Great Arch: English State Formation as Cultural Revolution

Corrigan and Sayer's pioneering analysis of English state formation from the eleventh to the late nineteenth centuries profoundly challenges conventional wisdoms, showing that state formation is cultural revolution and moral regulation is fundamental to state power. Forty years after its original publication, this classic text of historical sociology continues to shape thinking about "the state" and remains widely cited across the social sciences and humanities. This reprint contains the expanded 1991 edition of The Great Arch, plus nine further essays on capitalism and state formation in England and beyond, and a new introduction by Derek Sayer.