Draft:Moral ecology of the crowd

The moral ecology of the crowd is a concept based on a critical reading of the work of British historian E. P. Thompson, eco-historian Thérèse Sclafert and academic historian Karl Jacoby and Peter Linebaugh.

In contrast to the concept of the moral economy of the crowd, the notion of the moral ecology of the crowd is based on a questioning of the rural-urban divide taken for granted by numerous works in the human sciences, starting with those of anthropologist James C. Scott.

It is based on the premise that the notion of economy is not always suited to describing all the attitudes and practices of the working classes with regard to their relationship with the environment in a context of crisis or revolt.

Finally, it refers to a possible challenge to the patriarchal structures of society in the context of ecologically-motivated political protest movements. In contrast, the notion created by E.P. Thompson is part of a paternalistic context that helps define it.

The notion of the moral ecology of the crowd thus questions the possibility of genuine "matrimonial revolutions" carried out by the working classes in direct contact with the question of the great environmental balances of our time.

In this sense, the notion is used for the first time in french by historian Jean-Loup Kastler at the Grenoble International Colloquium on June 14, 2024, in an attempt to describe the involvement of the women's revolutionary crowd in the Journée des Tuiles of June 7, 1788. . The contribution then attempts to answer a question posed as early as 2023 in the opening of a scientific article dedicated to the work of philosopher and jurist Michel Antoine Servan.

A similar approach was taken in the Anglo-Saxon world by historian Leonard Baker, who wrote about Somerset and Dorset in the 18th century.

The notion of the moral ecology of the crowd is now debated in France by other historians whose work contributes to enriching it by anchoring it in a diverse and demanding academic debate. This is demonstrated by the organization of a study day on Karl Jacoby's work in Vizille on June 10, 2024.