List of maps and graphs -- List of tables -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Part I. The history of social regulation: The forms of contro -- Methodological underpinnings -- Social regulation in England's smaller communities -- Social concern in other contexts -- Part II. Factors that influenced social regulation: Some political considerations -- Social ecology I: 'broad response' and 'no response' communities -- Social ecology II: analysis by type of offences reported -- Ideological/religious influences -- Appendices -- Bibliography
Summary
In this important study, Professor McIntosh argues against the suggestion that social regulation was a distinctive feature of the decades around 1600, resulting from Puritanism. Instead, through an examination of 255 village and small-town communities distributed throughout England, Professor McIntosh demonstrates that concern with wrongdoing mounted gradually between 1370 and 1600. In an attempt to maintain good order and enforce ethical conduct, local leaders prosecuted people who slandered or quarrelled with their neighbours, engaged in sexual misdeeds, operated unruly alehouses, or refused to work. Professor McIntosh also explores who the offenders were as well as the factors that led to misbehaviour and shaped responses to it. More generally, Professor McIntosh sheds light on the transition from medieval to early modern patterns and succeeds here in opening up little-known sources and new research methods
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 265-278) and index
