ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EUROPEAN SOCIAL HISTORY, FROM 1350 TO 2000, VOLUME 1
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loginSocial history as a field developed in Europe. It is hardly surprising that some ofthe most striking discoveries and analyses in social history developed in applicationto the European past. French scholars first articulated some of the basic premisesof the field in the early part of the twentieth century. Since then not only Frenchbut also German, Italian, and British social historians have pioneered in theoreticaland methodological approaches, even as they have been increasingly joined by re-searchers elsewhere. Marxist contributions from eastern Europe have also played asignificant role in social history’s unfolding, particularly in relation to topics suchas class structure. Correspondingly, social history has gained unusual stature in thediscipline of history more generally in many European countries, though not with-out some contests—particularly in the field of teaching—about what purposeshistorical knowledge should serve.
