ABSTRACT
One of the most obvious indications that the marxist paradigm has been under severe attack over the past decade is the fact that ‘culture’ has replaced ‘class’ as a focus of scholarly concern. Emmet Kennedy’s recent comprehensive textbook, The Culture of the French Revolution, opens with the statement: The French Revolution was a profound cultural event.’1 It was. Too often in the past, the cultural history of the Revolution has been relegated to a brief résumé of the individual contributions of ‘great names’—David, Houdon, Chénier, Grétry, Gossec taking pride of place. The most important service rendered by revisionist historians has been the emphasis they have placed upon ‘political culture’, although some have undoubtedly exaggerated its significance, particularly its autonomy in relation to the social and the economic.
