Class Conflict and Social Change in Historical Perspective

This paper reviews recent sociological and historical work on the relationship between historical change and collective action. This type of work has enjoyed a renaissance within sociology since the publication of E. P. Thompson’s The Making of the English Working Class, Barrington Moore’s The Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, and Charles Tilly’s The Vendée, which are summarized here. The epistemological roots of these and related works are treated in discussions of “history from the bottom up,” the nature of historical contingency (vs determinacy), and the role of evidence and empirical verification. Several substantive issues are reviewed: (a) the rise of capitalism in the West, including proletarianization, the formation of classes and class segments, (b) the social roots of collective action, and (c) recent historical treatments of ideology, especially the relationship between popular and dominant ideologies.