States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia and China Kindle Edition

by Theda Skocpol (Author)

21 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0521224390

ISBN-10: 052122439X

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State structures, international forces, and class relations: Theda Skocpol shows how all three combine to explain the origins and accomplishments of social-revolutionary transformations. From France in the 1790s to Vietnam in the 1970s, social revolutions have been rare but undeniably of enormous importance in modern world history. States and Social Revolutions provides a new frame of reference for analyzing the causes, the conflicts, and the outcomes of such revolutions. And it develops in depth a rigorous, comparative historical analysis of three major cases: the French Revolution of 1787 through the early 1800s, the Russian Revolution of 1917 through the 1930s, and the Chinese Revolution of 1911 through the 1960s. Believing that existing theories of revolution, both Marxist and non-Marxist, are inadequate to explain the actual historical patterns of revolutions, the author urges us to adopt fresh perspectives. She argues for structural rather than voluntarist analysis, and for an emphasis on the effects of transnational and world-historical contexts upon domestic political conflicts. Above all, she maintains that states conceived as administrative and coercive organizations potentially autonomous from class controls and interests must be made central to explanations of revolutions.

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File Size: 4579 KB
Print Length: 433 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Up to 4 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (February 28, 1979)
Publication Date: February 28, 1979
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B00D2WQ28C
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- #19300 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Political Science > History & Theory

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Unacademic and poorly written

May 16, 2008

Format: Paperback

Those seeking a work that will enlighten them on the cause of state revolutions will be sorely disappointed with this book. The title takes its cue from Lenin's The State and Revolution and belies the fact that this book is nothing more than a thinly veneered attempt to justify Marxist-Leninist doctrine through picking and choosing elements of history instead of a true academic work.

Assuming the reader can stay awake, he or she will find incredible repetition of a few small arguments with no real bases. It is hard to detect at times as the whole book is written in what can only be referred to as 'pseudoacademia', that language which has been used by many professors over the years to lengthen their works and ensure that no one will stay awake long enough to realise that what they have written is rubbish. (This is a common problem as many universities are more interested in their professors publishing than teaching. The latter forces one to learn to communicate clearly.)

Should the reader not be familiar with the French, Russian, or Chinese revolution, he or she will find rough outlines of the conflicts couched only in class struggles. Mrs. Skocpol fails to grasp the real source of these revolutions. The French Revolution was based on an issue of pride and warmongering in France that was both bankrupting the country and destroying the incomes of those engaged in trade. It is the trade issue that made for the resistance of peasantry that were isolated and enable the co-opting of the peasantry that lived in villages needing trade. Similarly, Ms. Skocpol does not understand the issue of war-weariness and bankruptcy in Russia, either. Without the Bolsheviks blatant desire for power and the purges of resistant elements, Russia would likely have remained tied to the West. Similarly, the peasant support of the Communists in China had less to do with real class struggle and more to do with the loss of economic basis for the Kuomintang and their loss of power fighting the Japanese. Meanwhile, the Communists evaded the Japanese while recruiting from the peasantry.

In her conclusion, should the reader reach that point, Ms. Skocpol almost comes clean about how she believes Marxism is the best way to explain social development. She clearly espouses a view that society will go from feudal to capitalist to communist systems as a form of evolution. Her lack of study in the realm of economic development and its ties to power structure allow her to use labels that conjure up extremely simplified and woefully inaccurate models.

This utter failure to present more than straw man arguments as opinion opposed to her Marxist views fails to meet any serious academic criteria. Masking in archaic form and circular argument is shameful. It is a blight upon the reputation of Cambridge University Press that they continue to publish such garbage as an academic work or that it is considered important in revolution studies given the broad corpus of work that has come out since that utterly debunks Ms. Skocpol's theories.

7 people found this helpful8 people found this helpful

From the third generation to the fourth generation of revolutionary analysis.

February 11, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

According to Jack Goldstone, Skocpol’s work is representative of the third generation of revolutionary analysis. She believes that structural perspective is essential for the analysis of social revolutions. In this regard, she adheres to three major principles of analysis. ‘In the first place, an adequate understanding of social revolutions requires that the analyst take a nonvoluntarist, structural perspective on their causes and processes. ….. In the second place, social revolutions cannot be explained without systematic reference to international structures and world-historical developments. ….. In the third place, in order to explain the causes and outcomes of social revolutions, it is essential to conceive of states as administrative and coercive organizations – organizations that are potentially autonomous from (though of course conditioned by) socioeconomic interests and structures.’ (P.14) Generically, structural analysis of revolution was rooted in Marxist historical perspectives in which the action of capitalist competition on class and state structures produced class-based conflicts that transformed society.

However, from the 1970s through the 1990s, the world saw a host of revolutions that challenged the class-based understanding of revolutions. There were hundreds of events that seemed as “revolutionary” in character. They needed to be defined in terms of a broader and more contemporary definition of revolution that transcended class conflict. Such a definition may include: effort to transform the political institutions and the justifications for political authority in a society, accompanied by formal or informal mass mobilization and noninstitutionalized actions that undermine existing authorities.

However, structural characteristics alone seem to provide no help in ascertaining when and where revolution will strike. There is a need to combine structural and agency approaches to regime change. Thus, the fourth generation of revolution theory would treat regime stability as problematic, see a wide range of factors and conditions as producing departures from stability, and recognize that the processes and outcomes of revolutions are mediated by group identification, networks, and coalitions; leadership and competing ideologies; and the interplay among rulers, elites, popular groups, and foreign powers in response to ongoing conflicts.

One person found this helpful

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