IMC 2009: Sessions

Session 304: To Have and to Have Not: Sociology and Medieval Social Stratification

Organiser:	Bernard Gowers, Keble College, University of Oxford
Moderator/Chair:	Chris Wickham, All Souls College, University of Oxford
Paper 304-a	Social Solidarity and Exclusion in Later Medieval Anglo-Welsh Towns (Language: English) Matthew Frank Stevens, Centre for Metropolitan History, Institute of Historical Research, University of London Index terms: Economics - Urban, Social History
Paper 304-b	The Literati and the Sociologists (Language: English) Bernard Gowers, Keble College, University of Oxford Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Social History
Paper 304-c	Social Sciences and Relic Cults in 12th-Century England (Language: English) Simon Stuart Yarrow, Department of Medieval History, University of Birmingham Index terms: Anthropology, Social History
Abstract	This session will use three case studies to explore the utility and limitations of some sociological literature in our analysis of medieval social life. It will examine whether social scientists, in particular the sociologists W.G. Runciman and Frank Parkin, as well as Weber, can provide us with useful language and concepts to discuss the multidimensional nature of competition and stratification (economic, gender, ethnic, etc) in medieval societies. Drawing also on S.H. Rigby's work on later medieval England, our case studies will be on later medieval Welsh urban life, 11th/12th-century clerical society, and 12th-century English relic cults.