"The Moral Economy of the Crowd", Edward P. Thompson.
The concept
The Moral Economy of the Crowd is a concept theorized by the British Marxist Social Historian Edward P. Thompson in his essay "The Moral Economy of the English Crowd in the Eighteenth Century" published in 1971 in the scientific journal Past & Present.
In this precise historical context, this concept is about the food riots of the Eighteenth Century. During this period, with the rise of "classical economy" and liberalism, the price of grain is not controlled anymore and raises a lot. This provokes riots. The rioting crowd sees as "immoral" this new conception of economy, based on supply and demand.
This concept allows us to do "history from below": we can analyze the point of view of the crowd, as an active subject. They are rioting not only because of food starvation, but also for a peculiar conception of the economy, with values of mutual obligations, community, responsibilities and social norms. The poor know what is good and just for them, which means liberal economists are not the only ones that have a logical view of the economy. This concept gives back agency to the people.
Its evolution
During the eighties, the Moral Economy is reused by Anthropologist James C. Scott in his work on the Moral Economy of peasants of Southeast Asia. A lot of researches then reused the concept, in a way more or less relevant. French historian Dider Fassin asks for a critical analysis of this concept, in regard of the fact that it has been depoliticized and emptied of its meaning (2009).
He proposes a new definition of the Moral Economy :
"We will consider the moral economy as the production, distribution, circulation and use of moral feelings, emotions and values, norms and obligations in social space."[1]
He analyses what is the Moral Economy in different decades, especially in the Nineties and in the beginning of the Twentieth Century, during different events (for example, the French Riots in 2005). He explains that this concept helps understanding what the rioters are thinking, why they are rioting, without saying their reasons are good or bad. We need to use this concept beyond dominated groups, and use it also for dominants, so we can analyze tensions between those groups by looking at their different Moral Economies.