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Abstract
Ever since its elevation to the status of a disdpline, and the emergence of a hierarchically organised profession, history has been very largely concerned with problematics of its own making. Sometimes it is suggested by ‘gaps’ which the young researcher is advised by supervisors to fill; or by an established interpretation which, iconoclastically, he or she is encouraged to challenge. Fashion may direct the historians’ gaze; or a new methodology may excite them; or they may stumble on an untapped source. But whatever the particular focus, the context is that enclosed and esoteric world in which research is a stage in the professional career; and the ‘new’ interpretation counts for more than the substantive interest of the matter in hand.
A new form of antiquarianism? Celebrating experience at the expense of analysis? The sort of history Socialists write? Mobilising popular enthusiasm? A portmanteau term? Or offering the best opportunity for writing total history? What issocial history?
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Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Ruskin College, Oxford, UK
Raphael Samuel (Tutor)
University of Manchester, UK
John Breuilly (Lecturer in History)
Oxford, UK
J. C. D. Clark (Fellow of All Souls)
University of Cambridge, UK
Keith Hopkins (Professor of Ancient History)
Cambridge, UK
David Cannadine (Fellow of Christ’s College)
- Raphael Samuel
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- John Breuilly
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- J. C. D. Clark
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- Keith Hopkins
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- David Cannadine
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© 1988 Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Samuel, R., Breuilly, J., Clark, J.C.D., Hopkins, K., Cannadine, D. (1988). What is Social History … ?. In: Gardiner, J. (eds) What is History Today … ?. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19161-1_5
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Publisher Name:Palgrave, London
Print ISBN:978-0-333-42226-7
Online ISBN:978-1-349-19161-1
eBook Packages:Palgrave History Collection
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