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Bien que l'abolition des corporations en 1791 ait été une conséquence importante de la Révolution française, peu de recherches ont été entreprises pour tenter de savoir qui avait tiré parti de cette mesure et qui en avait souffert. L'opinion la plus commune, si courante que les historiens n'ont pas jugé bon de l'examiner de façon plus approfondie, est que le maître artisan fut la victime de cette législation tandis que la bourgeoisie montante en tira bénéfice. Le démantèlement des corporations, avance-t-on souvent, rendit possible la création d'« un État moderne, répondant aux intérêts économiques et sociaux de la bourgeoisie ».
Under Napoleon, the attempt of three guilds, those of the bakers, the dry-goods merchants, and the linen thread spinners, to reimpose guild-like regulations on Lille's economy suggests that the abolition of the guilds did not necessarily serve the interests of the bourgeoisie. Members of the Napoleonic Chamber of Commerce, as well as local officials including the mayor and prefect, wished to restore crucial functions the guilds had played in the old regime, such as protecting local markets, controlling the quality of textiles produced for export, and securing the urban tax base. Thus, the laisser-faire position of the central government, which generally refused to sanction most of these protectionistic practices, did not represent the interests of important segments of Lille's bourgeoisie. The government's liberal policy, however, did facilitate the economic centralization of the state.
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