From ‘The Body Politic’ to ‘The National Interest’: English State Formation in Comparative and Historical Perspective (An Argument Concerning ‘Politically Organized Subjection’)

Abstract

Previously unpublished, “From the Body Politic to the National Interest” was presented at the Mellon Symposium in Historical Anthropology at California Institute of Technology in May 1987. We are publishing it in the Journal of Historical Sociology for the first time to honor Philip Corrigan's memory. The essay was an attempt to expand upon arguments in Philip Corrigan and Derek Sayer, The Great Arch: English State Formation as Cultural Revolution (1985) under two main rubrics: (1) “routines and rituals of rule” and (2) “regulated representations and the making of ‘the’ public.” In both cases we went beyond our treatment of these topics in The Great Arch, to which this paper should be seen as a supplement.