Norman conquest had established this system of male primogeniture, where the rights of the eldest son to succeed to the estate of his family to the exclusion of others, was given. [...] The English lower classes were serfs under the Normans and, after the breakdown of feudalism and the emergence of industrial capitalism, they were landless labourers, roaming the land in search of work, supplying cheap labour to the coal and iron industries. [...] Newman argued in her earlier books, The Urge to Disperse (Newman, 2011) and Demography, Territory and Law (Newman, 2013), that contrary to Malthus’ early work, human and animal populations generally adjust to the carrying capacities of their environments, due to the operation of the Westermarck effect, and incest avoidance. [...] The French Revolution Newman’s thesis is that the viscosity of pre-Revolutionary France enabled the Revolution to succeed, and she describes the many attempted revolutions in Britain that failed, including the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. [...] Newman gives a detailed discussion of the role of secret societies in disseminating the revolutionary spirit, including the controversial role of the Freemasons.
- Pages
- 5
- Published in
- Australia
