Political Economy, Patriotism and the Rise of Societies

Jani MarjanenKoen Stapelbroek

One of the most prominent, visible throughout a wide variety of contemporary sources, and geographically widespread phenomena in the eighteenth century was the rise of societies aimed at improving the economic basis of European states. These societies called themselves improving societies, patriotic societies, agricultural societies and economic societies, among other labels that were used. Not only semantically did these institutions differ, their characters, self-declared missions and attributed functions were shaped by local and national political and social-economic history. Given this variety, how and why would one attempt to treat these economic societies in a unified way? A direct reason for doing so lies in restoring historical accuracy. So far economic societies have been studied almost exclusively from nationally delineated perspectives, but this is not quite how their functions were perceived at the time. The writings and activities by the most celebrated figures in the international network that connected such societies like Arthur Young-who became an honorary member of a number of economic societies, from St. Petersburg to Philadelphia and Stockholm to Florence-provide a fascinating insight. Young was himself a practicing experimental