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Measures and Men
Measures and Men, considers times and societies in which weighing and measuring were meaningful parts of everyday life and weapons in class struggles.
Originally published in 1986.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Originally published in 1986.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
398 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1970
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 14, 2011
A fantastic material history of the shift from pre-modern/ localized/ anthropometric measurement systems (like 'ell,' meaning elbow, or 'foot,' for example) to standardized abstract measurements (the meter, which is synced to the circumference of the earth) by eminent Polish historian Witold Kula. I really, really enjoyed it, I would put it on par with social histories like Braudel's Civilization and Capitalism Vol. 1 or E.P. Thompson's Customs in Common, specifically the essay "Time, Work-Discipline and Industrial Capitalism," in that this book is in that tradition of mining the ephemera of modern subjectivity, showing how seemingly basic components of modern life are part of relatively new structures of social organization.
This book theorizes the shift from qualitative systems of measurements based on local cumulative knowledge of land-- for example, the widespread pre-modern trend of measuring land based on the amount of seed it will accept-- to quantitative measurements imposed by the absolutist state to help state authorities assess land/goods for taxation purposes. Kula argues that alienation is central to the process of transition to these state-centric abstract measurements, that as commodities are increasingly produced for abstract markets, their measurement in 'modern' units ceases to reflect direct connections between producer and consumer. Accordingly, the imposition of new systems of measurement, and the rights to modify extant systems has been a privilege of authority, and a site of tremendous conflict for agrarian communities. This book's hard to find, but it's really worth a read!
This book theorizes the shift from qualitative systems of measurements based on local cumulative knowledge of land-- for example, the widespread pre-modern trend of measuring land based on the amount of seed it will accept-- to quantitative measurements imposed by the absolutist state to help state authorities assess land/goods for taxation purposes. Kula argues that alienation is central to the process of transition to these state-centric abstract measurements, that as commodities are increasingly produced for abstract markets, their measurement in 'modern' units ceases to reflect direct connections between producer and consumer. Accordingly, the imposition of new systems of measurement, and the rights to modify extant systems has been a privilege of authority, and a site of tremendous conflict for agrarian communities. This book's hard to find, but it's really worth a read!
January 23, 2025
Este ensayo explica de forma sublime cómo hemos pasado de seres humanos a simples números en una hoja de cuentas, desentrañando el oscuro trasfondo histórico, social y político de la medición y la cuantificación a lo largo del tiempo. Witold Kula nos ofrece un análisis brillante de cómo los sistemas de medición, lejos de ser herramientas técnicas para facilitarnos la vida, han moldeado economías, sociedades y relaciones de poder.
Kula explora cómo las medidas han sido históricamente utilizadas como instrumentos de dominación encubierta, y cómo han servido para consolidar desigualdades sociales y económicas. Desde las pesas y las balanzas en las economías agrarias hasta los sistemas más complejos de intercambio, el autor muestra que la historia de la medición estandarizada es, en realidad, una historia del control y la negociación entre las diferentes clases sociales, en el que los estados imponen instrumentos y herramientas de medición al vulgo para que él solito se ponga el collar.
Lo más fascinante del libro es su capacidad para mostrar que algo tan aparentemente técnico y positivo para la humanidad como una unidad de medida estandarizada es, en realidad, una herramienta más del estado para ejercer su control sobre los ciudadanos. Es un texto que combina historia económica, sociología y filosofía, iluminando las formas en que los sistemas de medición estandarizados han contribuido a la pérdida de libertad de las sociedades.
- Víctor Navareño
Kula explora cómo las medidas han sido históricamente utilizadas como instrumentos de dominación encubierta, y cómo han servido para consolidar desigualdades sociales y económicas. Desde las pesas y las balanzas en las economías agrarias hasta los sistemas más complejos de intercambio, el autor muestra que la historia de la medición estandarizada es, en realidad, una historia del control y la negociación entre las diferentes clases sociales, en el que los estados imponen instrumentos y herramientas de medición al vulgo para que él solito se ponga el collar.
Lo más fascinante del libro es su capacidad para mostrar que algo tan aparentemente técnico y positivo para la humanidad como una unidad de medida estandarizada es, en realidad, una herramienta más del estado para ejercer su control sobre los ciudadanos. Es un texto que combina historia económica, sociología y filosofía, iluminando las formas en que los sistemas de medición estandarizados han contribuido a la pérdida de libertad de las sociedades.
- Víctor Navareño
July 21, 2025
Perhaps the best thing about James Scott's Seeing Like a State was being exposed to this book. Just reading Scott's references made the book intriguing, and I was entirely prepared to discover that Scott had already mined the best of Kula's insights. But no, this book is a pleasure to read from start to finish about a topic that at first glance is utterly mundane, but absolutely essential to understanding pre-modern life. How was land measured? How was grain/in kind tax measured? Such basic questions, and yet until a month before it had never seemed necessary. To be sure, as a modern historian focused on the state and nationality, it was not relevant to my research, but suddenly it mattered.
The key point is the variation of measures. Some of this is just a natural result of the localized world people lived in, but there are also practical concerns. For example, one aspect of these differences was that in the Polish grain trade, the measurements for grain upstream were larger than those downstream, with prices increasing as well, so that the difference was an alternative way to deal with shipping costs in a pre modern world. Similarly, the discussion of bread prices and the way these worked in a pre-modern world where the presumption was that prices should stay the same, and so over time the size of loaves declined.
That said, it is a quirky book. The first part focuses on Europe in the general thought towards the end Medieval and early modern Poland gets attention. Part II focuses entirely on Poland, while Part III deals with efforts introduce standardized measurements, and how the French Revolution facilitated that. The last part focuses on how the metric system took hold first in France, and then slowly at first in other parts of Europe. It is a lopsided organization, where paradoxically the chapters in part one are generally quite short, while the later parts have longer chapters.
The key point is the variation of measures. Some of this is just a natural result of the localized world people lived in, but there are also practical concerns. For example, one aspect of these differences was that in the Polish grain trade, the measurements for grain upstream were larger than those downstream, with prices increasing as well, so that the difference was an alternative way to deal with shipping costs in a pre modern world. Similarly, the discussion of bread prices and the way these worked in a pre-modern world where the presumption was that prices should stay the same, and so over time the size of loaves declined.
That said, it is a quirky book. The first part focuses on Europe in the general thought towards the end Medieval and early modern Poland gets attention. Part II focuses entirely on Poland, while Part III deals with efforts introduce standardized measurements, and how the French Revolution facilitated that. The last part focuses on how the metric system took hold first in France, and then slowly at first in other parts of Europe. It is a lopsided organization, where paradoxically the chapters in part one are generally quite short, while the later parts have longer chapters.
November 28, 2008
A history of measurement standardization: what was lost and gained in Poland and France.
April 25, 2013
Excellent reference book on the development of standard measures.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews