When, where, and was the industrious revolution? How do we identify it, and what tools can help us understand it? The theory of the Industrious Revolution at its most basic posits that seventeenth century European households worked more so they could buy more (de Vries 1994, 2008). The predominant difficulty in identifying an Industrious Revolution is determining when these developments – increased paid work and increased consumption – are co-occurring.

While this relationship is, on its surface, simple, it is the culmination of several contributing and enabling factors. Expanding global trade and colonial extraction introduced new consumer goods into European circulation, and developments in manufacturing lowered the price point and increased variety for others. These cheaper, though more fashionable, goods were less durable and required more frequent replacement. Increased manufactures meant more sales of intermediate and finished products, which changed the household’s production-consumption function. Households increased their time-investment in paid labor largely through expanding women’s participation in paid labor, but also through longer working times for men.

These different developments mean that evidence for (or against) an Industrious Revolution can be found through many types of sources and methodological approaches. These include materials that record information such as production for foreign markets; import or market-entry tolls; consolidation of domestic production centers; legislation or official protocols regarding commerce and sales; probate inventories; employment records; and court testimonies, which can reveal changes in both patterns of everyday life and in the types of goods which were most subject to theft.

The goal of this double session is to examine the Industrious Revolution from a variety of different source materials, methods, and perspectives. Do different approaches change our interpretation of what the Industrious Revolution was, and where and when it might have taken place? Papers should be able to discuss their own methods and sources in a larger context, but need not be multi-method or explicitly methods-oriented. A closing roundtable will give authors the chance to directly discuss and compare their different approaches.

One-page paper proposals should be submitted to both Kathryn Gary at kathryn.gary[at]ekh.lu.se and Marcus Falk at marcus.falk[at]ekh.lu.se. The deadline for submissions is 15th of November 2024. Authors will be notified of acceptance by the 1st of December 2024. Submissions that approach the Industrious Revolution in peripheral regions or from outside Europe, as well as novel methods, are particularly appreciated.

Deadline for submissions: 15 November 2024

Notification of acceptance: 1 December 2024

More info: Kathryn Gary (kathryn.gary[at]ekh.lu.se), Marcus Falk (marcus.falk[at]ekh.lu.se)