Society, Theory and the French Revolution

This is a very different book about the French Revolution of 1789-94. The concern is less with a change in society than a change in the relation that a society establishes with itself. Here the focus is on society's presentation (and representation) considered not simply from the perspective of a few privileged intellectuals, but as a social and historical process inseparable from the institution of society's political dimension. Through a close reading of the revolutionary texts of the period, the author is able to trace behind the surface of events and conflict themes of a more abstract, fundamental character - themes relative to the 'discovery' of society, the construction of the nation-state, and what for the revolutionaries was the scandal of their separation. While retaining a fidelity to the eighteenth century, this book opens up new theoretical perspectives that illuminate the character of both a certain revolutionary heritage and a more general political modernity.

Autorentext

BRIAN C. J. SINGER is a Lecturer in Social Science at York University, Ontario, and a Post-doctoral Fellow in Political Science at the University of Toronto.

Inhalt
Acknowledgements - Introduction: History and the Revolutionary Imaginary - PART 1 REVOLUTION AND KNOWLEDGE - Secularization and Representation: The Discovery of Society - Volney's Ruines: A Discursus on Religion and Enlightenment - Science, Ideology and Social Transparency - PART 2 REVOLUTION AND POWER - Introduction: Knowledge without Power? - The Problematization of Power - A Theoretical Interlude: Power and the Imaginary - Despotism and Democracy: State and Society - PART 3 DESIGNATING THE NATION - The Abbi Sieyhs and the Social Contract: The Nation behind the Polity - Saint-Just against the Social Contract: Society without a Polity - PART 4 CONSTRUCTING THE STATE - The Problem of Political Representation - Power and Constitution: Civil vs Political Society - Power and Will: Power Ascending - Power and Action: Power Descending - The Terror - Afterword - Endnotes - Index