Max Weber Lecture with Jan deVries, University of California, Berkely

Sarah Simonsen November 23rd, 2012

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Jan deVries, University of California Berkeley The Max Weber Lecture Series 2012-2013 was inaugurated by Jan deVries, Unviersity of California Berkely on 17 October 2012 with a Lecture titled: “The Return from Narrative: Post-Cultural History and the Social Science”

Lecture Abstract:

Social scientific history in its various forms developed rapidly and enjoyed great influence in the 1960s and 70s. Around 1980 it was quickly and, in the United States decisively, eclipsed. An influential article predicting and announcing this shift was Lawrence Stone’s, “The return of narrative”, of 1979.

This lecture takes Stone’s criticisms of social scientific history as its starting point, discusses the nature of the estrangement between history and the social sciences, and offers evidence that new questions are bringing history and the social sciences closer together again.

Professor deVries was introduced by Lucy Riall, HEC Department, EUI and the session chaired by Jennifer Hillman, MWP.