ON THE DYNAMICS OF POWER: A CASE STUDY

In: The southwestern social science quarterly, Volume 33, Issue 4, p. 309-318

Abstract

An attempt to examine the 'situational dialectic' of the French Revolution in relation to the problem of shifting patterns of freedom and power in a period of crisis. Two currents in the 'situational dialectic' of the revolution, the psycho-social sequence and the institutional sequence, are examined. The psycho-social sequence consists of the organization and spread of opinion among the populace. The institutional sequence is the history of attempts at adjustment and reorganization made by the Court and the aristocracy. The author examines the relationships between these two processes which were fairly separate up to May 1789 when the psycho-social sequence became the revolution. E. Scott.