Papers by Maarten Van Dijck
Inequality and the City in the Low Countries (1200-2020), 2020
Stadsgeschiedenis (Hilversum), Dec 1, 2015
Stadsgeschiedenis (Hilversum), 2014
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Social Science History, 2017
This article proposes to refine the concept civil society by discerning three distinct forms of c... more This article proposes to refine the concept civil society by discerning three distinct forms of civil society in the past. This refined conceptual framework counters the criticism that civil society suffers from its growing popularity and its broad definition. The usefulness of these three forms of civil society—which are based on the later work of Jürgen Habermas—are applied in this article on the seventeenth-century Low Countries. The central question is how these forms of civil society acted as schools of democracy in the seventeenth-century Spanish Netherlands and Dutch Republic. The three types of civil society are identified that developed through time and built a cumulative tradition of civil society. These are the medieval craft guilds (liberal civil society), the early modern civic militia (republican civil society), and the modern Enlightenment sociability (deliberative civil society). Data about the associational life in two cities in the Low Countries, Mechelen and Rotte...
Empirical Studies of the Arts, 2013
This article deals with the process of canon formation for Flemish and Dutch painters from the 17... more This article deals with the process of canon formation for Flemish and Dutch painters from the 17th century onwards. We examine how the essential art-historical treatises and art encyclopedias since Houbraken's Grote Schouburgh der Nederlandsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen ranked and evaluated the leading painters, based on the attention given to them in these volumes. Using standardized z-scores, we map the relative importance the selected artists received in these publications over the 3 centuries. In doing so, we emphasize the path-dependency and the dimension of time in explaining the endurance of certain artists in the long run. From our research it emanates that the canon of Netherlandish painters is much more volatile than previously assumed.
…, 2010
... 1700-1840; 2005). Werk aan de winkel: de Antwerpse meerseniers: aspecten van kleinhandel en v... more ... 1700-1840; 2005). Werk aan de winkel: de Antwerpse meerseniers: aspecten van kleinhandel en verbruik in de 17de en 18de eeuw. Blondé, Bruno; Greefs, Hilde (Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis; 2001). Het Werchters driekoningenspel ...
Cities, Migration and Global Interdependenc
Le parrainage en Europe et en Amérique
The Reformation had a major impact on the practices of godparenthood in early modern Europe. Cath... more The Reformation had a major impact on the practices of godparenthood in early modern Europe. Catholic parents could only appoint two godparents, a man and a woman, while Protestants were free to ask as much godparents as they wanted. This implies that godparenthood offered more opportunities for network formation in protestant regions. However, a social network analysis shows that the number of ties was not the only factor of importance. The social networks in the catholic city of Mechelen were denser than in the protestant Leiden as a result of the higher number of mutual connections. The low cohesion in Leiden was probably due to the high number of migrants and the absence of other forms of ritual kinship, such as religious confraternities. Another significant conclusion concerns the nature of these relations. The elite acted less as patron regarding lower social groups in Mechelen compared to Leiden. This is a remarkable conclusion because historians usually assume that social relation were more equal in the Dutch Republic than in the Spanish Netherlands. (p. 179) La Révolte des Gueux et la séparation entre le nord et le sud ont été des événements cruciaux dans l'histoire des Pays-Bas de la seconde moitié du XVI e siècle. Ces deux régions, qui correspondent à la Belgique et aux Pays-Bas actuels, avaient jusque-là partagé une même histoire. Ce passé commun les avait dotés d'une économie développée de façon précoce, d'un haut niveau d'urbanisation, d'un vaste marché des capitaux et d'une forte industrialisation 1. Cette séparation a créé deux régions très différentes. Il est généralement admis que la République des Provinces-Unies a poursuivi la tradition médiévale des Pays-Bas méridionaux au XVII e siècle, tandis qu'au sud, les Pays-Bas espagnols ont choisi une toute autre route. Au moment où le nord est devenu une région prospère avec (p. 180) un gouvernement républicain et une population à majorité protestante, le sud s'est transformé en un bastion de la Contre-Réforme dans un état absolutiste, avec une économie affaiblie 2. Cette situation a eu des effets différents sur les relations sociales dans les deux zones. Les Provinces
Social Science History, 2017
Civil society is widely considered as a crucial element in contemporary society. Academics and po... more Civil society is widely considered as a crucial element in contemporary society. Academics and policy makers have traditionally associated it with voluntary associations and organizations, assuming that associational life is an ideal intermediary between citizens and government. While members of associations form large social networks, which they can mobilize at critical moments, the conviviality of group sociability fosters the development of a set of common values, such as a democratic political culture and other civic virtues. Its origins are generally situated in the eighteenth century, and are mostly attributed to secularization, Enlightenment thinking, the birth of the “public sphere,” and growing emancipation from oppressive structures such as the church and the state.
Social scientists have recently paid a great deal of attention to clubs, associations and societi... more Social scientists have recently paid a great deal of attention to clubs, associations and societies. This is due to the growing interest in civil society and social capital. Both scientists and politicians believe that a vivid civil society, characterized by a large number of voluntary associations active in many aspects of social life, has several positive effects. According to this view, civil society promotes shared civic values and stimulates social cohesion. In other words: club life pulls down social boundaries. As a consequence, modern policy makers involve all kinds of voluntary associations in local, regional, national and international government, because they consider these associations as ideal intermediaries between citizens and government. 1 This recent interest in associational life is significant for the study of fraternities, because fraternities were an important – probably the most important – form of associational life during the late medieval and early modern pe...
markdownabstract__Abstract__ Elk jaar geeft de Vlaams-Nederlandse Vereniging voor Nieuwe Geschied... more markdownabstract__Abstract__ Elk jaar geeft de Vlaams-Nederlandse Vereniging voor Nieuwe Geschiedenis (VNVNG) een bundel uit naar aanleiding van haar jaarcongres. In 2009 was het thema van deze bijeenkomst ‘Propaganda en spektakel: Intochten en festiviteiten in de Nieuwe Tijd’. Bijna alle lezingen van dit congres zijn samengebracht in een bundel onder redactie van Joop Koopmans en Werner Thomas.
markdownabstract__Abstract__ Het is opvallend dat met de toenemende mondialisering en de groeiend... more markdownabstract__Abstract__ Het is opvallend dat met de toenemende mondialisering en de groeiende interesse in wereldgeschiedenis tegelijkertijd de aandacht voor niet-Engelstalige geschiedschrijving daalt. Michel Nassiet’s sociale geschiedenis van interpersoonlijk geweld in het vroegmoderne Frankrijk maakt duidelijk dat een dergelijke monolinguistische wetenschap tot een verschraling van de wetenschappelijke kennis kan leiden. Die blindheid voor anderstalige literatuur is overigens geen Angelsaksisch voorrecht, want in de literatuurlijst van Nassiet vallen meteen een aantal hiaten op. Zo verwijst hij slechts naar een publicatie van Pieter Spierenburg, terwijl andere belangrijke Engelstalige auteurs zoals Richard McMahon, Steven Pinker, Randolph Roth en James Sharpe niet eens worden genoemd. Dat is uiteraard jammer, maar het zorgt er ook voor dat Nassiet de lezer een fris perspectief biedt op de geschiedenis van interpersoonlijk geweld in Europa. Met deze studie van interpersoonlijk...
markdownabstractMet het ‘Dossier’ wil de redactie van Stadsgeschiedenis een belangwekkende public... more markdownabstractMet het ‘Dossier’ wil de redactie van Stadsgeschiedenis een belangwekkende publicatie of een interessant initiatief op het gebied van de studie van steden en hun verleden onder de aandacht brengen. Telkens zullen een aantal specialisten uit diverse vakgebieden op deze publicatie of dit initiatief commentaar geven vanuit hun vakgebied.
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Papers by Maarten Van Dijck