| Developments in early modern and modern communities result from interactions between means of production, institutions and social relations. This program looks at causes and patterns of the formation of social groups, and at the consequences, in particular the rise of a civil society. The program focuses on the formation of boundaries between social groups, and the causes, and consequences thereof. Particularly, the issue of the rise of a civil society is important in this respect. Three areas of research are particularly relevant: (1) the formation of boundaries between social groups e.g. through marriages between social, religious or ethnic groups, or through processes of assimilation (or not); (2) the institutions that create and propagate -or deteriorate and destroy- shared beliefs and the feeling of belonging together; (3) the impact that institutions have on society at large: do the ties between the institutions and their members, and among the members themselves, lead to a generalized feeling of trust in society, or, conversely, to social tensions and conflicts? |
