Watson, Matthew (2013) The eighteenth-century historiographic tradition and contemporary 'Everyday IPE'. Review of International Studies, volume 39 (number 1). pp. 1-23. doi:10.1017/S0260210511000799 ISSN 0260-2015.

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Abstract

This paper focuses on Adam Smith’s largely sympathetic response to the Rousseauian critique of the moral degeneracy of modern ‘economic man’. It thus emphasises his philosophical ambivalence towards commercial society over the textbook IPE presentations which ascribe to him an almost wholly unreflexive market advocacy. In doing so it provides important methodological lessons for the study of Everyday IPE today. Arnaldo Momigliano has identified a decisive break in historical method in the eighteenth century, of which Smith and Rousseau were key exponents. However unwittingly, contemporary Everyday IPE scholars are the spiritual heirs of the eighteenth-century move from writing public histories of the state to writing private histories of unnamed individuals who embody the most recent phase of human sociability. The eighteenth-century economic man was conceptualised in relation to evolving forms of economic organisation, where the economy in turn was thought to reflect the prevailing system of ‘manners’. Smith united with Rousseau in the belief that their society’s bourgeois politeness allowed materialist ideologies to corrupt the moral autonomy of the individual. The historical method underpinning such concerns also allows Everyday IPE scholars to ground similarly-styled attempts to understand threats to moral autonomy arising from the struggle over economic surplus today.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain D History General and Old World > DC France H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory J Political Science > JA Political science (General) J Political Science > JC Political theory
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Smith, Adam, 1723-1790 -- Criticism and interpretation, Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 1712-1778 -- Criticism and interpretation, Economic man, Economics -- Historiography, France -- Economic policy -- 18th century, France -- Economic conditions -- 18th century, Great Britain -- Economic policy -- 18th century, Great Britain -- Economic conditions -- 18th century
Journal or Publication Title:	Review of International Studies
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
ISSN:	0260-2015
Official Date:	21 January 2013
Dates:	Date Event 21 January 2013 Published
Volume:	volume 39
Number:	number 1
Page Range:	pp. 1-23
DOI:	10.1017/S0260210511000799
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Date of first compliant deposit:	18 December 2015
Date of first compliant Open Access:	18 December 2015

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