POPULAR CULTURES
1978 – Peter Burke, Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe
Robert Muchembled,
Culture populaire et culture des élites dans la France
Moderne (XVe-XVIIIe siècle)
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Already social historians such as Natalie Zemon Davis taking sociological and anthropological approaches to early modern culture
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Historians of literature and witchcraft
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Popular vs elite culture (Muchembled)
But also disputes regarding approaches, definition and interpretation:
 ‘Is the History of Popular Culture Possible?’ (Scribner)
 ‘The Dilemma of Popular History’ (Strauss and Beik)
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Understanding Popular Culture (Kaplan, ed.)
 The New Cultural History – Foucault, Bourdieu, Derrida
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Popular cultures – no uniform experience
Significance of ritual:
 expression of communal values and customs
 processions and festivals e.g. Conards at Rouen
 public humiliation, moral regulation, e.g. charivari, cuckoldry
 mockery and satire e.g. skimmington
 role of popular religion
 safety valve for grievances and protest
 also need to consider everyday activities
 exclusive as well as inclusive, increasing marginalisation
 attacked by emphasis on patriarchy and hierarchy
Popular literature:
 prints, woodcuts, chapbooks, ballads, almanachs
 recapture elusive oral culture e.g. punctuation (Chartier)
 literate vs semi-literate culture?
 consumer overlap
Muchembled et al:
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Religious change: Reformations suppress popular religion through emphasis on order and conformity
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Political change: increased centralisation curbs popular culture through emphasis on order and conformity
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Economic change: increased population and instability leads to acceptance of imposition of order and conformity
 Clark et al extremely critical of underlying assumptions
Another approach:
 centralised/uniformity vs localised/diversity
 reflects political geography e.g. rural/urban distinction
 resilience of popular culture
 test case = witchcraft prosecution