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Educating in economic calculus: the invention of the enlightened peasant via manuals of agriculture, 1830--1870

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  • Nathalie Joly

Abstract

This study is concerned with the process of the economic normalisation of agriculture in nineteenth-century France. The manuals published for rural inhabitants and for use in primary schools between 1830 and 1870 are presented as a means of analysing attempts at economic rationalisation which were underway during this period, in particular as it would affect the peasantry. Drawing attention to the content of agricultural, the study sheds light on the educational forms in which economic precepts and accounting techniques were presented and the manner in which those techniques were employed to promote ‘best practices’, so as to tentatively orient farm management and the farmer’s decisions. It highlights the social work of ideological production and behavioural guidance that unfolded in the first part of the nineteenth century. Our research emphasises the ethics embodied in these agricultural manuals, ethics that were directed towards a greater focus on profit maximisation on the part of the small- and medium-scale peasantry in tandem with an idea of disciplined and prudent personal and professional conduct.

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  • Nathalie Joly, 2016. "Educating in economic calculus: the invention of the enlightened peasant via manuals of agriculture, 1830--1870," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(2), pages 131-160, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:acbsfi:v:26:y:2016:i:2:p:131-160
    DOI: 10.1080/21552851.2016.1187639
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bryer, R. A., 2005. "A Marxist accounting history of the British industrial revolution: a review of evidence and suggestions for research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 25-65, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Giraudeau, Martin, 2017. "The farm as an accounting laboratory: an essay on the history of accounting and agriculture," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 74106, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Grzegorz Drozdowski, 2021. "Economic Calculus Qua an Instrument to Support Sustainable Development under Increasing Risk," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, January.
    3. Zbyslaw Dobrowolski & Grzegorz Drozdowski & Monika Dobrowolska & Janusz Sobon & Dariusz Sobon, 2021. "Economic Calculus and Weak Signals: Prevention Against Foggy Bottom," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(2), pages 165-174.

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