Brodie Waddell
My work is focused on the social, economic and cultural history of England from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries.
My first major research project, at the University of Warwick, concerned early modern ‘economic culture’, exploring the ideas, beliefs, habits and institutions that shaped worldly affairs in this period. I first studied this in the context of Elizabethan and early Stuart popular preaching, but my more substantial work is a book which investigates both the vibrancy and the diversity of the 'moral economies' of the later Stuart period. This has been published as: God, Duty and Community in English Economic Life, 1660-1720 (Woodbridge, 2012).
Previously, I held a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Borthwick Institute, University of York (2009-10). It allowed me to undertake an intensive historical study of local communities in the Vale of York, and to examine early modern manor courts as a site of communal regulation in Yorkshire and elsewhere.
My main current project began as a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at Cambridge (2010-12). It centres on the social and economic tumult that followed the Glorious Revolution of 1688. This was, I argue, a decade in which England faced an unprecedented conjunction of hunger, war, currency failure and financial dislocation.
More generally I have a abiding interest in many aspects of early modern society, including:
- ballads, chapbooks and other cheap print
- sermons and popular religious culture
- local governance and regulation by towns, parishes, manors, etc.
- craft guilds and other occupational organisations
- petitions
- protest and rebellion
Address: Department of History, Classics and Archaeology
Birkbeck, University of London
28 Russell Square
London WC1B 5DQ
My first major research project, at the University of Warwick, concerned early modern ‘economic culture’, exploring the ideas, beliefs, habits and institutions that shaped worldly affairs in this period. I first studied this in the context of Elizabethan and early Stuart popular preaching, but my more substantial work is a book which investigates both the vibrancy and the diversity of the 'moral economies' of the later Stuart period. This has been published as: God, Duty and Community in English Economic Life, 1660-1720 (Woodbridge, 2012).
Previously, I held a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Borthwick Institute, University of York (2009-10). It allowed me to undertake an intensive historical study of local communities in the Vale of York, and to examine early modern manor courts as a site of communal regulation in Yorkshire and elsewhere.
My main current project began as a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at Cambridge (2010-12). It centres on the social and economic tumult that followed the Glorious Revolution of 1688. This was, I argue, a decade in which England faced an unprecedented conjunction of hunger, war, currency failure and financial dislocation.
More generally I have a abiding interest in many aspects of early modern society, including:
- ballads, chapbooks and other cheap print
- sermons and popular religious culture
- local governance and regulation by towns, parishes, manors, etc.
- craft guilds and other occupational organisations
- petitions
- protest and rebellion
Address: Department of History, Classics and Archaeology
Birkbeck, University of London
28 Russell Square
London WC1B 5DQ
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Books by Brodie Waddell
The English economy underwent profound changes in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, yet the worldly affairs of ordinary people continued to be shaped as much by traditional ideals and moral codes as by material conditions. This book explores the economic implications of many of the era’s key concepts, including Christian stewardship, divine providence, patriarchal power, paternal duty, local community, and collective identity. Brodie Waddell draws on a wide range of contemporary sources – from ballads and pamphlets to pauper petitions and guild regulations – to show that such ideas pervaded every aspect of social and economic relations during this crucial period. As a result, the book reveals the inadequacy of many previous discussions of English economic life, which have tended to ignore or dismiss the influence of cultural factors. Indeed, Waddell argues that popular beliefs about divine will, social duty and communal bonds remained the frame through which most people viewed vital ‘earthly’ concerns such as food marketing, labour relations, trade policy, poor relief, and many others. Ultimately, he demonstrates both the vibrancy and the diversity of the ‘moral economies’ of the period. This analysis of later Stuart economic culture can thus contribute significantly to our understanding of early modern society.
Papers by Brodie Waddell
Yet winning the battle is not the same as winning the war. As other contributors have shown, many crucial struggles are still on-going. For example, female scholars continue to experience a level of discrimination in academia that limits their personal options and professional advancement. Although feminists have succeeded in making universities much less unbalanced than they were a generation ago, women are still systematically underrepresented amongst academic decision-makers. In addition, other fronts that had once seen steady progress have turned into partial reversals or outright routs. Access to higher education in Britain and North America expanded dramatically through much of the twentieth century, but the recent spike in tuition fees in England and the long-term rise in the US has made university much less affordable for students from working-class families. Worse still, this has hit part-time students especially hard, leading to a 40% fall in part-time applications since 2010 in the UK. These and other setbacks, discussed in more detail by Samantha Shave, mean that today’s advocates of a truly democratic ‘history from below’ cannot simply welcome our triumphs in research and quietly get on with our own work. We must do more.
The English economy underwent profound changes in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, yet the worldly affairs of ordinary people continued to be shaped as much by traditional ideals and moral codes as by material conditions. This book explores the economic implications of many of the era’s key concepts, including Christian stewardship, divine providence, patriarchal power, paternal duty, local community, and collective identity. Brodie Waddell draws on a wide range of contemporary sources – from ballads and pamphlets to pauper petitions and guild regulations – to show that such ideas pervaded every aspect of social and economic relations during this crucial period. As a result, the book reveals the inadequacy of many previous discussions of English economic life, which have tended to ignore or dismiss the influence of cultural factors. Indeed, Waddell argues that popular beliefs about divine will, social duty and communal bonds remained the frame through which most people viewed vital ‘earthly’ concerns such as food marketing, labour relations, trade policy, poor relief, and many others. Ultimately, he demonstrates both the vibrancy and the diversity of the ‘moral economies’ of the period. This analysis of later Stuart economic culture can thus contribute significantly to our understanding of early modern society.
Yet winning the battle is not the same as winning the war. As other contributors have shown, many crucial struggles are still on-going. For example, female scholars continue to experience a level of discrimination in academia that limits their personal options and professional advancement. Although feminists have succeeded in making universities much less unbalanced than they were a generation ago, women are still systematically underrepresented amongst academic decision-makers. In addition, other fronts that had once seen steady progress have turned into partial reversals or outright routs. Access to higher education in Britain and North America expanded dramatically through much of the twentieth century, but the recent spike in tuition fees in England and the long-term rise in the US has made university much less affordable for students from working-class families. Worse still, this has hit part-time students especially hard, leading to a 40% fall in part-time applications since 2010 in the UK. These and other setbacks, discussed in more detail by Samantha Shave, mean that today’s advocates of a truly democratic ‘history from below’ cannot simply welcome our triumphs in research and quietly get on with our own work. We must do more.