Summary of Liberal Modernization

Mass Society in England and France

While there are significant differences in the pre-twentieth century modernization of England and France, the historical development of both was favorable for the establishment of institutions that this essay has defined as liberal. The early and sustained commercial activity in both countries had created capitalist institutions and bourgeois values in the pre-industrial era that had led to successful revolutions against the restricting remnants of the feudal era. The relative abundance of capital in England made the difficult "take-off" phase of industrialization comparatively less exploitive and the evolutionary rather than revolutionary industrialization of France meant much the same. The values of individualism and private property had already become rooted in these societies and were thus part of the cultural baggage carried by those who became the new proletarians. For these reasons, in both countries essentially bourgeois governments could use the extension of the voting franchise, establishment of public education, labor legislation and social welfare laws to mute the tensions of modernization and build a new political consensus rooted in old traditions but bent to new tasks.