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Economic Transition, Class Formation, and the Superintendent State in the Midwest: 1850-1900
Brad Bauerly,
Corresponding Author
Brad Bauerly
Brad Bauerly is a Lecturer in Political Science and Global Studies at the University of Vermont. He specializes in global political economy, the politics of the food system, and state responses to social movements. His book The Agrarian Seeds of Empire explores the important relationship between economic development, social movements and state-building. He can be reached at bbauerly@uvm.edu.Search for more papers by this authorBrad Bauerly,
Corresponding Author
Brad Bauerly
Brad Bauerly is a Lecturer in Political Science and Global Studies at the University of Vermont. He specializes in global political economy, the politics of the food system, and state responses to social movements. His book The Agrarian Seeds of Empire explores the important relationship between economic development, social movements and state-building. He can be reached at bbauerly@uvm.edu.Search for more papers by this authorFirst published: 25 March 2020
Abstract
This article outlines and clarifies the complex relationship between economic development, the formation of classes, political movement responses to these changes, and state institutional capacity building in response to these movements in the Midwestern US. It seeks to remedy views of the transition to capitalism in America that focus too narrowly on a moment of transition, positing instead a long, politically contested process of class formation by elucidating the specific interactions between agrarian and union movements and state-building processes. Our research reveals the substantial role of the state in forcing through acceptance of economic changes and shifting class locations through a co-developmental process of political resistance movements and state-building.
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