The Origins of English Individualism: Some Surprises
| Author | Alan Macfarlane |
|---|---|
| Published | September 1978 |
| Format | Research paper |
TL;DR — Alan Macfarlane’s 1978 Theory and Society article arguing that English individualism in property and family long predates the Reformation and industrialisation.
An article by the Cambridge anthropologist and historian Alan Macfarlane in Theory and Society, vol. 6, no. 2 (September 1978), pp. 255–277. This copy is a JSTOR download and carries JSTOR’s cover sheet.
It appeared the same year as Macfarlane’s book The Origins of English Individualism and sets out its argument in compact form: the “surprise” is that the medieval English record looks less like a peasant society of family-held land and more like one of individually owned, freely sold property, which pushes the roots of English individualism back centuries before the Reformation, capitalism or the Industrial Revolution.
What it is: a peer-reviewed journal article by a well-known historian; the argument is influential and also contested. A JSTOR copy, in copyright.
Where this came from
- A copy saved in October 2026.
24 pages. A PDF copy is held in Kyle’s private archive; it is not linked or shared here.