Curricular

Development in Social
Sciences 3º D
UNIVERSITY OF
OVIEDO
 Period that includes the becoming of the human being from the
appearance of writing to the present.
 Science that studies the past of the human being to the present.
 Origin of the term: From the Greek ἱστορία ("investigation,
information").
 "Scientists, specialists in social sciences and historians are all working
in different branches of the same study: the study of man and his
surrounding world, the effects of man on man, and the effects of man
about the world around him (...). [The historian and the physicist] have
in common the fundamental purpose of trying to explain, and the
fundamental procedure of asking and responding. The historian, like
any other scientist, is an animal that asks incessantly: why? "(CARR,
1966).
 "The science of men in time" (Marc
Bloch, Introduction to History
(original in French Apologie pour
l'histoire or métier d'historien),
written in 1941 and published in
1949.
The time of Natural Sciences

Newtonian Conception (Late seventeenth to late nineteenth century):

Time is absolute, you can always measure the interval between two
moments or events without ambiguity, on a single scale, that of the clock.
It is a regular, objective, independent continuum of things and of
ourselves. It is represented as a linear, regular, unidirectional and
homogeneous duration.

Einstein's Theory of Relativity (Early 20th century to present): Time is

not absolute and external and insensitive to any physical situation but
depends largely on the state of the observer (movement or rest) and the
speed of the observable object whose temporal movement can be
measured. Time contracts and expands according to speed. The
example would be the paradox of the two twins.
 Determined by the duration and movement of societies, the historical phenomena
that arise from the activity of men and that constitute the historical process itself.

 The historian must endow the time category with a spatial dimension
corresponding to that of a precise social formation. Historical time does not occur at
the same time in all societies, although parallels can sometimes be observed in time.
Example: Feudalism (1789 or 1861?)

 There is a diversity of rhythm in the development of historical processes: historical

change can occur in a very variable range of time. Example: Industrial Revolution.

 The problems of historical duration have to be raised also in terms of the different
levels of social reality and the duration of the various historical phenomena that
take place within a human collectivity.
 Short-Term: Short Duration, is
the one that affects the EVENTS,
it is about time "tailored to
individuals, daily life, our
illusions, our quick shots of
conscience: the time of the
chronicler, of the journalist ". It
includes the great events
considered as historical and the
"mediocre" events of daily life.
Their realization is fast, and they
are usually subject to treatment
by the mass media.
 The Medium-Term: or Average Duration, of the CONJUNCTURE. It is a
"moment" of greater duration than that of events; A short time, characterized
mainly by the movement, which may be plagued by events whose nature may
be economic, social, cultural or policy.

o Economic Conjuncture: Related to phenomena such as the rise and fall in

production, price fluctuations, etc. They are cyclical fluctuations.
o Social Conjuncture: It is determined in many occasions by the economic
one. Thus the revolutionary crises would find their cause in the
determinations of the economic moment.
o Political Conjuncture: It can be illustrated by the example of the process of
political change, known as “Transición”, which was opened in Spain after the
death of Franco. The changes of the time would not be explained only by
economic or social factors. They would interrelate with each other.
 Long-Term: Of the STRUCTURES, those historical realities that remain below the
fluidity of historical events and of conjunctural changes. Its duration depends on its
nature.
o Political Structures: They refer to the forms of political power, the apparatuses of the
State, the institutionalization of social hegemonies, etc. They are the ones that maintain a
more rapid evolution. However, there are difficulties such as the survival of elements
from one political structure to a later one.
o Economic Structures: They are the Modes of Production in Marxist language. They
keep a much longer duration.
o Social Structures: They are slower than the economic ones.
o Mental Structures: They are the structures of longer duration, the historical realities
that evolve more slowly. They are ways of interpreting and understanding the world that
include from the religious components to the ideological points of reference through
which a certain social behavior is configured.
 Historical work necessarily goes through chronology and periodization. We must
place events in a temporal order. Events often overlap, so the chronological
order must be nuanced and interpreted.
 Periodization responds to a practical necessity: Geography fragments space to
study it, History breaks down time into periods.
 Periodization must think at the same time the categories of continuity and
rupture. Periods are distinguished by the identification of ruptures in the
temporal continuum, but within a period, homogeneity prevails.
 The periods are not institutionalized only through teaching and language, they are
fixed in a lasting way by the university structures (chairs).
 Advantages: language comforts, ease of access to sources ...

 Disadvantages: the closure of a period prevents its originality, create an artificial

unity from heterogeneous elements ...
 The range of potentially historical facts is UNLIMITED.

 QUESTIONS are the ones that constitute the historical

object. The question is more important than the
document.
 The range of legitimate questions is changing.

 We can not make a final reading of a given document.

 The renewal of the questionnaire implies a renewal of

methods and documentary repertoire.
 History is continually rewritten; History is never finished.

 Advancing discipline means closing gaps in knowledge.

 A historical question is one that is part of a THEORY.

 HISTORICAL SOURCE is any document, testimony or simple object that, without having
undergone any re-elaboration, serves to transmit a total or partial knowledge of past events.

 There are three basic classifications:

 The one that distinguishes between PRIMARY SOURCES and SECONDARY SOURCES.

 The one that opposes WRITTEN SOURCES to NON-WRITTEN.

 The difference between VOLUNTARY and INVOLUNTARY TESTIMONIALS.

  DOCUMENTATION
a) PUBLIC
•POLITICS (Minutes of Court
Sessions)
• ECONOMICS (State Budgets)
• LEGISLATION (Legislative
Collections)
• QUANTITATIVES (Statistics,
Censuses ...)

WRITTEN
b) PRIVATE
• PRESS (daily, weekly, monthly ...)
• MEMOIRS

AND
• MAIL OR LETTERS (handwritten or
printed, official or private)
• LITERATURE (INDIRECT)

UNWRITTEN o ICONOGRAPHIC
1) PLASTIC WORKS (Painting;
Architecture; Sculpture)

SOURCES
2) GRAPHICS (Photo, Cinema,
Diagrams, Plans, Maps)

o ORAL TESTIMONIALS
1) DIRECT (from witnesses or
protagonists)
2) RECORDINGS

o MATERIAL SOURCES (Archaeological

remains)
o VARIOUS SOURCES
 ARCHAEOLOGY (ARCHEOLOGY)

 NUMISMATICS

 SIGILLOGRAPHY
(following photos are taken from
the Twitter account
@WhiteRabbit36; thread:
https://twitter.com/WhiteRabbit36/
status/1299696765466279938)
  PHILOLOGY (Knowledge and
interpretation of written texts, fixation,
conservation and transmission,
differentiation between original and copy).
 EPIGRAPHY (Study of inscriptions on
materials such as stone, metal, etc.).

HELPFUL  PAPYROLOGY
papyrus support).
(Study of writing

 PALEOGRAPHY (Study of the old writing:

on

SCIENCES used signs, materials and instruments).

 DIPLOMATICS (Knowledge of the rules of
form of written acts and assimilated

RELATING TO
documents).
 CHRONOLOGY (Interprets and performs
the correspondence of different calendars

WRITTEN
-Julian, Muslim, Gregorian-, date of
documents, periodization).
 ONOMASTICS (Study of proper names;

SOURCES
Toponymy).
 GENEALOGY (Sonship of human beings,
succession of generations).
 Mythical and religious stories

 Lists of kings, votive and commemorative inscriptions, annals,

chronicles (Egypt and Mesopotamia III millennium BC)
 Herodotus of Halicarnassus: HISTORY (5th century BC)

 Narration about past human events opposed to mythical,

legendary or religious stories.
 Thucydides, Polybius, Plutarch, Julius Caesar, Gaius Salustio, Titus
Livius, Cornelius Tacitus.

 Triple CIVIC FUNCTION:

1) A source of personal instruction.
2) Contributed to the education of the rulers.
3) It provided intellectual entertainment for the literate public
and supported the learning of the rhetorical and oratorical
arts.
 Omnipresence of the monotheistic religions:
regression, although not disappearance, of the
Secular History Greco-Roman Classic.
 The christian historian is usually a clergyman
or a church man.
 The historical account is a product of reason
guided by the demand for verisimilitude and
the interpretation of history as divine will.
 St. Augustine of Hippo, St. Jerome.

 Appearance of the CHRONICLES with the rise

and consolidation of the medieval kingdoms
(Gregory of Tours, Bede the Venerable,
Alfonso X The Wise ...)
 Christian and providentialist conception of
History.
 Weakness of the Papacy: less ecclesiastical control of
Culture.
 The classic model of rationalist narrative is reactivated.
 Emergence of critical documentary studies: discovery by
Lorenzo Valla in the fifteenth century of the fraud of the
Donation of Constantine.
 Progress of philological and documentary techniques with
the Lutheran Reformation.
 De re diplomatica, Jean Mabillon.
 The idea of PROGRESS becomes more important to the
detriment of Providence.
 Emphasis on Chronology.

 Turgot, Condorcet and Voltaire.

 Early nineteenth-century Germany is the cradle of modern
historiography (Gottinga University, Hannover): critical work o
economic, demographic, etc., for historical works.
 Romanticism is oriented in nationalist direction after the French
Revolution.
 Claiming of national values: teaching history in schools and
universities is an issue of national importance.
 Herder: The need to study each society according to its specifi
characteristics.
 Fichte: The remedy of the ills of Germany must be found in an
education based on the existence of the nation, its history and it
culture.
 Niebuhr: Use of the "critical historical method" (critica
philological and documentary analysis of the sources).
 Ranke: search for original documents; Verification and collation
Its use as the basis of historical narrative.
 Importance of Philology and Paleography.
 POSITIVISM is a complex current that dominated much of European culture in its philosophical, political,
pedagogical, historiographic and literary manifestations from the 1840s until the 20th century (and
sometimes even today ...).

 With the Industrial Revolution, the alliance between Science and Industry arises: scientific research is
stimulated in the branches with greater economic productivity (electricity, electromagnetism, chemistry,
microbiology, physiology, medicine ...).

 It claims the primacy of the Sciences and the model to follow is that of the Natural Sciences.

 The method of Natural Sciences can be applied to the study of society.

 POSITIVISM IN HISTORY presents these characteristics:

 History, understood as the set of human events occurred in the past, is a REALITY, OBJECTIVE, INALTERABLE
and INDEPENDENT.
 The historical narrative must express this reality and it must be an absolutely true description of the past.
 In order to arrive at historical knowledge, an impartial observation is essential because of the distance
between subject and object.
 The task of the historian should concentrate on the collection and ordering of the facts from the critical and
objective analysis of the documentary sources.
 The FACT is the central concept of History and must be presented without interpretations.
 Historiographical production focuses on biographies, great characters, political and military events,
so it ends up identifying history and politics.

• Due to the limitation of their sources, themes and methods, positivist historians restricted the scope of
questions that could be asked.
 HISTORICISM: Historicity as a specific character of the singular and collective life, and the understanding of
the individual as a peculiar method of the historical and social sciences regarding the generalizations of the
natural sciences (Dilthey,Windelband and Rickert). It has its peak at the beginning of the 20th century.

 Characteristics:
 History is the work of men, of their reciprocal relations conditioned by belonging to a temporal process.
 The pretension of reducing the historical sciences to the model of the natural ones is rejected, but it does agree with
Positivism in the demand of a concrete investigation of the empirical facts.
 Distinction between History and Nature. The objects of historical knowledge have a specific character that
distinguishes them from those of natural knowledge.
 The object of historical knowledge is the individuality of the products of human culture (myths, laws, customs,
values, works of art ...) and this is opposed to the uniform and repeatable character of the objects of the natural
sciences.
 If the causal explanation is the instrument of natural knowledge, UNDERSTAND is the proper tool of historical
knowledge.
 Human actions tend towards certain ends, and human events have to be contemplated and judged from the
perspective of certain values.

• Other important figures of Historicism:Weber, Hegel, Croce, Collingwood.

 Early nineteenth century: the Industrial Revolution entails the uprooting and exodus of the peasant
masses and the emergence of a new social class linked to industrial production (the PROLETARIAT)
steeped in pauperism, which calls for a new analysis of history and Social processes.

 MATERIALIST CONCEPTION OF HISTORY: My inquiry led me to the conclusion that neither legal
relations nor political forms could be comprehended whether by themselves or on the basis of a so-called
general development of the human mind, but that on the contrary they originate in the material conditions of
life […]; that the anatomy of this civil society, however, has to be sought in political economy […] The general
conclusion at which I arrived and which, once reached, became the guiding principle of my studies can be
summarised as follows. In the social production of their existence, men inevitably enter into definite relations,
which are independent of their will, namely relations of production appropriate to a given stage in the
development of their material forces of production. The totality of these relations of production constitutes the
economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which arises a legal and political superstructure and to
which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions
the general process of social, political and intellectual life. It is not the consciousness of men that determines
their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness. (MARX, 1859)

 DUAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: A conception that emphasizes the material
nature of productive structures and the objective dialectic between productive relations and productive
forces; And another conception that emphasizes the active character of the social agents, of the class
struggle. Both as engine of history.
 1929: Creation of the historical journal Annales d’histoire économique et sociale (1956: Annales.
Économies, Societés, Civilisations; 1994: Annales. Histoire, Sciencies Sociales).

 FIRST ANNALES: Directed by Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre. They postulate a TOTAL HISTORY, bridging
with Geography, Economy, Statistics, Anthropology and Sociology. It incorporates new themes (History of
Mentalities, History of Religiosity). They criticize Positivism for paying attention exclusively to written
documents, to the singular fact (without taking into account other temporal frames), to political, diplomatic
and military facts (forgetting economic, social and cultural) and cowardice in proposing interpretations .
Paradigmatic works: The original characters of the French Rural History (1931) and The problem of the
disbelief in the sixteenth century: the religion of Rabelais (1942)

 SECOND ANNALES: Directed by Fernand Braudel. The top work is The Mediterranean and the
Mediterranean world in the time of Philip II. Studies oriented to economic and social history. Regional
history is privileged over national. They look for sources on which quantifiable data can be extracted
(wages, prices, commercial flows ...). Other figures: Labrousse, Chaunu, and Le Roy Ladurie.

 THIRD ANNALES: Directed by Le Goff, Le Roy Ladurie and Ferro. The quantitative analysis follows, but
the cultural problems and the History of the Mentalities predominate: collective imaginary, attitudes
towards life and death, witchcraft, body and disease, sociability, etc. Political History also re-emerges.
Dossé offers the concept of History in crumbs in front of the concept of Total History. Other figures: Duby,
Furet, Nora and Fossier.

 FOURTH ANNALES: The main figure is Roger Chartier. It is the boom and consolidation of the New
Cultural History.
 NEW ECONOMIC HISTORY OR CLIOMETRICS: Born in USA (1958) and is defined by the method it
uses; Quantitative method, explicit mathematical models and computer processing of the information
collected and elaborated. Works: The slave economy in the pre-war south; Railroads and American
economic growth. Criticism: lack of reliability of existing historical statistics, difficulty in verifying the
immense amount of computer data.

 HISTORY OF MENTALITIES AND PRIVATE LIFE: It arise from the School of the Annales. The important
thing is the imaginary and its relationship with the quotidian to understand the mentality, always
collective, of an age. It tries to restore the ways of thinking and feeling collectively, always trying to
establish the articulation between the thoughts and the social. The contents are extended: childhood,
family, daily life, couples, aesthetic taste, food, sexuality, party ... Historians are "appropriating" the
methods of anthropology.

 THE HISTORY OF WOMEN OR GENDER HISTORY: Roots in the feminist and suffragist movement. It
criticizes the traditional History by forgetting half of the population, the women. Problems regarding
sources, women studied and proposals for periodization.

 MICROHISTORY: Gives importance to the small scale on the large scale in historical study. The
individual, at times, can give us many clues about the general. Individuals are studied above social
classes. The daily fact expresses better than nothing the true History. The paradigmatic work would be
The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller, of Carlo Ginzburg (1976). Other
authors: C. M. Cipolla.
 Patriotic Function

 Propagandistic Function

 Ideological Function

 Historical Memory Function

 Pseudo-didactic Function

 Cultural Leisure Function

 History as an Ideal Education Subject

History is not an exact science like
mathematics, it is a social science.

We cannot reproduce historical events or

processes in a laboratory.

It must always be based on the analysis and

interpretation of sources, and this must be
done through the scientific method of history.

Sources can be interpreted in different ways,

but the interpretation must always be based on
them.

There are facts that we know for sure, about

others we must establish hypotheses until they
are proven.

The aim of teaching history is that students

develop historical thinking, that they learn to
think historically.
COMPETENCES
 To explain historically facts from the past
and present.
 Use historical evidence.
 Understand the logic of historical
knowledge:
- Causal explanation.
- Explanation by Historical Empathy.
- Historical time, change and continuity.
- Others.
KNOWLEDGE
 Knowledge of History:
- Chronological framework of historical evolution.
- Perspectives: diachronic and synchronic.
- Scales: local, regional, state and global.
- Areas: social, political, economic, cultural-artistic...
 Knowledge about History:
- Research and evidence.
- Explanation (causes, empathy...).
- Processes of change.
- Historical narratives and interpretations.
 THE BIG SIX HISTORICAL THINKING CONCEPTS (2ND ORDER)

 Historical Significance  Cause and Consequence

 Evidence  Historical Perspectives (Historical Empathy)

 Continuity and Change  The Ethical Dimension