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Society in Early Modern England: The Vernacular Origins of Some Powerful Ideas

The monograph develops a new methodology for tracing linguistic and semantic patterns synchronically and diachronically and suggests historicised conceptualisations of some key early modern and modern terms: 'society', 'modern', 'commonwealth'. This involved searching all printed title-pages on ESTC and EEBO and then reading the 1000s of texts so identified closely and in context. It also considers the relationship between discursive trends and social practice, and provides a genealogy of the term 'early modern'. The argument rests on an enormous amount of primary research made possible by an ESRC Fellowship, and reviewers have noted the book is innovative methodologically and conceptually.