Associations, we said above, occupy an intermediary position in social life. Associations are located somewhere between the state and the family, in a world which at the same time is both public and private. This intermediary position is what gives them their unique characteristics. They have far more power over their environment than families, and they are also more robust since they are governed to a larger extent by rules than by the actions and reactions of individuals. By becoming a member of an association we escape the narrow confines of family life and learn to act together with others in the pursuit of common goals. Here were are all ‘brothers’, ‘sisters’, ‘comrades’ and ‘mates’. And yet, as we have pointed out, associations have authority structures of their own. Just like the home itself these homes-away-fromhome have their own ways of manipulating us. Who is protected and on what terms is ultimately a political matter – that is to say, a matter of power.

Europe has experienced three great waves of association-formation corresponding roughly to three great spurts in the development of markets. The first wave took place when money was reintroduced after the eleventh century and markets first began expanding. The second wave came with the great upsurge in trade after the sixteenth century. The third wave, associated with industrialization and the unleashing of laissez-faire economics, happened in the nineteenth century.