The Enclosure of Knowledge: Books, Power and Agrarian Capitalism in Britain, 1660-1800

by James D. Fisher

Overview

The rise of agrarian capitalism in Britain is usually told as a story about markets, land and wages. The Enclosure of Knowledge reveals that it was also about books, knowledge and expertise. It argues that during the early modern period, farming books were a key tool in the appropriation of the traditional art of husbandry possessed by farm workers of all kinds. It challenges the dominant narrative of an agricultural 'enlightenment', in which books merely spread useful knowledge, by showing how codified knowledge was used to assert greater managerial control over land and labour. The proliferation of printed books helped divide mental and manual labour to facilitate emerging social divisions between labourers, managers and landowners. The cumulative effect was the slow enclosure of customary knowledge. By synthesising diverse theoretical insights, this study opens up a new social history of agricultural knowledge and reinvigorates long-term histories of knowledge under capitalism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781009058797
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/21/2022
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

James D. Fisher is a historian of early modern Britain. He is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Exeter (2020–23), and has previously taught history at King's College London, Royal Holloway, and the University of East London. James is trained in disciplines across the humanities and sciences, including political philosophy and physics.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Pen over Plough; 1. Rethinking Agricultural Books, Knowledge and Labour; 2. Learning without Books: The Mystery of Husbandry; 3. Standing on the Shoulders of Peasants: The Appropriation of the Art of Husbandry; 4. Learning without Labour: Codification and Managerial Knowledge; 5. Dividing Head & Hand: Gentleman Farmers, Agriculturists and Expertise; 6. Monopolising Knowledge: Professionalisation, Education and Stewards; 7. The Master Should Know More: Book-Farming, Power and Resistance; Conclusion: New Histories of Knowledge.