Clubs & Sociétés

Debating societies became well-established institutions in London and provincial cities, catering for the taste for public debate among the lower and middling sorts. Topics could be frivolous, but when societies debated politics, religion, and the economy they were felt to voice threateningly radical opinions.

This entry gives an overview of the clubs and societies in Edinburgh during the long eighteenth century. These were indeed a reflection of the expectations of the Scottish society.

À distance ou en présence, les académies littéraires se font lieu d’interactions et de sociabilités intellectuelles à l’époque moderne. Des académies royales hautement institutionnalisées aux académies salonnières italiennes, elles incarnent les pratiques lettrées et savantes dans les milieux intellectuels européens.