science

Historical sociology

Historical sociology is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Historical sociology rather than just read about it. In short: Historical sociology is an interdisciplinary field of research that combines sociological and historical methods to understand the past, how societies have developed over time, and the impact this has on the present. It emphasises a mutual line of inquiry of the past and present to understand how discrete historical events fit into wider societal progress and ongoing dilemmas through complementary comparative analys…

Key takeaways

Historical sociology belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Historical sociology to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Historical sociology from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Historical sociology is an interdisciplinary field of research that combines sociological and historical methods to understand the past, how societies have developed over time, and the impact this has on the present. It emphasises a mutual line of inquiry of the past and present to understand how discrete historical events fit into wider societal progress and ongoing dilemmas through complementary comparative analysis. Looking at how social structures are changed and reproduced, historical sociology seeks to understand the visible mechanisms and hidden structures that hinder certain aspects of human development, whilst allowing others to thrive. Throughout this, it challenges the ahistoricism of modern sociology as a discipline, of the limited engagement with the past in studying social structures, whilst simultaneously critiquing the disengagement of historical study with the differences between societies and the broader social patterns between historical events. This interdisciplinary field operates within a spectrum between history and sociology, with a 'sociology of history' at one end and a 'history of society' at the other. A diverse range of people can be found throughout this spectrum, exploring history through a sociological lens, while others dissect society through its historical events. Although valid lines of research, they are based on singular disciplinary approaches and are reductionist in nature. In the middle of this spectrum, historical sociology can be found, working to intertwine these monodisciplinary efforts into an interdisciplinary approach.

Origins Over time, history and sociology have developed into two distinct academic disciplines. Historical data is used, and has been used, mainly in these three ways: examining a theory through parallel investigation, applying and contrasting events or policies (such as Verstehen), and considering causality from a macro perspective. John Stuart Mill's method: a) principle of difference: a case with effect and cause present is contrasted with a case with effect and cause absent; and b) principle of agreement: cases with the same effects are compared in terms of their (ideally identical) causes. There is an important debate about the usefulness of Mill's method for sociological research, given that historical research often relies on only a few cases and that many sociological theories are probabilistic rather than deterministic. Today, historical sociology is measured by a conjunction of questions that are rich in detail.

Themes

Human agency A shared theme of sociology and history is accounting for the paradox of human agency. "The problem of agency is the problem of finding a way to account for human experience which recognises simultaneously and in equal measure that history and society are made by constant and more or less purposeful individual action and that individual action, however purposeful, is made by history and society". This theme is presented across authors from Marx to Spencer, where a symbiotic relation enables action to create structure, whilst that structure defines action. Here, historical sociology outlines that the key to understanding our human agency is to track its development over time. Better enabling us to see the changes and continuations of actions and structures that shape human agency throughout our societies.

Comparative historical sociology Contemporary historical sociology is primarily concerned with how the state has developed since the Middle Ages, analysing relations among states, classes, and economic and political systems.

Impact on other disciplines

International relations

Historical sociology has become an increasingly used approach in international relations to draw upon the reflective usefulness of historical sociology in exploring the past and present together, challenging unhistorical viewpoints in the field that stem from realist and neoliberalism paradigms that often see the wider structural makeup of the world as static.

Political economy

The work of political economy aims to reconcile the development of political and economic systems for insight into policy. Historical sociology critiques political economy for (1) viewing the present as a natural structure, (2) focusing on history as a path-dependent outcome, and (3) shaping their insights around prominent figures with limited engagement of wider processes and "regular" people.

Notable authors

Research organisations

Journals Journal of Historical Sociology

Historical sociology American Sociological Association Comparative-Historical Sociology British Sociological Association Historical & Comparative Sociology Study Group International Sociological Association Historical Sociology Research Committee

Interdisciplinary Political and Historical Sociology Research Cluster at Harvard University

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Historical sociology

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Historical sociology claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Historical sociology before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Historical sociology ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Historical sociology

In research: Historical sociology appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Historical sociology in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Historical sociology is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Historical sociology, Interdisciplinary subfields of sociology, Social history, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Historical sociology outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Historical sociology in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Historical sociology means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Historical sociology out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Historical sociology in simple terms?

Why does Historical sociology matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Historical sociology?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Historical sociology.