Economic History and the Social Sciences: Problems of Methodology. By Elias H. Tuma. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1971. Pp. x + 316. $11.00

1973 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 374-375
Author(s):  
Louis Galambos
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Economic History ◽  
University Of California ◽  
The Social

Esbozo sobre el método de las Ciencias Sociales, con especial referencia a la economía. Una aproximación desde la doctrina de la Escuela Austriaca

2021 ◽  
pp. 143-195
Author(s):  
Sagar Hernández Chuliá
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Specific Form ◽  
Human Sciences ◽  
Jel Codes ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
Palabras Clave ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World

In this article we justify epistemologically the methods of social scien-ce based on certain contributions from the austrian school of economics (but not only). To do this, we start from the knowledge of agents in the world of everyday life, we differentiate between it and the scientific knowledge, we distinguish the fields of the physical and natural sciences and of human scien-ces, we argue that the social sciences should be considered as a specific form of human sciences and we define economics as a science of human action that takes place in the presence of significant monetary prices for agents. In addi-tion, we define the fields of economic theory, based on the conception method and operated through imaginary constructions, and economic history, which uses the understanding method and ideal types. Keywords: gnoseology, epistemology, methodology, social sciences, econo-mics. JEL Codes: B40 B41 B53 Resumen: En este artículo pretendemos fundamentar epistemológicamente los métodos propios de las ciencias sociales basándonos en ciertas aportaciones procedentes de la escuela austriaca de economía (aunque no sólo). Para ello, partimos del conocimiento de los agentes en el mundo de la vida cotidiana, diferenciamos entre éste y el conocimiento científico, distinguimos los campos de investigación propios de las ciencias físico-naturales y de las ciencias huma-nas, defendemos que las ciencias sociales deben ser consideradas como una forma específica de las ciencias humanas y definimos la economía como una ciencia que estudia la acción humana que se desarrolla en presencia de pre-cios monetarios significativos para los agentes. Además, delimitamos los cam-pos de la teoría económica, basada en el método de la concepción y que opera mediante construcciones imaginarias, e historia económica, que se vale del método de la comprensión y de los tipos ideales. Palabras clave: gnoseología, epistemología, metodología, ciencias sociales, economía. Clasificación JEL: B40 B41 B53

Some Reflections on the Pre-Industrial City

Urban History ◽  
1975 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 13-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Burke
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Early Modern Europe ◽  
Industrial City ◽  
The Social ◽  
Tribal Societies ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Europe ◽  
The City

In the last few years, a new word has gained popularity among historians: ‘pre-industrial’. Specialists in the social and economic history of Europe before 1800 have become increasingly aware that the object of their studies is simply one case among others of what sociologists call ‘traditional society’, and that it is easier to understand traditional or pre-industrial Europe if it is compared and contrasted with other societies of this type. Thus Keith Thomas and Alan Macfarlane have illuminated English witchcraft by making comparisons with witchcraft in African tribal societies, while Frédéric Mauro and Witold Kula, among others, have compared the economies of early modern Europe with those of the developing countries today. Even Richard Cobb, no great friend to the social sciences, has recorded that he came to understand eighteenth-century Paris better after visiting contemporary Calcutta. In fact, the city is an obvious and splendidly tangible unit of comparison, and it is not surprising that the term ‘pre-industrial city’ is passing into general use.

scholarly journals History and the Social Sciences: Shock Therapy with Medieval Economic History as the Patient

2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 751-774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel R. Curtis ◽  
Bas van Bavel ◽  
Tim Soens
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Shock Therapy ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Turn Of The Millennium ◽  
Disaster Studies ◽  
The Social ◽  
Dual Forms

Since the turn of the Millennium, major changes in economic history practice such as the dominance of econometrics and the championing of “big data,” as well as changes in how research is funded, have created new pressures for medieval economic historians to confront. In this article, it is suggested that one way of strengthening the field further is to more explicitly link up with hypotheses posed in other social sciences. The historical record is one “laboratory” in which hypotheses developed by sociologists, economists, and even natural scientists can be explicitly tested, especially using dual forms of geographical and chronological comparison. As one example to demonstrate this, a case is made for the stimulating effect of “disaster studies.” Historians have failed to interact with ideas from disaster studies, not only because of the general drift away from the social sciences by the historical discipline, but also because of a twin conception that medieval disaster study bears no relation to the modern, and that medieval coping strategies were hindered by providence, superstition, fear, and panic. We use the medieval disasters context to demonstrate that medieval economic history can contribute to big narratives of our time, including climate change and inequality. This contribution can be in (1) investigating the root causes of vulnerability and resilience, and recovery of societies over the long term (moving disaster studies away from instant impact focus) and (2) providing the social context needed to interpret the massive amount of “big data” produced by historical climatologists, bioarchaeologists, economists, and so on.

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