History and Social Theory (eBook)

Peter Burke is widely-recognized as a world leader in historiography and has been particularly influential in the convergence between history and the social sciences. He is the Professor of Cultural History Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge.

* Preface

* 1 THEORISTS AND HISTORIANS

* A Dialogue of the Deaf

* The Differentiation of History and Theory

* The Dismissal of the Past

* The Rise of Social History

* The Convergence of Theory and History

* 2 MODELS AND METHODS

* Comparisons

* Models

* Quantitative Methods

* The Social Microscope

* 3 CENTRAL CONCEPTS

* Roles and Performances

* Sex and Gender

* Family and Kinship

* Communities and Identities

* Class and Status

* Social Mobility and Social Distinction

* Consumption and Exchange

* Social and Cultural Capital

* Patrons and Clients

* Power and the Public Sphere

* Centres and Peripheries

* Hegemony and Resistance

* Social Protest and Social Movements

* Mentalities, Ideologies, Discourses

* Communication and Reception

* Postcolonialism and Cultural Hybridity

* Orality and Textuality

* Memory and Myth

* 4 CENTRAL PROBLEMS

* Rationality versus Relativism

* Concepts of Culture

* Consensus versus Conflict

* Facts versus Fictions

* Structures versus Agents

* Functionalism

* The Example of Venice

* Structuralism

* The Return of the Actor

* 5 SOCIAL THEORY AND SOCIAL CHANGE

* Spencer's Model

* Marx's Model

* A Third Way?

* Essays in Synthesis

* Patterns of Population

* Patterns of Culture

* Encounters

* The Importance of Events

* Generations

* 6 POSTMODERNITY AND POSTMODERNISM

* Destabilization

* Cultural Constructions

* Decentering

* Beyond Eurocentrism?

* Globalization

* To Conclude

* Bibliography

* Index

"This remains an excellent and (still) timely call for
greater cross-fertilization between two disciplines that approach
the same subject from different but complementary angles. Alongside
the quality of the writing and the argument this book provides many
useful references on the 'classical' works that have shaped both
disciplines. For the relative newcomer as for the specialist this
is a reminder of how much we can glean not just from social theory
and history today, but also from the social theorists and
historians who preceded us."

History

"A work of great clarity and wide scope, History and
Social Theory offers the reader quick access to the key issues in
the field with pithy and focused discussions of its problems,
claims, contentions, and work yet to be done."

Herman Lebovics, SUNY Stony Brook

"This is a really excellent book and should be prescribed
reading for any serious student of history or social theory at any
teaching level. It should also attract large numbers of admiring
general readers."

Robert W. Scibner, Clare College, Cambridge