Class position shaped rival explanations of the 1847-8 crisis.

Evidence

There were, of course, as many explanations of the crisis as there were class positions (and a good few more besides). The craft workers from Paris to Vienna tended to view it as the inevitable outcome of a rampant capitalist development process that was changing employ­ ment conditions, raising the rate of exploitation, and destroying traditional skills, while progressive elements in the bourgeoisie could view it as a product of the recalcitrant aristocratic and feudal orders who refused the course of progress. The latter, for their part, could attribute the whole affair to the undermining of traditional values and social hierarchies by the materialist values and practices of both workers and an aggressive class of capitalists and financiers. — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 1646

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the standing-directive theme of competing narrative explanations; parallels the contemporary debate Harvey will set up between explanations of the post-1973 crisis. — connects to: The 1847-8 crisis produced a cultural crisis of representation. — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An…, 1648; The 1847-8 crisis proved capitalism generates crises from its own internal workings. — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An…, 1643; Marx’s historical method centers capitalism as the primary lens by 1847. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 315 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• The 1847-8 crisis proved capitalism generates crises from its own internal workings. #expands (0.80) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 1643
• The 1847-8 crisis produced a cultural crisis of representation. #expands (0.78) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 1648
• Marx’s historical method centers capitalism as the primary lens by 1847. #corroborates (0.72) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 315
• Germany and England objectified class struggle through different institutional routes #expands (0.72) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 307
• English nationalism displaced international class solidarity among workers after 1850. #complicates (0.72) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 265