comparative history

emic approach

specific cases in their own language. Look at one particular case, know the language of that case, the specific context; immerse yourself in that particular case. Associated with history.

etic approach

finding patterns. Interested in looking at multiple cases and finding patterns across said multiple cases. Associated with social sciences.

emic/atic approach significance to comparative history

Have to do both as historians. Comparative history about etic dimension, but also using emic. Comparison whether explicit or implicit, is crucial to the historian's task of finding patterns.

benefit of comparative history

Beneficial in terms of understanding the causes which lead to a particular phenomenon. Beneficial in understanding what is unique and what is shared

skocpol’s ‘states and revolutions’

compares social revolutions in France (1789), Russia (1917) and China (1949). Common theme is that are ‘rapid, basic transformations of a society’s state and class structures’.

• She identifies three causes that these three revolutions share to varying extents: states unable to reform agrarian structures, peasants have a degree of autonomy, international pressures.

• Even if can show conditions do not work for one case, fails to dismantle her argument. Building a causal framework on basis of shared phenomenon is robust way of building a strong argument.

units of comparison

Specificity in chronology, compare cases within a controlled chronological framework.

• Specificity in geography, compare specific geographical units.

• Specificity in theme, compare specific phenomena.

individualising vs universalising comparisons

Method of agreement - focus on similarities (universalising comparisons).

• Method of difference - focus on differences (individualising comparisons).

• It is possible to combine both.

berger 2010 view of comparison

'Historians compare. They cannot avoid it'

• 'Narrative structures depend on comparison but these comparisons are often implicit rather than explicit'

• Globalization has directed the historians attention to past interlinkages and comparisons between different parts of the world.

berger 2010 intentions of comparative historian moral

• Want to question national explanations, build typologies, stress historical diversity, encourage scepticism regarding global explanatory models, contextualize and enrich research traditions.

• Other comparativists explicitly seek to teach the lessons of history.

• Eg explain what went wrong in one society by contrasting its development with that of other societies.

• Is often informed by moral judgements - they point out that moral judgements cannot be avoided in the writing of history as the nature of all knowledge is perspectival.

berger 2010 intentions of comparative historian knowledge

Can obtain a better knowledge of own society through comparison.

• The comparative method allows for the identification of problems not evident from observation of a single societal context.

• Eg only through comparison have historians asked why there was no significant Marxism in the USA and Britain.

• Is no better test in history than comparison.

• Developments in one country can be better explained by comparing them with developments in others.

berger 2010 4 preconditions causing issue

Four preconditions need to be fulfilled before successful comparisons can be made.

• First, historian needs close familiarity with more than one societal context.

• Second, comparatives need to reflect on spatial and time constraints.

• Third, have to consider theoretical and conceptual frameworks for their comparison.

• Finally they have to have a feeling for linguistic pitfalls in transnational comparisons involving more than one language.

berger 2010 other problems with comparative history

Is particular problem with archival sources - is rare to find comparable sources that exist in different societal contexts.

• Must justify our choice of geographical comparisons - borders must be treated with extreme caution, they do not define natural units of comparison.

• Time is difficult too, as similar structures, institutions and ideas might develop at different times in different social contexts.

• Eg many comparative labour historians have assumed that the emergence and development of labour movements was related to the industrialization process and to working-class formation

berger 2010 eg of conceptual issues

Eg Hunnington's book about the alleged clash of civilizations predicts major conflicts between the West and the Islamic world - both units of comparison ignore the differences between mutually incompatible cultural entities.

• If we do not approach material with question of comparing specific research questions in conjunction with larger theoretical and conceptual frameworks, we will face the problem of excess information and run the risk of narrating parallel stories rather than comparing.

scheidel 2019 idea of great escape

Escape from sickness, ignorance, oppression, and want - still a work in progress in large parts of the world.

• Was a radical break from practices and life experiences of the past.

• This economic growth and social development has enabled us to live much longer, and better.

• Poverty is down worldwide, malnourishment has decreased, world literacy rate increased, freedom reigns - average global score for major polities has risen.

scheidel 2019 why development possible

Scheidel argues one condition essential for making initial breakthroughs was competitive fragmentation of power.

• Traditional empires like Rome or China's monopolistic rule tended to stifle the innovation and productive competition for transformative development.

• After Rome fell, the enduring absence of hegemonic empire in Europe set Europe on a trajectory away from the default pattern of serial imperial state formation.

• Scheidel uses a symmetric treatment of Europe and China to identify why their developmental paths led to the 'First Great Divergence'.

burbank, cooper 2010 why roman empire fell and chinese empire did not

• When the Western Roman Empire failed, local aristocrats applied their cultural capital locally rather than trying to restore the central state; they had no professional stake in an imperial bureaucracy.

• In China, the imperial elite were officials whose status and skills were inextricably linked to the empire's administration - even during periods of fragmentation, the "imperial imaginary" remained an ideal worth fighting for, leading to the repeated reconstitution of a unified Chinese state.

kocka 2023 comparitive history definition

'Comparing in history means to discuss two or more historical phenomena systematically with respects to their similarities and differences in order to reach certain intellectual aims'

kocka 2023 merits of comparative history questions

• Comparative approach allows us to identify questions and problems which may be missed, neglected or not invented otherwise.

• Eg, Bloch revealed for 15, 16 and 17th century Provence corresponding though not identical changes in the structure of landownership which contributed to a revision of the history of the region. Did this by comparing to English enclosures of the 16 to 19th centuries.

kocka 2023 merit of comparative history clarification and causes

Comparison helps to clarify the profiles of single cases.

• Eg all characterizations of historical phenomena as “first” or “belated”.

• Comparative approach allows for asking and answering of causal questions.

• Eg, global history is a field that offers itself for comparative approaches with casual aims - be it with respect to the rise of science in different civilizations over the centuries, with respect to the different paths of economic change and growth etc.

kocka 2023 merits of comparison distance

• Comparison helps us to distance ourselves from the cases we know best - from our own history.

• Historians are relatively concentrated on the history of their own country or region, so 'comparison can have a de-provincializing, liberating, eye opening effect'.

• Rigorous comparison remains essential for global history to prevent it from becoming merely speculative

kocka 2023 difficulties of comparison

• Is a tension between the comparative approach and the classic tradition of history as a discipline.

• Cases are seen as independent but brought together analytically - comparison breaks continuities, cuts entanglements, and interrupts the flow of narration.

• The more cases a comparative study includes, the more dependent it becomes on secondary literature - is more difficult to find sources and read them in their original language.

• The more cases included, the more important the decision about viewpoints, questions and problems are. Comparison implies selection, abstraction and de-contextualization to some degree.

kocka 2023 solutions to issues with comparative

• Proximity to the sources and control of languages are important imperatives of historical research - comparative approaches only emphasize and make particularly manifest what is implicit in any kind of historical work: a strong selective and constructive component.

• Comparative historians will limit the number of cases they compare in order to take contexts sufficiently into consideration.

• They can and should incorporate elements of the “entangled histories” approach into the comparative design of their research.

• The act of comparison presupposes the analytical separation of the cases to be compared - but should not neglect the interrelations between the cases, must analyse them as factors that have led to similarities, differences etc.

• Eg Alexander Gerschenkron compared European industrializations - took European industrialization as a whole, but compared its parts/segments ie between different countries.