Entre la ruralitat i la urbanització: les dinàmiques socials a l’Europa mediterrània

Abstract

Between rurality and urbanization: social dynamics in Mediterranean Europe

Historiographical specializations, while necessary, are often inspired by stere otypical and dichotomous visions that do not always correspond to historical reality, and can negatively affect analysis and, therefore, our knowledge of this reality. Excessive specialization in the rural world or the urban world is not very useful if only those issues that accentuate the modernizing role of cities and the inactive role of the inhabitants of the countryside are studied, mak ing it increasingly difficult to question those topics. The same thing can hap pen, on another scale, if one assumes that modernizing processes could only occur in certain geographical areas. This is what happened recently in the historiographical debate on the Industrious Revolution, which has consid ered the role of Mediterranean Europe in a process of this type to be margin al and irrelevant. Using these two examples, the author highlights the lack of historiographical dialogue on the positions currently dominating the aca demic forums, in relation to the pioneering work of authors such as Ernest Labrousse and Pierre Vilar from the mid-20th century, and makes a call to younger generations to participate actively in these academic debates.