Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France, 1870-1914 [Paperback]

Eugen Weber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1976 | ISBN-10: 0804710139 | ISBN-13: 978-0804710138 | Edition: 1

France achieved national unity much later than is commonly supposed. For a hundred years and more after the Revolution, millions of peasants lived on as if in a timeless world, their existence little different from that of the generations before them.

The author of this lively, often witty, and always provocative work traces how France underwent a veritable crisis of civilization in the early years of the French Republic as traditional attitudes and practices crumbled under the forces of modernization. Local roads and railways were the decisive factors, bringing hitherto remote and inaccessible regions into easy contact with markets and major centers of the modern world. The products of industry rendered many peasant skills useless, and the expanding school system taught not only the language of the dominant culture but its values as well, among them patriotism. By 1914, France had finally become La Patrie in fact as it had so long been in name.

Product Details

• Paperback: 632 pages
• Publisher: Stanford University Press; 1 edition (June 1, 1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804710139
• ISBN-13: 978-0804710138
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.5 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #294,324 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Rich examination of everyday life in rural France May 25, 2000

By J. E. Stoebner

Format:Paperback

"Eric Hobsbawm recently asked", writes the author, "whether the `nation' might be `an attempt to fill the void left by the dismantling of earlier community and social structures'. This actually reverses the order of events, at least in regard to France. In France the political nation of the Ancien Regime functioned side by side with traditional community and social structures. The ideological nation of the Revolution had to compete with these. It was not invented upon their dismantling; its invention implied their dismantling." This process, as Weber's book richly demonstrates, lasted until the early 20th century. In the meantime, linguistic and cultural parochialism lived on outside the cities. In the Third Republic, the author estimates, "French was a foreign language for half the citizens", the half who spoke the patois of the province within which they spent their entire lives. A French national identity existed only among the middle and upper classes, most strongly among government employees, including administrators, bureaucrats, teachers, and military officers. But the relentless efforts of mandatory schooling gradually took effect, which tried to instill an awareness of of being "French" and belonging to the nation-state of "France" rather than to one's own province. To be educated was synonymous with speaking standard French and adopting French high culture. Additionally, the advance of industrialization, improvements in transportation and infrastructure, and military service increased mobility in the population so that groups from different parts of the country had to move away from home and interact with each other. People saw and experienced life in different regions, and the use of standard French became necessary as a lingua franca. "Most Frenchmen", Weber writes, "for a long time did not think to describe France as their pays [homeland] - until what they were taught came to coincide with experience." Weber draws from an extraordinary variety of source material to give us a vivid idea of every aspect of life in the provinces: folklore, health, nutrition, housing, clothing, language, family life, money and the economy, and religion are all covered. The narrative is so rich in data and anecdotal detail that his argument - that most of rural France remained pre-modern until the 20th century - emerges on its own and hardly needs to be stated. The book makes us aware of what we have gained, and lost, by modernization.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Social History March 9, 2001

By R. Albin TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

This superb book traces the modernization of rural France in the last quarter of the 19th century. The book is divided into 3 parts; descriptions of traditional rural France, analysis of the agents of change, and discussion of how changes took place. This book is about both material changes and the parallel changes in psychology that were part of and the result of modernization in France. The emphasis is not primarily on economic statistics but on the day to day life and psychology of rural France. This book provides real insight into the mentality of French peasants and how this mentality was transformed from parochial self-conceptions and accompanying insular social organization to conceptions of French nationality and conscious membership in French society. For example, in the mid-19th century, a large number of Frenchmen did not speak French but rather a variety of regional languages. Expansion of the national economy, mandatory primary education, and other forces would eventually destroy local languages and produce a more homogenous French speaking nation. Weber demonstrates convincingly that this process took place relatively rapidly, focused in the years between the Franco-Prussian War and WWI. While this is a very thick and scholarly book, the quality of writing is excellent and the book is packed with entertaining and revealing anecdotal information.

It is clear that the process of modernization was accompanied by loss of regional cultural distinctions and languages. This cultural homogenization is perhaps regrettable but was an inevitable part of a process that resulted also in higher standards of living, greater individual freedom, and several other benefits. For example, Weber reminds us that in much of traditional rural France, seasonal hunger was common and famine a real possibility. By the end of the 19th century, famine was a vague memory and seasonal hunger largely banished. Similarly, modernization was accompanied by a fall in violence against persons, less child abuse, and weakening of overbearing patriarchial family structure.

This book has a couple of interesting resonances. The period covered by this book is also the height of European Imperialism. As Weber points out, the processes of modernization in rural France were identical to the processes of colonialization. Indeed, the modernization of rural France in the late 19th century can been seen as the final phase of the conquest of France by the region around Paris, a process that began with the Albigensian crusade in the 13th century. Ii is conventional today to depict European Imperialism as the result of the tremendous racism of that time. Yet, the modernization of rural France was essentially the same process carried out against fellow Frenchmen. This fact points out that the relationship between racism and imperialism is more complicated than commonly depicted.

Another interesting resonance relates to the recent tendency of French intellectuals and politicians to denounce the creeping 'Americanization' of French culture. These individuals like to present themselves as guardians as ancient cultural traditions. Yet, many, if not all of these traditions originate in the 19th century. Hardly ancient, and you can argue that American traditions are at least as old. Further, where modern French culture was to a large extent imposed by the coercive acts of the French government, 'Americanization' is the result of free consumer choice.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars For students of nationalism, French history, sociology August 15, 2002

By "smithzl"

Format:Paperback

Wonderful reading, but this is a lengthy book. . .adressing so many important aspects about French peasant society. It was written in a time when advanced students were expected to know French, so it may present some difficulty to those without the knowledge or a dictionary handy, assuming one wants to understand the quotations, samples of poetry, song, or colloquial dialogue. It is not of major consequence to understand the book, but it might be a little annoying to someone without an intimate grasp of French.

Since there are great content reviews already, I will not add anything more than the tips above. Overall, this is a book rich in facts and will certainly prove a welcome addition to the library of any advanced student or scholar in this subject area.