A Historiography of the Modern Social Sciences

A Historiography of the Modern Social Sciences exposes parallels and contrasts in the way the histories of the social sciences are written.

Roger E. Backhouse (Edited by), Philippe Fontaine (Edited by)

9781107438972, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 25 October 2018

258 pages, 1 b/w illus. 1 table
23 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.4 kg

'… this volume could be better considered to be a reference work for the historiographies of the modern social disciplines, and, if so, one I do recommend.' Marcel Boumans, Journal of the History of Economic Thought

A Historiography of the Modern Social Sciences includes essays on the ways in which the histories of psychology, anthropology, sociology, economics, history and political science have been written since the Second World War. Bringing together chapters written by the leading historians of each discipline, the book establishes significant parallels and contrasts and makes the case for a comparative interdisciplinary historiography. This comparative approach helps explain historiographical developments on the basis of factors specific to individual disciplines and the social, political, and intellectual developments that go beyond individual disciplines. All historians, including historians of the different social sciences, encounter literatures with which they are not familiar. This book will provide a broader understanding of the different ways in which the history of the social sciences, and by extension intellectual history, is written.

1. Introduction Roger E. Backhouse and Philippe Fontaine
2. History and historiography since 1945 Kevin Passmore
3. History of anthropology Henrika Kuklick
4. Periphery toward center and back: scholarship on the history of sociology, 1945–2012 Charles Camic
5. History of psychology since 1945: a North American review James H. Capshew
6. Contested identities: the history of economics since 1945 Roger E. Backhouse and Philippe Fontaine
7. A disciplinary history of disciplinary histories: the case of political science Robert Adcock.

Subject Areas: Economics [KC], Political science & theory [JPA], Psychology [JM], Anthropology [JHM], Sociology [JHB], History of ideas [JFCX], Historiography [HBAH], History: theory & methods [HBA]