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History and Social Theory

History and Social Theory

by PeterBurke (Author)

  • New

    Paperback 2005

    $41.72
Synopsis

What is the use of social theory to historians, and of history to social theorists? In clear and energetic prose, a preeminent cultural historian here offers a far-reaching response to these deceptively simple questions. Peter Burke reviews the emergence of the fields of history and social science and traces their tentative convergence as he reappraises the relations between them.

Burke first examines what uses historians have made-or might make-of the models, methods, and concepts of the social sciences, and then analyzes some of the intellectual conflicts that are at the heart of the tension between history and social theory. Throughout, he draws from a broad range of cultures and periods to illustrate how history, in turn, has been used to create and validate social theories.

This new edition brings the book up to date with the addition of examples and discussions of new topics such as social capital, globalization, and postcolonialism.

$41.72

Quantity

20+ in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
 Pages: 240
 Edition: 2
 Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 08 Nov 2005
ISBN 10: 0801472857
ISBN 13: 9780801472855

Media Reviews

Burke attends in critically appreciative ways to a remarkably diverse array of scholars and schools in both history and social theory, from Annales figures and British Marxists to social theorists such as Pierre Bourdieu and Anthony Giddens and critical-historical philosophers such as Michel Foucault and Jurgen Habermas. -Journal of American History


Provides an invaluable overview of prior developments and current trends in historical work by anthropologists, historians, and sociologists. -Contemporary Sociology


This is much more than the superlative synthesis that one has come to expect and rely upon from Peter Burke. If it is a brilliant account of recent historiography, it is quite as much a substantive contribution to social theory-specifying more powerfully than can most sociologists themselves the character of the social agents who have affected the historical record. The book is supremely useful and an instant classic. -John Hall, Dean of Arts, McGill University
Sociologists need to think more historically, and historians need to think more theoretically. Peter Burke is an excellent guide for both groups. -Stephen Mennell, University College Dublin