes, but it faced what Sewell calls a double bind. Increasing the taille, the direct tax paid by the peasants, would make the poorest group in society even poorer. Yet eliminating the privileges of the elites by removing their tax exemptions would undercut the hierarchical principles on which the monarchy was based. Moreover, it would lessen the value of their venal offices, which backed the loans on which the government relied. The philosophes’ proposed reforms, briefly implemented by Controller General Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot from 1774 to 1776, sought to make the economy more productive, but they were quickly undone. Eventually the only recourse was to call the Estates General, leading to the Revolution. The culmination of the story occurred during the night of August 4, 1789, when the notables in the new National Assembly renounced their privileges, bringing about civic equality, which, once introduced, persisted “in most modern constitutions.… [as] a force for good” (368).Sewell’s book ends as a conventional, not-really-Marxian account of the outbreak of the French Revolution. Its strength derives from its ability to synthesize secondary literature from intellectual, political, social, and economic history seamlessly. Sewell combines this literature with published primary sources to produce a rich description of several realms of French society; intellectual and social biographies of four philosophes; and a political, institutional, and economic narrative of the coming of the French Revolution. He leaves no doubt that commercial relations were expanding through more of society in the eighteenth century and that the belief in civic equality had become central to political thought by the time of the Revolution.