Ginzburg's argument is that it is unacceptable to think that ideas originate exclusively among the dominate classes but instead work not only from the top dominant class down but also from the artisan and peasant culture up. Menocchio's respondent behaviors were indicative of confusing political and religious practices of his time. ... Only in periods of acute social change does an image emerge, generally a mythical one, of a different and better past-a model of perfection in the light of which the present appears to be deterioration, degeneration. The Struggle to transform th...

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