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Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World Reprint Edition

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Barrington Moore (Author)
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4.6 out of 5 stars 21 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0807050736
ISBN-10: 0807050733
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 592 pages
  • Publisher: Beacon Press; Reprint edition (September 1, 1993)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0807050733
  • ISBN-13: 978-0807050736
  • Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 1.4 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #160,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsMoore's Paths to Modernity
By ChairmanLuedtke on January 26, 2001
Format: Paperback
Democratic and totalitarian states might differ on key variables, but both are modern - resting on industrial civilization & the commercialization of agriculture. But how they got there is another matter. At the most general level, Barrington Moore Jr.'s "Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy" seeks to explain differing national paths towards this modernity. More specifically, he seeks to analyze the evolution of modern political systems through their social, economic and institutional bases. Even more specifically, he posits a bold thesis that the particular relationship between peasants and landowners in a given country, more than any other factor, determines whether that country will eventually become democratic, communist, or fascist. And more specifically still, Moore argues that in countries where landowners were able to secure political power independent of the crown, and become bourgeois managers of commercial agriculture in a way that created minimal political grievance among those who worked the land, then the result was capitalist democracy. However, in countries like Russia, China, Germany and Japan where this process was halted, forced, abortive, or out of sequence, then the result was dictatorship. In the communist cases, this dictatorship came about through a revolution from below, spurred on by disgruntled peasants against a non-commercial, non-bourgeois landowning class; while in the fascist cases the modern revolution came down from "above" as landowning elites used the tools of the state (preindustrial bureaucracy) to impose modernity on a politically powerless peasantry.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsRemarkable Comparative History
By Virgil on July 6, 2002
Format: Paperback
In "Social Origins", Barrington Moore conducts a study of economic, social and political change in the modern era. Moore survey's modern societies from England to Japan comparing social and economic structures with emphasis on class stratification.
Moore uses a hybrid Marxist analysis and turns it on its head by finding common conditions favorable to democracies and conditions that lead to fascist and commmunist dictatorships. Moore finds some common factors to successful transition to include a need for social change to accompany technological change, the strength of a "middle class" and the need to address the concerns of agrarian society.
In the end Moore believes that the industrial change took place at great cost in every society. The key to successful transistion to democracy was in how this "industrial revolution" was implemented.
Whether one agrees totally or not, "Social Origins" never ceases to be stimulating in its analysis.
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5.0 out of 5 starsA good class based analysis
By David Sobek on June 6, 2000
Format: Paperback
Moore is an intellectual tour de force. In this book he attempts to explain how democracy developed in some states, while other, seemingly similar, states turned to fascism and authoritarianism. While I certainly cannot cogently summarize Moore in a small paragraph, it remains a book and an argument that needs dissemination. In general, the key to understanding how states develop is to understand the balance of class power within each society. The choice of regime, or rather the regime type that develops within a state, is determined by the dominant class and with whom that class aligns. According to Moore democracy develops if the bourgeoisie gains enough power to break the hold of the aristocracy and the failure to do so can not only doom democracy, but it also raises the possibility of fascism. Moore supplements his theoretical augments with an ample amount of well-analyzed historical case studies. In the end, even if one does not agree with his arguments or conclusions, the book still needs to be read, understood, and engaged by anyone who wants to understand democratization.
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5.0 out of 5 starsExaming Modernization
By Matthew P. Arsenault on May 3, 2007
Format: Paperback
Moore seeks to examine the paths to modernity adopted by various countries and the subsequent political outcomes. Principally, more concentrates on the emergence of democracy, fascism, and communism. Moore argues that each path to modernization is characterized by a certain level of revolution. The driving factor to the development of the political path is at which level in society does the revolution begin; the aristocracy (above), the bourgeoisie (middle), or the peasant (below)? As such, the dependent variable can be summed up as political systems, while the independent variables stem from class interactions (landed aristocracy, the state, bourgeoisie, and peasant). Of particular importance for Moore is the relationship between the landed aristocracy and the state. In situations where the aristocracy is weak, the potential for peasant revolution is great. In situations where the state is strong, it retains the coercive force to repress potential uprisings. These relationships, coupled with the relationship between agriculture and commerce - particularly whether or not the landed aristocracy has made a move towards the commercialization of agriculture.

Moore begins his work in discussing the capitalistic, democratic path to modernity as characterized by England, France, and the United States. In the case of England, the landed aristocracy moved towards the commercialization of agriculture. This essentially eliminated the wide peasant base from the equation, thus removing a potentially revolutionary class. Additionally, the move towards commercialized agriculture decreased the power of the absolutist Crown. Furthermore, the commercialization of agriculture leads to the development of towns and a trading class (bourgeoisie).Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsGood Addition to a Library

It remains a classic text. Yes scholarship has moved on but this work remains foundational for anyone interested in the questions Barrington Moore was raising.

Published 5 months ago by William B. Julian
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Excellent work. Fundamental work for exploring social change.

Published 5 months ago by Brian Davis
5.0 out of 5 starsA critical review

Preface to this review: This is a great book is a great work and this review is a review of the work and offers an extension to today by utilizing Samuel P. Read more

Published 10 months ago by cerwin2
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Worth reading

Published 13 months ago by Yuchen Liu
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

good deal

Published 19 months ago by Long Yingxian
5.0 out of 5 starsHighly recommended

I bought a book of 'like new', actually it was like new and really clean. Great quality. I Highly recommended.

Published on December 23, 2013 by Eun JI WON
4.0 out of 5 starsPeasant is the Key?

....All restraints against them [Chinese peasants] shall be torn down by them on the fast track towards liberation. Read more

Published on July 8, 2013 by Fang
5.0 out of 5 starsBroad sweep of history

Even as political science as a discipline has changed immeasurably since Moore's book first came out, it remains a classic because of its broad narrative sweep, deep engagement... Read more

Published on January 21, 2012 by Enjolras
4.0 out of 5 starsreview

Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World is a masterful example of comparative historical analysis. Read more

Published on October 4, 2011 by T. F. Rhoden
4.0 out of 5 starsComparative Political Science For What It Is Worth.

I did not read this book because I thought it would be fun, but rather was forced to read this book because it was supposed to be an exemplar of comparative politics. Read more

Published on May 20, 2010 by Dr. Redhawk

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