General and Periodic Crises of Overproduction

General and Periodic Crises of Overproduction
Author: Jean Lescure
Publisher: Anthem Press
Total Pages: 407
Release: 2023-11-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1839988312

Jean Lescure’s two-volume General and Periodic Crises of Overproduction is a pioneering study of the causes and consequences of industrial crises in capitalist economies in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The author, who held doctorates in political economy and law, is most remembered as a founder of the French historical school and a staunch advocate of empiricism in the economic sciences. Lescure called his approach the ’complex historical method’, by which he sought to revise classical and quantitative economic theory through the historical analysis and statistical observation of cyclical phenomena. Ever the controversialist, Lescure wrote in an engaging style, accessible to non-specialists and economists alike, and critiqued the leading monetary theorists of the period, insisting that observation of the movements in production costs, industrial orders and profits be given priority over circulation and credit in understanding the periodic crises of capitalist economies. In Lescure’s view, crises were inevitable in both market and command economies and their onset and consequences were predictable with the help of the more detailed production statistics newly available to economists and entrepreneurs at the time. Observation of corporate profits, the margin between cost price and selling price, provided the means to predict crises and measure their impact, not only on industry and trade but also on the working classes who would endure unemployment and the many social ills that accompany it. Lescure, unlike many of the liberal economists of the time, was always careful to include in his historical account statistical analysis of unemployment figures, as well as those on crime, marriage and birth rates, homelessness and suicide. Although he remained sceptical of government intervention in the form of monetary policies adjusting the money supply, and lauded the success of industrial concentration and trusts in reducing costs and prices, Lescure admitted the state’s role in the recovery of the 1930s, when social insurance schemes and investment in public works mitigated the worst effects of unemployment for industrial labour. This treatise, which grew out of his doctoral work, was a lifetime project for Lescure, who updated it periodically over five editions, to include each new cycle of growth, crisis, depression and recovery. Volume one provides a historical study of economic crises from the post-Napoleonic period through the Great Depression and the recovery of the late 1930s. Volume two offers a critique of the theories of crises, their causes and potential remedies, in which Lescure outlines his preference for ‘organic’ theories that focus on the production process and qualitative statistical observation of the movements in costs, selling prices, industrial orders and profits. The text of the fifth edition appears here in English for the first time, unabridged and complete with editorial materials designed to help the English reader understand the work on its own terms and situate its author’s prominent place in the history of economic thought.

Le Play

Le Play
Author: Michael Brooke
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2018-01-16
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1351309633

A study and assessment of the career of Frederic Le Play (1806-1882), now recognised as a founder of modern sociology. The main theme consists of a detailed and impartial analysis of Le Play's thoughts on the relationship between society and technology. His contributions to fields other than sociology are also considered.

The Petite Bourgeoisie in Europe 1780-1914

The Petite Bourgeoisie in Europe 1780-1914
Author: Geoffrey Crossick
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2021-02-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317239547

First published in 1995. Geoffrey Crossick and Heinz-Gerhard Haupt provide a major overview of the social, economic, cultural and political development of the petite bourgeoisie in eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Europe. Through comparative analysis the authors examine issues such as the centrality of small enterprise to industrial change, the importance of family and locality to the petit-bourgeois world, the search for stability and status, and the associated political move to the right. This title will be of interest to students of history.

Sociology Of Law & Order/h

Sociology Of Law & Order/h
Author: Lynn Mcdonald
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2019-08-22
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1000312135

This book is about the law and order issue, and the role social scientists have played in legitimating it as a problem of grave social consequences. It is a study on rising crime rates and criminal behaviour within the limits of conventional social science, with its advantages and disadvantages.

This Great Symbol

This Great Symbol
Author: John J. MacAloon
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 505
Release: 2013-09-13
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1136746137

This Great Symbol is the definitive study of the origins of the modern Olympic Games and of their founder, Pierre de Coubertin, whose ideological stamp the Olympics still bear. Behind this fascinating blend of biography and history lies an impressive framework of cultural, social, and psychological theories skilfully employed to interpret the creation and symbolism of the modern Olympic Games. Hailed as both a classic in sport history and as a paradigmatic study in the anthropology of the past, This Great Symbol helped launch the new collaboration between historians and cultural anthropologists that continues to mark the human sciences worldwide. For this 25th anniversary edition, Professor MacAloon adds a new preface evaluating subsequent scholarship on Coubertin and the Olympic origins and a highly personal afterword describing the impact of This Great Symbol on his own subsequent career as an Olympic anthropologist and cultural performance theory. This book was published as a special issue of the International Journal of the History of Sport.

Iconoclasm from Antiquity to Modernity

Iconoclasm from Antiquity to Modernity
Author: Kristine Kolrud
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2016-12-05
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1351929208

The phenomenon of iconoclasm, expressed through hostile actions towards images, has occurred in many different cultures throughout history. The destruction and mutilation of images is often motivated by a blend of political and religious ideas and beliefs, and the distinction between various kinds of ’iconoclasms’ is not absolute. In order to explore further the long and varied history of iconoclasm the contributors to this volume consider iconoclastic reactions to various types of objects, both in the very recent and distant past. The majority focus on historical periods but also on history as a backdrop for image troubles of our own day. Development over time is a central question in the volume, and cross-cultural influences are also taken into consideration. This broad approach provides a useful comparative perspective both on earlier controversies over images and relevant issues today. In the multimedia era increased awareness of the possible consequences of the use of images is of utmost importance. ’Iconoclasm from Antiquity to Modernity’ approaches some of the problems related to the display of particular kinds of images in conflicted societies and the power to decide on the use of visual means of expression. It provides a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of the phenomenon of iconoclasm. Of interest to a wide group of scholars the contributors draw upon various sources and disciplines, including art history, cultural history, religion and archaeology, as well as making use of recent research from within social and political sciences and contemporary events. Whilst the texts are addressed primarily to those researching the Western world, the volume contains material which will also be of interest to students of the Middle East.

Ancestors

Ancestors
Author: Steven Ozment
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 182
Release: 2009-07-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0674041739

This powerful book extends and completes a project begun with Steven Ozment's When Fathers Ruled (Harvard). Here Ozment, the leading historian of the family in the middle centuries, replaces the often miserable depiction of premodern family relations with a delicately nuanced portrait of a vibrant and loving social group.