The Boot and Shoe Trades in London and Paris in the Long Eighteenth Century

The purpose of part II of my thesis is to consider the evolution of the
shoemaking trade during the eighteenth century. Maxine Berg has defined this
period as the 'age of manufactures'. She has pointed out how the paradigm of
industrialisation (with associated centralisation of production, mechanisation and
large-scale capital-intensive ventures) cannot be considered the only phenomena
within the important changes of the British and continental economies during the
eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The picture painted by recent
historiography underlines a series of cultural and social elements that cannot be
considered simply as accessories in our understanding of economic change.
This part of my thesis aims to investigate a particular sector through underlining
its dynamic aspects. In opposition to traditional examinations that have
concentrated on production (as the natural embodiment of a sector), I here present
an analysis on consumption, retailing and production. In particular I claim that a
deeper understanding of production is possible only through a detailed
consideration of consumption and retailing. These aspects have been in the past
either forgotten or considered as marginal in a discourse about 'production of
value'. As indicated in the figure below, the focus of economic analysis has been
ciwhat I call internal functions such as investment and production. Production, in
particular, has deserved the attention of historians, being considered as the purpose
of economic activity.
Business functions and historical analysis
Purpose PRODUCTION CONSUMPTION
Means INVESTMENT RETAILING
____________________________________________ - --
Internal External
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