ABSTRACT
Any examination of the French political economy of the first half of the nineteenth century must take into consideration the extraordinary social and political context of the time: the aftermath of a French Revolution and the Napoleonic endeavour which, having overthrown the royal family in France, had brought conflict to the whole of Europe. How was it possible to understand the workings of society after the collapse of a dynasty that had reigned for many centuries over one of the most powerful nations of Europe? How should social progress, so clearly set out in Turgot’s early texts and in Condorcet’s final work, be considered in this new context?
