Historical Sociology

2021-03-01

Thematic issue edited by Anna Sosnowska-Jordanovska (American Studies Center, UW), Jarosław Kilias (Faculty of Sociology, UW), Nicolas Maslowski (Centre for French Culture, UW), and Michał Rauszer (Faculty of Pedagogy, UW)

Deadline for submitting abstracts: 31 March 2021

Historical sociology is a research trend that differentiates the subject and its character: on the one hand, it is a sociological analysis of past phenomena and, on the other hand, the study of social processes that started in the past but whose consequences are an important contemporary phenomenon. The first type of research activity is called historical microsociology, and the second, historical macrosociology. The first looks for an explanation of specific historical phenomena, for instance, ways of raising children or relations between employee and employer in the distant or more recent past; it proposes an interpretative scheme and applies it to historical data, which is often – though not necessarily – source material. It is close to social history. The second type tries to answer the questions of where the phenomenon came from and what historical circumstances contributed to its formation. Such questions include the genesis of nation states, capitalism, revolution and social movements, economic migrations, or the economic differentiation of the world.

Historical sociology is interested in the process rather than events, in structures rather than characters, path dependence rather than historical turns. In this sense, historical sociology was practised by the classic figures of sociology. For example, by Alexis de Tocqueville, in describing the decades-long revolutionary process that preceded the French Revolution, or in showing centralisation as a permanent structural element characterising the relationship between power and social states, and then classes – regardless of the violent events of the last decade of the eighteenth century – or by Max Weber, in looking for the roots of the modern economic structure in religious change and rationalisation. Works of historical sociology have also been written in Poland: some were inspired by Marxism, such as Witold Kula’s Historia, zacofanie, rozwój [History, Backwardness, Development] or Adam Leszczyński’s last book, Ludowa Historia Polski [A People’s History of Poland].

Thinking about history is also significant for contemporary identity. Examples include disputes about the causes and nature of the French Revolution in France, and the dispute about the influence of serfdom on contemporary social inequalities in Eastern Europe or of slavery in the Americas.

The semi-annual State of Affairs would like to invite you to discuss the achievements of historical sociology and the results of your own research in the field of historical sociology in its micro or macro version. We encourage you to submit text suggestions in the following thematic areas:

analysis of long-term social processes crucial for the present day, especially those characteristic of Eastern Europe and Poland
sociological analysis of past phenomena, processes, and local communities
representatives and schools of historical sociology and their place in institutionalised academic disciplines
historical sociology avant la lettre
theoretical differences within historical sociology, schools of thinking about history
new theoretical dilemmas of known paradigms of historical analyses
the place of historical sociology within the disciplines of sociology and history
related trends: historical anthropology, historical economics
research methodology in historical sociology
the discoveries of historical sociology and the construction of a political, local, or national community’s identity – the dispute over history.

/// Applications containing the title, an abstract of no more than 500 words, and the author’s name, institutional affiliation, and e-mail address, should be sent to the following address by 31 March 2021: redakcja@stanrzeczy.edu.pl

/// By 10 April 2021, the editorial office will inform authors of whether their abstract has been accepted.

/// To the end of June 2021, we will be collecting articles of no more than 60,000 characters, edited in accordance with the technical requirements posted here.

/// The issue is expected to be published at the end of 2021.

/// Please address questions to Dr hab. Anna Sosnowska-Jordanovska (aksosnow1@uw.edu.pl)

Language

Polish or English