VIII.1. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ECONOMIC BASE

GRASPING IT CHANGES YOUR VIEW OF THE PAST. THAT LEADS TO APPLYING IT TO THE PRESENT

• Setting the scene:Tangible factors explain the city's structure.

• Small farms: ferocious repressions and art de vivre: The impact of sales of émigré and Church lands to peasants during the Revolution on French culture until the 1960's.

• Why nobles could rarely adjust to capitalism (please scroll down).

• Nobles, gods and heroes: When explorations and discoveries bring capitalists who are much more dynamic, nobles identify with mythological and Roman heroes to claim innate superiority.

• All aspects of the Old Regime reinforce the nobles: do all (or almost all) aspects of our society also intertwine to reinforce the ruling class? 

• Have the kings become subversive? Who does trivializing them favor? 

• "Objective history sticks to the facts:" which facts? History and journalism are inevitably subjective because one must choose from a huge amount of data, but views based on the economy make much more sense than others. 

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• "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder:" Why middle-class Western and traditional African views of corpulence differ.

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