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Samuel Clark - Professor Emeritus

Ph.D. Harvard University
M.A. University of Toronto
B.A. Carleton University

Samuel Clark is a historical sociologist whose work has focussed primarily on Western Europe (mainly Britain, Scotland, Ireland, France and Belgium) during the Early Modern and Modern periods. His sociological interests have been broad, including social movements, state formation, power, inequality, collective action, disciplinary regimes, and theory. His first major project was on the Irish Land War of 1789-82, in which he sought to demonstrate the role of social changes, especially changes in the structure of peasant social relationships over the preceding half century, in determining the characteristics of this political movement. He then turned his attention to the transformation of aristocratic and bourgeois power in Belgium during the Industrial Revolution. This research gave rise to a larger project on the effect of state formation in Early Modern Western Europe on the economic, political, cultural and status power of the aristocracy. His interest in status power then led to a study of the evolution of state honours in Western Europe from the Middle Ages to the Great War. Examining cultural, social, and political changes that generated the massive growth in state honours and shaped their characteristics, this study demonstrates their functions as instruments of power. The role of military medals is a particular focus. More generally, the book contributes to the larger (and much ignored) question of why we have so many awards and prizes in today’s society.

Curriculum Vitae

Selected Publications