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Austerity and Unintended Riches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2009

Barrington Moore Jr.
Affiliation:
Harvard University

Extract

What are the social and psychological sources of social movements that are committed to (1) equality among their members, (2) communitarian ideals emphasizing strong ties of affection among members and a belief in spontaneous cooperation without direction by authority, and (3) austerity in the consumption of physical goods and also in the use or display of comforts and ornaments? In the course of time what becomes of such a movement as it tries to put its ideals into practice? Many but not all of those that have lasted—and I shall limit this inquiry to examples that have lasted for at least several generations—have become quite wealthy. How and why does this change come about, and what are its consequences?

Type
Communal Strengths
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 1987

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References

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26 On this aspect, see Isichei, Victorian Quakers, ch. 5.

27 Raistrick, , Quakers in Science, 1011, 4243Google Scholar; Isichei, , Victorian Quakers, 147Google Scholar.

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34 Barkai, , Growth Patterns, 14Google Scholar, explains that housing is allocated on a points system to take account of complicated criteria in assessing needs.

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42 Blasi, , Communal Future, 196Google Scholar. The novel by Oz, Amos, A Perfect Peace (Tel Aviv, 1982 [in Hebrew]; New York, 1985)Google Scholar, provides insight into the tribulations of an aging kibbutz leader with close ties to national officials. Talmon, Family and Community, ch. 7, and Catarivas, , Vivre au kibboutz, 155–76Google Scholar, provide further valuable information on the context of leadership.

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53 Thompson, E. Margaret, The Carthusian Order in England (London, 1930), viGoogle Scholar.

54 See “Carthusians,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed. (Cambridge, 1910), V, 432–33Google Scholar.

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56 “Carthusians,” New Columbia Encyclopaedia, 4th ed. (New York, 1975), 468Google Scholar.