Page 66 - Encyclopedia Of World History

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generally rather than just one European nation, since the
Comparative similarities and differences among practices suggest a

range of related practices common to many places.
History According to this view, focusing only on French or Ger-
man cases might lead the researcher to look for local
any historians rooted in their fields of time and explanations for practices that in fact were the result of
Mplace defend the uniqueness of the events, institu- more widely applicable factors in European society.
tions, and processes they study. However, sometimes they In another essay, “A problem in comparative history:
neglect to recognize the ways in which their explanations The administrative classes in France and Germany,” also
and interpretations depend on principles of understand- published in 1928, Bloch analyzes feudal political rela-
ing that connect what they see in their particular cases to tionships and uncovers both similarities and differences,
other phenomena.The uniqueness asserted by historians in the process identifying what he considers features of
is often of a phenomenon that is itself broken down into German law that are significantly different from other
parts that we understand because they resemble familiar legal systems in Central and Eastern Europe.
ideas and practices from other times and places. The
explanations and interpretations in all case studies The Global Context
depend in various ways on certain general principles that More recent scholarship on both political and economic
are themselves distilled from comparisons among other history has employed comparative methods to analyze
historical experiences.What is known as comparative his- historical change within Europe and on a more global
tory involves more explicit comparison that consciously scale. Some scholars have looked at particular categories
identifies similarities and differences. of complex events, like revolutions. Theda Skocpol’s
widely read States and Social Revolutions (1979) presents
The European Context a series of similarities and differences among the French,
One of the first historians in the twentieth century to Russian, and Chinese revolutions to argue that revolu-
stress the importance of the comparative historical tions, although each arises out of a distinctive historical
method was Marc Bloch, the great French scholar of situation, share certain traits that account for their dra-
medieval and early modern Europe. In an essay entitled matic political changes. Another text, Jack Goldstone’s
“A contribution towards a comparative history of Euro- Revolution and Rebellion in the Early Modern World
pean societies,” published in 1928, Bloch identified two (1991) identifies a series of common problems in Eng-
main contexts in which comparisons are an important land, France, China, and the Ottoman Empire that create
tool for historians. First, he noted that in widely separate similar crises from which emerge distinct patterns of rule.
places in early history there seemed to be similar practices Large revolutions are few in number, and plausible com-
among what he called “primitive peoples.” Studies of early parisons are therefore limited. Larger numbers of com-
cultures conducted in the 1920s interpreted such simi- parisons become possible when political changes more
larities as signs of a common universal history. The sec- generally are studied.
ond context for using a comparative method, and the one Charles Tilly (1975, 1992) explains the formation
to which he devoted most of his attention, involves areas and transformation of European states since roughly
close to one another where mutual influences or com- 1000CE according to the relative abilities of rulers to
mon origins for ideas and institutions are obscured by lin- amass resources and make war. Beginning amid a
guistic differences and national historiographical tremendous diversity of political units, in Tilly’s account,
traditions. Bloch argued that the study of feudalism and some states stress mobilizing commercial revenues while
manorial organization, for example, must span Europe others are better able to build armies by taxing the land.