The Center for History: Space and Culture (Univ. of Clermont Auvergne) and the Society for the History of the Revolution of 1848 and Other 19th-Century Revolutions

Time: 19.-20.06.2024
Venue: Clermont-Ferrand
Proposals by: 15.10.2023

Did the 19th century political revolutions change conditions of social mobility? One might expect so given the judicial reforms that ensued, but the cause and effect relationship that is discernable between 1789 and 1799 is evident over the long term. It is clear that there is a problem of time scale, as the long-term processes demonstrated by the economic and political “double revolution” (Hobsbawm) that began in the second half of the eighteenth century suggest a centuries-long trend. At this level, structural and collective disruptions are apparent. Was there a specific additional element created by the nineteenth century revolutions?
To explore the relationship between revolution and social mobility, in the 19th century we can speak of the risks of revolution which together allow the historian to observe either individual cases, coordinated groups of individuals, or groups of individuals sharing certain characteristics to explore militancy, reversals, gains or losses, and importantly, the repression from which some benefitted. Is it possible to define these striking changes in terms of occupation, status, rank, or work, and if so, for what time scale? Because the 19th century concerns such uncertain, fluid, and ephemeral configurations, it is important to analyze the political ruptures and social adaptations that they create to understand their importance as one of the key preoccupations for contemporaries of the different events addressed by this conference.

Reform and Mobility
The first topic of study in this conference will be the reforms carried out during the revolutionary sequences that through their more or less long term effects significantly transformed the conditions in which men and women were able to change position in the hierarchy of circumstances. These reforms involved especially the systems of justice and politics and the most spectacular were also concerned with a wider space near the end of liberal Europe. These range from the … read more and source (Web).