Date of Award
Spring 1982
Document Type
Restricted Thesis
Terms of Use
© 1982 Victoria Behrman. All rights reserved. Access to this work is restricted to users within the Swarthmore College network and may only be used for non-commercial, educational, and research purposes. Sharing with users outside of the Swarthmore College network is expressly prohibited. For all other uses, including reproduction and distribution, please contact the copyright holder.
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
History Department
First Advisor
Robert S. DuPlessis
Abstract
The shift of property from communal ownership to individual ownership marks, according to many historians, the transition from Feudalism to Capitalism in Western Europe, most notably England, during the eighteenth century. This thesis argues, through the perusal of historical scholarship and theory on the era as well as primary source manuscripts, that the enclosure movement of the late eighteenth century was the singular transformation that prompted and developed England’s subsequent Capitalist economy and society. Among the factors examined are the relationship between landowners and laborers, the utility of land, the stratification of social classes, and the interaction of these classes with the market.
Recommended Citation
Behrman, Victoria , '82, "Enclosures and the Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism: Did Enclosures Facilitate Primitive Accumulation and Create a Class of Proletarians?" (1982). Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards. 519.
https://works.swarthmore.edu/theses/519