Synopses & Reviews
This pathbreaking work reports on the methods, and some of the results, of a content analysis of the cahiers de doléances, the lists of grievances in which, in 1789, the French people expressed their dissatisfactions with the state of their society and their hopes for a better future. The analysis is an outgrowth of a larger research project, 'Quantitative Studies of the French Revolution,' conducted by the authors and others over a thirty-year period. The central data of the research for this book are a coding of a national sample of documents representing the views of rural parishes, the Nobility, and the Third Estate. These codes, together with data on the economic, social, and political conditions of the regions of France under the Old Regime and data on political behavior during the revolutionary period, form a computerized data archive to be made available to researchers.
Synopsis
This work reports on the methods, and some of the results, of a content analysis of the cahiers de doléances, lists of grievances in which, in 1789, the French people expressed their dissatisfactions with the state of their society and their hopes for the future. The analysis is part of a larger research project, 'Quantitative Studies of the French Revolution', conducted by the authors and others over a thirty-year period. The book also makes available some of the first findings, including a summary of the concerns expressed by the nation in 1789.
Table of Contents
Foreword Charles Tilly; Preface; 1. Introduction; Part I. Content Analysis: 2. The role of content analysis in social science; 3. The scientific definition of variables in content analysis; 4. Computerized content analysis; 5. The coder as a black box instrument; 6. A two-step strategy for representational content analysis; Part II. The Cahiers de Doléances: 7. The convocation of the Estates-General and the origins of the Cahiers; 8. The documents; 9. The problem of authenticity; Part III. Content Analysis of the Cahiers de Doléances: 10. A two-step content analysis of the Cahiers de Doléances; 11. Evaluation of the coding; 12. The selection of texts; Part IV. Analyses: 13. Introduction; 14. What were the grievances of France in 1789? The most common demands in the Cahiers de Doléances Gilbert Shapiro; 15. Consensus and conflict at the onset of revolution John Markoff and Gilbert Shapiro; 16. Allies and opponents: nobility and third estate in the spring of 1789 John Markoff; 17. The West in France in 1789: the religious factor in the origins of the counterrevolution Timothy Tackett; 18. Social mobility and political radicalism: the case of the French revolution of 1789 Gilbert Shapiro and Philip Dawson; 19. Images of the King at the beginning of the revolution John Markoff; 20. Peasant protest: the claims of Lord, church and state in the Cahiers de Doléances John Markoff; Appendices; Notes; Index.