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Did people really commonly believe in the inevitability of the "divine right of kings"? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Contemporary anticapitalist narratives sometime compare a supposed inevitability of capitalism currently for globalised societies with the supposed (religious) inevitability of monarchies before the Industrial Revolution.

How comparable are those beliefs in their respective hold on societies before and after the Industrial Revolution?

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Of course they did. Until the printing press, most European societies forbade peasants learning to read or write, because educated people start getting ideas, and can exchange information in secret over long distances. The Church was the only learnin' peasants need, and The Church teaches blind obedience to authority. The King wouldn't be King if God didn't want it.