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 First edition | |
| Author | David Hackett Fischer |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Unknown artist, "The Cholmondeley Ladies", c.1600–10[1] |
| Subject | American social history |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Publication date | 1989 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | 946 |
| ISBN | 978-0-19-506905-1 |
Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America is a 1989 book byDavid Hackett Fischer that details thefolkways of four groups of people who moved from distinct regions ofGreat Britain (Albion) to theUnited States. The argument is that the culture of each of the groups persisted, to provide the basis for the political culture of the modern United States.[2] Fischer explains "the origins and stability of a social system which for two centuries has remained stubbornlydemocratic in its politics,capitalist in its economy,libertarian in its laws andindividualist in its society andpluralistic in its culture."[3]
The four migrations are discussed in the four main chapters of the book:
Fischer includes satellite peoples such asWelsh,Scots,Irish,Dutch,French,Germans,Italians and a treatise onAfrican slaves inSouth Carolina. Fischer covers voting patterns and dialects of speech in four regions that span from their Atlantic colonial base to the Pacific.
Fischer remarks on his own connective feelings between theChesapeake andSouthern England inAlbion's Seed but attempts to flesh them out inBound Away: Virginia and the Westward Movement, a corollary of his work in the book.[8]
Fischer states that the book's purpose is to examine the complex cultural processes at work within the four folkways during the time period.Albion's Seed argues, "The legacy of four British folkways in early America remains the most powerful determinant of a voluntary society in the United States."
The term "folkways" was originally conceived of byWilliam Graham Sumner, a 19th-century American sociologist. Sumner's treatiseFolkways: A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals posits:
The folkways are habits of the individual and customs of the society which arise from efforts to satisfy needs; they are intertwined with goblinism and demonism and primitive notions of luck (sec. 6), and so they win traditional authority. Then they become regulative for succeeding generations and take on the character of a social force. They arise no one knows whence or how. They grow as if by the play of internal life energy. They can be modified, but only to a limited extent, by the purposeful efforts of men. In time they lose power, decline, and die, or are transformed. While they are in vigor they very largely control individual and social undertakings, and they produce and nourish ideas of world philosophy and life policy. Yet they are not organic or material. They belong to a superorganic system of relations, conventions, and institutional arrangements.[9]
Fischer describes his modified application of the folkways concept as "the normative structure of values, customs and meanings that exist in any culture," which rise from social and intellectual origins. More specifically, Fischer's definition of folkways are that they "are often highly persistent, but they are never static. Even where they have acquired the status of a tradition they are not necessarily very old. Folkways are constantly in the process of creation, even in our own time."
Each of the four distinct folkways is comparatively described and defined in the following terms:
Collin Brooks of theUniversity of Sussex holds thatAlbion's Seed is an "extraordinary project." Brooks criticizes the chronologically fuzzy "allocation and delimitation of regional identities" and understatement of geography's effect on the cultures, but believes that Fischer succeeded in his effort to prove the existence of American regional cultures.[10]
Charles Joyner, professor of history atCoastal Carolina University, describes the book as "stunning but problematic". Joyner praises the interdisciplinary approach that Fischer takes inAlbion's Seed, but considers Fischer's analysis of linguistic patterns to be weak and poorly supported. Although Joyner is critical of "the curiously static quality of the folk culture that it portrays", his general summary is that "Albion's Seed is a book of astonishing depth, power, and feeling, filled with stimulating insights".[11]
Jack Sosin, professor of history at theUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln, points out that many scholars contest regional cultural differences as being determinants of political behavior. He criticizes the research and evidence presented by Fischer, writing that some of it is questionable, some is uneven, some is unsubstantiated, and some are generalizations based on single studies or episodes.[12]
Gordon McKinney, a professor of Appalachian history atBerea College, took issue with Fischer's treatment of Appalachian culture due to his use of out-of-date sources, lack of specificity with regard to the time period, and denial of change. McKinney holds that "the conclusion that we are forced to draw about Fischer's contribution to the understanding of the origins of the Appalachian South must be mixed.. some of his specific conclusions are based on sound primary research and are valuable additions to our understanding of early Appalachian history. But Fischer's incomplete research leaves his study resting on a weak foundation."[13]: 166
Wilbur Zelinsky, cultural geography professor atPennsylvania State University, argued thatAlbion's Seed faces two "essential weakness": that it "suffers from a form of tunnel vision" by ignoring the work of historical geographers, and that it falls victim to logical fallacies like "adherence to a Single-Factor Explanation for all complexities of American history and geography."[14]
The book has won a number of awards including the American Association of University Presses prize for overall excellence in 1996.[15]
Scott Alexander popularized the book to a new audience by reviewing it on his blogSlate Star Codex in 2016.[16]