Not that there's a contradiction: technological or economic innovation =>
> angry mobs => influence on government action is a perfectly good causal
> chain.
>
Sure, but it seems to me that, in most cases, the middle link of the chain has proven unnecessary. Governments modify their behavior in response to economic and technological development all the time; changes to accommodate popular pressure are, I think, much rarer. And most changes provoked by the latter than would not have inevitably occurred as results of the former.
-- "Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað."