This edited collection is a major contribution to the current development of a 'material turn' in the social sciences and humanities. It does so by exploring new understandings of how power is made up and exercised by examining the role of material infrastructures in the organization of state power and the role of material cultural practices in the organization of colonial forms of governance.

A diverse range of historical examples is drawn on in illustrating these concerns - from the role of territorial engineering projects in seventeenth-century France through the development of...

This edited collection is a major contribution to the current development of a 'material turn' in the social sciences and humanities. It does so by exploring new understandings of how power is made up and exercised by examining the role of material infrastructures in the organization of state power and the role of material cultural practices in the organization of colonial forms of governance.

A diverse range of historical examples is drawn on in illustrating these concerns - from the role of territorial engineering projects in seventeenth-century France through the development of...

What is the state? The State of Freedom offers an important new take on this classic question by exploring what exactly the state did and how it worked. Patrick Joyce asks us to re-examine the ordinary things of the British state from dusty government files and post offices to well-thumbed primers in ancient Greek and Latin and the classrooms and dormitories of public schools and Oxbridge colleges. This is also a history of the 'who' and the 'where' of the state, of the people who ran the state, the government offices they sat in and the college halls they dined in. Patrick Joyce argues that...

In recent years, the concept of class has come under increasing scrutiny, as a means of explaining both the present and the past. The post-industrial class has superseded the manual working class, and new forms of industrial management have broken up more traditional hierarchies and outlooks. Furthermore, feminism has now brought into question the whole concept of a class identity. Can class explain the present? Did it ever provide an adequate explanation of the past? How did concepts of class develop? What is the language of class? A variety of writings are drawn upon here to suggest answers...

What is the state? The State of Freedom offers an important new take on this classic question by exploring what exactly the state did and how it worked. Patrick Joyce asks us to re-examine the ordinary things of the British state from dusty government files and post offices to well-thumbed primers in ancient Greek and Latin and the classrooms and dormitories of public schools and Oxbridge colleges. This is also a history of the 'who' and the 'where' of the state, of the people who ran the state, the government offices they sat in and the college halls they dined in. Patrick Joyce argues that...

The acclaimed major interpretation of 19th century society and politics concerning the human impact of the industrial revolution.

Offers a subtle and responsive understanding of the formation of class consciousness, and a recognition that deference and stability as well as independence in class relations grew out of working-class culture and community, and thus out of the centre of people's lives.