Distributing Status: The Evolution of State Honours in Western Europe

by Samuel Clark

Overview

Honorific rewards are all about status and illustrate status processes in a way that few other social phenomena do. Why do we have so many honorific awards and prizes? Although they are a major feature of modern societies, they have received little scholarly attention. Samuel Clark argues that answering this question requires a separate historical analysis of different awards and prizes. He presents a comprehensive explanation of the origins and evolution of state honours in the British Isles, France, and the Low Countries. Examining cultural, social, and political changes that led to the massive growth in state honours and shaped their characteristics, Distributing Status also demonstrates their functions as instruments of cultural power, collective power, disciplinary power, and status power. Clark supports his conclusions with a cross-cultural statistical analysis of twenty societies. Lucid and logical, Distributing Status explicates an important historical change in Western Europe while at the same time contributing to several bodies of sociological literature, including evolutionary theory, theories of collective action, writings on discipline in modern societies, and studies of status processes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780773598577
Publisher:	McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date:	05/01/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Samuel Clark is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Western Ontario and author of State and Status: The Rise of the State and Aristocratic Power in Western Europe.

Table of Contents

Tables and Figures ix

Acknowledgments xi

Illustrations follow page 204

Introduction 3

Part 1 Bourgeoisie, Aristocracy, And Cultural Power 17

1 Rise of the Bourgeoisie 19

2 Persistence of the Old Order 33

3 Cultural Power 44

Part 2 State, War, And Collective Power 77

4 Theoretical Considerations 79

5 Conditions for Collective Action in Medieval Europe 91

6 Conditions for Collective Action in Early Modern and Modern Europe 97

7 Collective-Action Problems and the Honours of States 137

Part 3 Social Structures And Disciplinary Power 195

8 The Middle Ages 198

9 Discipline in Early Modern and Modern Europe 206

10 Disciplinary Functions of State Honours 230

Part 4 Status Structures and Status Power 255

11 Honours and Existing Status Structures 258

12 Status Struggles 272

13 Status Consequences of State Honours 291

State Honours in Comparative Perspective: A Global Analysis 341

Conclusion: Toward an Explanation of Modern State Honours 367

Epilogue: The Endless Spiral of Honours 372

Appendices 379

A Was There a Rise of the Bourgeoisie or Middle Class? 381

B Characteristics of Members of the Legion of Honour, the Order of Leopold, and the Order of the British Empire 385

C Cross-Tabulations of Characteristics of Honours and Social-Political Characteristics of States and Societies Sampled in the Comparative Analysis 407

Notes 419

References 451

Index 483

Editorial Reviews

"A major contribution to our understanding of the development of modern Europe and should be of wide interest to sociologists, political scientists, cultural and political historians, and those with an interest in European studies. For those working in these fields, it is a must-read book." French History


"This impressive book makes a persuasive case for the importance of state honors in dealing with several modern issues. The results of this meticulous study will interest not only historians but also political scientists and sociologists, from whose disci


"Clark takes pains to integrate historical variables into a coherent, evolutionary account of the modernization of state honors systems. Indeed, he employs a largely adaptive model of historical change whereby the ancient and medieval traditions of knight


"Clark's well-chosen examples of the complex and often-contradictory attitudes of officials and society toward state honours illustrate a sophisticated and nuanced study that takes full account of the particularities of the West European experience while


"Clark is a sociologist and approaches the study of honours from that discipline. Although the work is framed and governed by that field, it is equally accessible - and useful - to the historian and the statistician. I would also commend it to any governm

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