Abstract

"Is Fernand Braudel a Business Historian? Contemplating everyday practices and tracing the History of Capitalism and Civilizations over the long term"

Eric Godelier, Ecole Polytechnique (eric.godelier@polytechnique.edu)

At a first glance, nothing could be further removed from the work of Fernand Braudel that Management and Business History. On the one hand, the long-term thinker, historian of Civilizations, attentive observer of Individuals and Communities, their Economies and their Practices. On the other, a field of History that is regularly debating its subject matters and has set itself the goal of describing today's organizations. And yet, possibilities do exist. First, through Methodological dialogues (I). In the École des Annales school, F. Braudel innovated and mobilized concepts from other social sciences, such as economics. He showed how Monotony and Repetition are interesting sources for Historians. Instead of official events and great men, F. Braudel prefers to study conjunctures and crises. He is interested in "the thousand gestures that flourish, (...) and about which no one has to make a decision, which take place in the real world, outside our full awareness". He also criticizes the "event-based sin" of the Social Sciences, which overemphasize Inventions or certain forms of Organization that are supposedly new because different from the past. On the Contrary, F. Braudel proposes a type of research that involves observation, precise description and classification without too many preconceived ideas Second thanks to Conceptual dialogues (II). From his earliest research, he has built a program based on the 3 durations or stages of history: 1) dealing with everyday life; 2) studying exchanges and relations structured by capitalism; 3) analyzing systems of international domination, in other words, economic and political powers. His analyses of the long history of capitalism and globalization shed light on the emergence of organizational methods, and the Economic and Technical Practices of Actors engaged in everyday life. F. Braudel shows how Societies shape the Behavior and Mentalities of Individuals and Groups. These are all elements that, at certain times and under certain conditions, contribute to the emergence of civilizations.. and of Capitalism.