History As Social Science

While social scientists and historians have been exchanging ideas for a long time, they have never developed a proper dialogue about social theory. William H. Sewell Jr. observes that on questions of theory the communication has been mostly one way: from social science to history. Logics of History argues that both history and the social sciences have something crucial to offer each other. While historians do not think of themselves as theorists, they know something social scientists do not: how to think about the temporalities of social life. On the other hand, while social scientists’ treatments of temporality are usually clumsy, their theoretical sophistication and penchant for structural accounts of social life could offer much to historians. Renowned for his work at the crossroads of history, sociology, political science, and anthropology, Sewell argues that only by combining a more sophisticated understanding of historical time with a concern for larger theoretical questions can a satisfying social theory emerge. In Logics of History, he reveals the shape such an engagement could take, some of the topics it could illuminate, and how it might affect both sides of the disciplinary divide.

First published in 1993. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

World System History is a component of Encyclopedia of Social Sciences and Humanities in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. The Theme on World System History presents the study of the history of the world system. World system history offers an array of tools with which to apprehend the future. This volume discuss the essential aspects such as World-Systems Analysis; Big History; Epistemology of World System History: Long-Term Processes and Cycles; One World System or Many: The Continuity Thesis in World System History; World Population History; States Systems and Universal Empires; The Silk Road: Afro-Eurasian Connectivity Across the Ages; Dark Ages in World System History; The Kondratieff Waves as Global Social Processes; Globalization in Historical Perspective; Emergence of a Global Polity; World Urbanization: The Role of Settlement Systems in Human Social Evolution; Democratization: The World-Wide Spread Of Democracy in The Modern Age; The Rise of Global Public Opinion; East Asia In the World System; Incorporating North America into the Eurasian World-System. This volume is aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College Students Educators, Professional Practitioners, Research Personnel and Policy Analysts, Managers, and Decision Makers, NGOs and GOs.

A comprehensive and authoritative guide to developments in life and earth sciences since 1800.

A Historiography of the Modern Social Sciences exposes parallels and contrasts in the way the histories of the social sciences are written.