Power and rural Societies: enquiries of the end of the 19th century

The proposed session is part of a research project included in a GDR (Groupe de Recherche CNRS, France, 2009-12) that focuses on the major enquiries about rural societies in an international comparative perspective. We aim at understanding the purposes of those enquiries (economical and political purposes). Were they means of knowledge or means of influence on rural populations? To what extend does their management reveal the relations between State, notables and peasants? Who responded to the enquiry, and to what extent were they able to influence the results. How does it reveal the nature of agrarian interests? What were the large landowners' attitudes, and their impact on the conclusions, and the consequences if any? How did rural societies respond to economic change? The international comparative perspective is a key element of our project: it includes whole Europe and North America, countries that experienced similar conditions in the second half of the 19th c.La session organisée au congrès des Social Science History se penche sur les grandes enquêtes gouvernementales en Europe et Amérique du Nord dans la deuxième moitié du 19e siècle, époque où elles se multiplient. Quels sont leurs buts : économiques, sociaux ou politiques ? J'ai réuni autour de moi, à Chicago pour ce projet, des chercheurs canadien, mexicain, néerlandais