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  • (American Journal of Sociology) J F Padgett, C K Ansell - Robust Action and The Rise of The Medici, 1400-1434. 98 (1993) PDF

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    12 views62 pages

    (American Journal of Sociology) J F Padgett, C K Ansell - Robust Action and The Rise of The Medici, 1400-1434. 98 (1993) PDF

    Uploaded by

    Laszlo Joseph Turi

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Robust Action and the Rise of the Medici, 1400-1434 John F. Padgett, Christopher K, Ansell American Journal of Sociology, Volume 98, Issue 6 (May, 1993), 1259-1319. ‘Your use of the ISTOR database indicates your acceptance of JSTOR’s Tecms and Conditions of Use. A copy of ISTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use is available at hitp:/www jstor.org/aboutrerms.himl, by contacting ISTOR at jstor-info@umich edu, or by calling ISTOR at (888)388-3574, (734)998-9101 ar (PAX) (734)998-9113. No part ‘of a JSTOR transmission may be copied, dawnloaded, stored, further transmitted, ransferted, distributed, ateced, or otherwise used, in any fotm ot by any means, except: (1) ane stored electronic and one paper copy of any article solely for your petsanal, non-commercial use, ot (2) with prior written permission of ISTOR and the publisher af the article or other text Bach copy of any part ofa JSTOR transmission must contain the samie copyright notice that appears on the seteen or printed page of such transmission, American Joumal of Sactology is published by University of Chicago Press. Please contact the publisher for further ppoimissions regarding the use of this work. Publisher contact information may be oblained at lttpsferwwstor org/jounals/ucpress html. American Journal af Sociology ©1993 University of Chicago Press ISTOR and the JSTOR logo are wademarks of JSTOR, and are Registered in the U.S, Patent and Trademark Orie. For mare information on ISTOR contact jstor-info@umich edu, ©2000 JSTOR btipsfevwojstor.ous/ ‘Mon May 29 13:10:54 2000 Robust Action and the Rise of the Medici, 1400-1434! John F. Padgett and Christopher K. Ansell University of Chicago We analyze the centralization of political parties and elite networks that underlay the birth of the Renaissance state in Florence, Class revolt and fiscal crisis were the ultimate causes of elite consolida- tion, but Medicean political control was produced by means of network disjunctures within the elite, which the Medici alone spanned. Cosimo de’ Medici's multivocal identity as sphinx har- nessed the power available in these network holes and resolved the contradiction between judge and boss inherent in all organizations. ‘Methodologically, we argue that to understand state formation one must penetrate beneath the veneer of formal institutions, groups, ‘and goals down to the relational substrata of peoples’ actual lives. Ambiguity and heterogeneity, not planning and self-interest, are the raw materials of which powerful states and persons are constructed. INTRODUCTION Regardless of time or place, political centralization lies at the heart of state building. Less widely appreciated is the fact that the process of centralization is contradictory: its agents are forced to seek both repro- cuuction and control. Centralization accurs, often abruptly, when found- ers emerge out of the soup of contending actors ta establish

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