Conversation

This is exactly backwards. Urbanization was driven by desire to escape oppressive togetherness of small town/village life. The primary draw of cities in history has been escaping your tribe. The idea that you might *find* your tribe is relatively new (1960s?) bonus possibility
Quote Tweet
will the trend towards urbanization reverse post COVID? 🏡remote work and distancing for years makes me think suburban populations will rise 🏬on the other hand, maybe we can’t reverse a 200 year trend, and the desire for togetherness
Image
11
143
For people citing “economics” as a/the reason, economics is never the answer to “why”, only “how.” It enables social escape, independence, individualism, means to live on own terms etc.
3
27
Social escape was main carrot. Early on industrialists had to coerce farmers away from land during droughts, and actively work to break family ties (like younger sons with weaker land claims). Once cities became established as individual escape zone, coercion became unnecessary.
1
23
It is especially weird to posit individual-agent reasons like economic opportunity when primary challenge was to individuate away in the first place from tight social settings where economic decisions were made by families and cash played a smaller role than mutuality.
1
17
If you read the early history of urbanization (pre-industrial) the economy was so subservient to culture (eg sumptuary laws, limits on innovation) that to go urban was literally an act of freedom-seeking. Many early cities bought their freedom from feudal lords.
2
29
I have a weird theory that oppressive rural conditions like serfdom and working peasants to death emerged *after* cities became established for escape via pre-industrial crafts. Industrialization accelerated an existing trend, it didn’t create it.
3
19
Replying to
If I had strong evidence it would just be a theory, not a weird theory. Speculations cobbled together from various readings. A key clue though is that non-agrarian smaller cities began rising in the 12-14th centuries well before industrialization, around trades.
1
3
Replying to
Thanks, I don't know much about this stuff, Is idea that serfdom originated / came into its worst shortly after 12th century (right after origination of smaller nonag cities)? Also curious, what would be Lords' motive to make things worse on serfs knowing they could go to cities?
1
Replying to
The Black Death created a big labor shortage in Europe and coercive practices got much worse then as a result. But until industrialization there was a sharp limit to how much labor cities could absorb and how much the countryside could spare.
Replying to
Ah, ok so serfs could not 'just go to cities', it didn't become a "seller's market" for labor until industrialization. Lords would continue to coerce those stuck on their lands, like whipping one remaining horse of a troika
1