历史学专业英语06-Comparative_History共27页PPT资料

Purpose of comparison
• Individualising • Universalising • Encompassing comparisons (e.g. nationalism) • Variation-finding (e.g. comparative Fascism) • Complex analysis and detailed understanding • Establish similarities and differences
• Exchange programmes • Globalisation • Little impact in Britain • To succeed, it needs to be linked with theory
Different types of comparison
• Nation-states • Regions • Micro and macro comparisons • Smaller comparisons can be more detailed • Weber – religion and economics
Promises of comparative history
• Gain better knowledge • Adapt positive elements from other societies • Early histories didn’t look at European
Experience • Why was there no significant Marxism in
Who wanted comparative history?
• Adam Smith • John Stuart Mill • Marc Bloch • Max Weber • Otto Hintze • Henri Pirenne • Emile Durkheim
How has it developed?
region/country?
Biblioteka Baidu
Geographical and time boundaries
• Justify why you have chosen these boundaries • Borders need to be chosen carefully • Why do we choose to start and end at this
Britain and the USA?
Importance of comparison
• 1895 – Durkheim said comparison was crucial • Can now distinguish between good and bad • 1930 economic slump > Hitler came to power • BUT no Fascism in UK and USA!
point? • Do we compare the same or different times?
What do we choose to compare?
• What questions do we want to ask? • Establish causal relationships • Why does this phenomenon/problem exist? • Need to find explanations
Problems
• Need to know more than one social context • Spatial and time constraints • Theoretical and conceptual frameworks • Linguistic problems
Archives
in western history • How useful is this to answer our questions?
Language
• Different connotations in different languages • In some countries, it has positive meanings,
Key questions
• How did similar events produce different results?
• German industrialisation > social problems • Britain > a success • A good way to test theories • Looks at many development possibilities
Using theory
• Be aware of the restrictions • E.g. labour movements created by
industrialisation (Weber and Marx) • Postmodernism • Postcolonial theory • Development and modernisation important
• Archives from two countries are not similar • Different research traditions • Different questions produce different views • Do we need to ‘experience’ the
Aims
• Question national explanations • Stress diversity • Encourage scepticism • Enrich research through comparison • Multiple identities created by context • Examine what went wrong • Moral judgements