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The Disciplinary Revolution: Calvinism and the Rise of the State in Early Modern Europe

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The author of this concise and interesting book is a sociologist who has read deeply in the literature on early modern Europe. Gorski's basic theme is state formation. He is concerned with both illuminating the specific features of state formation in early modern Europe and making a contribution to general theories of state formation. This book is written clearly, with a minimum of technical language, and referenced very well. Gorski is inspired by the prior work of historical sociologists interested in state formation, notably the great Max Weber. The essential point is that prior analyses, either by sociologists or historians, have overlooked the key role of religion in state formation. Gorski draws on a prior historical literature stressing what he and others term the "disciplinary revolution" brought about by the Reformation.

Gorski argues well that Reformation Protestantism, and particularly the Calvinist strain of the Reformation, induced a series of social changes highly conducive to the development of early modern states. This disciplinary revolution resulted in a higher degree of personal and social discipline that facilitated the imposition of more ordered and compliant polities, reducing, for example, social violence and enhancing the ability of the state to collect taxes. Gorski argues that Calvinist attitudes may have had some other interesting spillovers. He draws interesting connections between the Calvinist attitudes and the development of modern infantry tactics in the Netherlands. Similarly, he argues for the importance of Calvinist attitudes and the development of the Prussian bureaucracy in the nascent Hohenzollern state. Gorski compares his ideas with prior models of state formation, notably economic-class based models inspired by Marx and the powerful historical argument that early modern European state formation was driven by the costs of international military rivalry. Gorski is careful not to insist on an exclusionary model but rather aims for a multifactorial model of state development with religion playing a key role. Nor does he restrict his argument to the role of Calvinism specifically. He argues well that other religious movements, notably Lutheranism and Tridentine Catholicism, enhanced social discipline, though not perhaps as powerfully as Calvinism.

Gorski provides two interesting and complementary examples of the role of Calvinism in state development. One is enhancing state development from below. This is the experience of the Dutch Republic, where he argues that increased social discipline allowed the development of a relatively powerful state with a relatively decentralized political system and relatively small formal bureaucracy. The second example is that of Hohenzollern Prussia, where he argues the Calvinism of the court strongly promoted the development of a more centralized state. Gorski is careful not push his argument rigidly and shows real awareness of the complex and contingent nature of events.

While state development is the core of the book, Gorski has some other interesting points. He suggests that different religious traditions in different states had unexpected long-term consequences. The type of modern welfare states developed by different modern nations may have roots in whether they were confessionally Lutheran, Calvinist, or Catholic. He argues also for an independent role for religion, particularly religious conflict, in other aspects of state formation. Gorski suggests that the conflict between the Hohenzollern monarchs and the Prussian estates may have been driven to large extent by the Calvinism of the former and Lutheranism of the latter.

This is a well argued and convincing book. There is, however, at least one aspect where I think Gorski has misjudged the importance of religion and social discipline. Looking at the 2 most economically successful early modern states, the Dutch Republic and Britain, its clear that religious toleration was a key feature of their success. Religion, and Calvinism in particular, may have been very important for social discipline, but only if kept within certain bounds and harnessed to the needs of the state. Gorski does discuss the increasingly predominance of the state over religion but not in the specific context of toleration.

Attempting to account for why most theories of the rise of nation states have a hard time explaining the success of the Dutch and Prussian states, Phil Gorski argues that it was ultimately the religious beliefs and cultures in both these nations that drove change. However, with this seemingly Weberian thesis (it sounding very much like Weber's Protestant Ethic), Gorski goes a step further by claiming it was the disciplinary revolution that Calvinist and Pietistic religion fueled in both these nations that helped form social institutions, military rigor, and documented socio-political drives for efficiency as a form of religious piety and discipline that were the mechanisms accounting for the emergence of these two states.

While the thesis is somewhat provocative, Gorski marshals an impressive body of evidence tracing how beliefs, religious practice and structural change worked themselves out on the ground in early modern Holland and Prussia.

Gorski's work is important both in understanding how, practically, beliefs and structures relate to one another and stands as an important work of historical sociology. But anyone with an interest in the history of modernity and early modern Europe will find this an interesting argument.