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Alienated Intellectuals? Exploring the Political Consequences of the Educational Revolution in Early Modern England
In 1668, Thomas Hobbes argued that university education fueled the religious and political radicalism leading to the English Civil War (1642–1651). We revisit this thesis, further substantiated by Stone (1964) and Curtis (1962), and empirically test whether the educational expansion in early modern England created “alienated intellectuals” who, frustrated by limited job prospects, published radical ideas. Using novel datasets of 60,000 university students, 800 grammar schools, clerical job openings (CCEd), and published titles (ESTC), we explore how educational expansion affected social mobility, labour market outcomes, and radicalization. Grammar school foundations increased university enrollments by 10–20%, particularly benefiting poorer students. However, poorer graduates faced barriers to upward mobility, with many confined to precarious, low-income positions. Employing machine learning and instrumental variable analysis, we show that poor job outcomes significantly increased the likelihood of publishing radical ideas, supporting Curtis’s hypothesis that education-induced frustrations contributed to political instability.
Date:
18 February 2025, 17:00
Venue:
Nuffield College, New Road OX1 1NF
Venue Details:
Butler Room
Speaker:
Sandra de Pleijt (Wageningen University)
Organising department:
Department of Economics
Part of:
Economic and Social History Seminar
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Members of the University only
Editor:
Edward Valenzano
