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academicvalues?Shouldwe be sidinginsteadwiththeeducated
and enlightened?
Let me pointout firstthatthereis nothing necessarilywrong
with"valorization". Historians regularly valorizeleaders,move-
mentsor regimesby studying themsympathetically and, even
whentheydo not sympathize, theyvalorizeby theveryact of
givingthemseriousattention. If it is valid to decide thatthe
majority ofthepopulation meritsconsideration - and thisis the
kindofvaluejudgement thathistorians cannotavoid- thenone
shouldcertainlyapplaud studieswhichbringgroupsof such
personsontothe stage,analysetheirrangeof possibleactions,
seekouttheirmotives andassesstheirinfluence. Suchan approach
may be based on the conviction that the groupin questionwas
important by virtue of having influenced historicalprocessesin
some significantway not previouslyunderstood.Marcus
Rediker'ssplendidpanoramaoftheuniverseofmerchant seamen
might be a case in point.12Or the historian be
may actingon the
beliefthata particular"story" is not complete without a portrayal
of the contributions made by subordinate populationsthrough
theirwork,theirsuffering ortheirdistinctive forms ofexpression.
We cannotproperly discusswarfare or forcedmassmigration or
plague, one might argue, without making clear theirimpact on
thevictims, evenifthelatterwereunabletochangetheconditions
underwhichtheywereliving.Thus popularhistory is intended
to extendand deepenunderstanding. No one believesthatwe
shouldstudyeveryday foiblesinstead ofworksofartor criminals
insteadof leaders.
Goinga stepfurther, we mightconcludethatvalorization in
the sense of focusingattentionon a previouslyignoredbut
important and influential
category ofthehumanexperience is in
factsurelya usefulaspectof thehistorical enterprise. Women's
historyand genderhistoryare certainly the productsof such
and beforethemtherewas labourhistory,
valorization, business
the
history, history of scienceand so To
forth. be sure, author
the
has the responsibilityof demonstrating the importance of the
subject,either
as a factor influencing otherssignificantlyas an
or
aspectof thehuman drama thatis enoughorimportant
interesting
enough to warrant attention- and again these are necessarily
value judgements. The analysismustalso be well argued.If a
12
Marcus Rediker,BetweentheDevil and theDeep Blue Sea: MerchantSeamen,
Piratesand theAnglo-American
MaritimeWorld,1700-1750(Cambridge,1987).
stresstheinteraction
ofpopularandeliteinfluences and,analytic-
allyspeaking,theinterestliesmorein theinteractionthanin the
distinctiveness
of "high" and "low" culture.16
Furthermore sympathetic validationis nottheonlyapproach
to popularculture,and Straussslantshis case by leavingout
popularhistorians who have a different pointof view. Yves-
Marie Berce's wonderful descriptions of the croquants of
Aquitaine, forexample,emergefroma conservative andpaternal-
isticapproachthatis builtupon the idea thatpeasantrebels
respondedto stateintervention in theirlivesbyre-enacting age-
old ritualsbasedon unchanging popularmyths, withtheaim of
defendingthe solidarityof their communities.17Robert
Muchembledemphasizespreciselythebrutality and violenceof
early modern individualsin order to underline the wrenching
severityof the subsequent"civilizingprocess".'8CraigCalhoun
the
explores reactionary, defensive ofpopularradic-
implications
alism.9MichaelSonenscher re-examines exactlythetypeofcom-
munitarian assumptionsabout artisansthat Straussmightcriticize,
and does so by lookingforevidencebeyondcontextsthatfocus
on guildsolidarity.20
In fact,contraryto theimpression givenin theessay,all good
popular historiansdevelop connections betweentheirsubjects
and largerprocesses,rarelysuccumbingto naive populism.
Strausshimselfpointsout thattheMarxistshe citestakepains
to situatethe massesin a criticaltheoryof developingclass
relations,and oftencriticizesocialhistorians who lose sightof
thatobjective.21Otherhistoriansmakethesamekindsofconnec-
PopularCulturalUses
16
For example,RogerChartier,"Cultureas Appropriation:
in EarlyModernFrance", in StevenL. Kaplan (ed.), Understanding PopularCulture
(Berlin,1984), pp. 229-53; Roger Chartier,"Culturepopulaireet culturepolitique
dans l'Ancien Regime: quelques reflexions",in Keith Michael Baker (ed.), The
PoliticalCultureoftheOld Regime(The FrenchRevolution and theCreationofModern
PoliticalCulture,i, Oxford,1987), pp. 243-58.
17 Yves-Marie Berce, Histoiredes croquants:etudedes soulevements populairesau
XVIIe siecledans le sud-ouestde la France,2 vols. (Paris, 1974); abridgementtrans.
AmandaWhitmore,as HistoryofPeasantRevolts:The Social OriginsofRebellionin
EarlyModernFrance(Ithaca, 1990).
18 Robert Muchembled,L'invention de l'hommemoderne:sensibilites, moeurset
comportements sousl'AncienRegime(Paris, 1988), pp. 15-82.
collectifs
19Craig Calhoun, The Questionof Class Struggle:Social Foundations of Popular
RadicalismduringtheIndustrial Revolution (Chicago,1982).
20Michael Sonenscher,Workand Wages:NaturalLaw, Politicsand theEighteenth-
Century FrenchTrades(Cambridge,1989).
21 Straussgives such a sensitiveappreciationof E. P. Thompson'sworkthatit is
hard to see wherethe problemlies, if his "great literaryskill virtuallyassureshis
(cont.onp. 213)
EmoryUniversity WilliamBeik
25 These remarkswere written beforethe Los Angelesriotsof April 1992 but, in
the aftermath of those events,the Americandiscussionof videotaping,rap music,
televisionviolence,youthand gun culture,racismand urbanpovertyunderlinesthe
centralityof the studyof bothpopularand mass culturein the 1990s.
26 See forexamplethe critiqueof RobertDarntonin Harold Mah, "Suppressing
the Text: The Metaphysicsof EthnographicHistory in Darnton's Great Cat
Massacre", HistoryWorkshop Jl, no. 31 (Spring 1991), pp. 1-20; Suzanne Desan,
"Crowds,Community and Ritualin theWorkofE. P. Thompsonand NatalieDavis",
in Lynn Hunt (ed.), The New CulturalHistory(Berkeley,1989), pp. 47-71; Robert
Finley, "The Refashioningof Martin Guerre", Amer. Hist. Rev., xciii (1988),
pp. 553-71.
REPLY
I am gratefulto WilliamBeik forhis helpfulresponseto my
essay,but I wishhe hadn'tframedit witha caveatabout the