Revue Internationale des Sciences Sociales -...

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Science and history

Thermoluminescent apparatus behind a statuette of Ariadne seated, originating from Myrina, early second century B . C . (Louvre M u s e u m , Paris).

<e> international social science journal

Published quarterly by Unesco Vol. XXXIII, N o . 4, 1981

Abdelwahab Bouhdiba

Jerome Clubb

Krastio Goranov

E. J. Hobsbawm

Ruggiero Romano

Valéry Tishkov

N. Gatheru Wanjohi

Moshe Sicron

Modern historiography H o w much science? H o w much art?

The social sciences in search of time 583

History as a social science 596

History and the sociology of art 611

The contribution of history to social science 624

History today 641

Modern Soviet historiography 650

Historical scholarship in the East African context 667

Socio-economic data bases: situations and assessments

National primary socio-economic data structures. X : Israel 677

Professional and documentary services

Approaching international conferences 699

Books received 703

Recent Unesco publications 706

ISSN 0020-8701

Modera historiography H o w much science? H o w much art?

The social sciences in search of time

Abdelwahab Bouhdiba

In an excellent study, Geoffrey Barraclough analyses the impact of the social sciences on history, and shows the extent of the convergence of the h u m a n sciences: 'The impulse behind the "new history" which emerged around 1955 came . . . in the main from the social sciences.;. . . Every science and every discipline is dependent on other sciences or disciplines. . . . N o r is it surprising that historians should have seen m u c h in the work of social scientists which reflects their o w n preoccupations.'1 Indeed, both history and the social sciences set out to analyse and understand h u m a n beings. They are both concerned with the same subject: social relations and their development. Similarly, they all wish to arrive at objective knowledge of the overall conditions prevailing in societies. They all refuse to relinquish their o w n internal logic, whereby every point of their history connects with the others; A n d they both lay claim to the broadest scope, since they are obliged to bear one basic fact in mind, namely that all men,are more or less interdependent, whether at the local, the regional or the world level. Thus the social sciences and history are tending to draw closer together, to the point where some people do not hesitate to treat the two as one and the same.2 This claim to the same sphere of activity has, in the past two. or three decades, been borne out by increasingly conspicuous recourse to the same methods. Encouraged by the undeniable success of research in the social sciences, historians have gradually taken over certain concepts, techniques and theories which have been developed and then carefully tested by sociologists, economists, demographers, social psychologists, anthropologists, political scientists, etc., not to mention the fact that, from the outset, some of the founding fathers of sociology (Ibn Khaldun, Montesquieu, M a r x , C o m t e and others) m a d e no clear-cut distinction between sociology and history.

Abdelwahab Bouhdiba is Director of the Centre d'Études et de Recherches Économiques et Sociales (CERES), 23 rue d'Espagne, Tunis, and current Chairman of the International Committee for Social Science Information and Documentation. He has published several books, including Criminalité et changements sociaux en Tunisie (1965), Public et justice (1971) and A la recherche des nonnes perdues (1973). . ,

Int. Soc. Sei. J., Vol. X X X m . N o . 4, 1981

584 Abdelwahab Bouhdiba

While these were illustrious and highly significant forerunners, w e are entitled to claim the meeting of history and the social sciences as the most important event in the humanist thinking of our o w n time. The social sciences have furnished modern history with m a n y intellectual categories: social class, model , role, function, status, structure, group personality, representation, development, situations, etc. But, above all, the techniques used by the sociologists, economists or linguists to 'objectify' and quantify the raw facts have given rise, in the past twenty years or so, to bold, original and promising work. 3 A s a result, it is becoming increasingly difficult—not to say impossible or artificial—to draw a sharp distinction between a work of history and a work of social science.

This meeting of history and the other social sciences is itself a historic event/Knowledge itself is, in fact, a product of history. M o r e particularly, social research, the place, role and function of the researchers themselves, their relations with their o w n societies, the problems that they raise and attempt to solve or at least to elucidate, all these are components of a historical situation that w e propose to examine. Such an examination is all the more necessary as, for the social science researchers of the Third World, their everyday experience constitutes for them a perpetual challenge. O f what relevance are they to the future development of their o w n societies? W h a t is their knowledge worth? H o w can they influence events?

In fact, to analyse the economic and social structures of our countries, to x determine the main tendencies of the radical changes w e are currently witnessing,

to trace the general direction of the vast mutations n o w occurring and m a k e sense of the tremendous upheavals shaking our societies, to indicate to the ruling classes and to the masses the tasks they will have to perform to contribute to the involvement in history of long-marginalized sectors of the population, to detect strong points and devise the best strategies for particular campaigns; all these responsibilities, virtually everywhere in the Third World, devolve nowadays on social science specialists, promoted to the strange and somewhat precarious rank of pundits of the modern world. -

The situation of the social sciences in our countries is epistemologically curious. O u r researchers, w h o have usually received their training in Western institutions, have the most modern instrumental, methodological, conceptual and theoretical tools at their disposal. But the society in which they m a k e use of their expertise is by no means fully receptive to their activities. A n d they do not even have the advantage of the 'foreigner', whose external origin both limits and protects him. Their work is just as m u c h a product of their society as it is a reflection of it. Their relationship to their society is theoretically just as historical as that of Western researchers, but in their case the connection with history is of quite another kind, and their encounter with their o w n history often seems more like rape—indeed, incestuous rape. Is this the reason for the very strong feelings that are stirred u p whenever one of our compatriots tries to apply a particular


scientific method to his o w n society? W e k n o w about the differences there have been between the Egyptian thinker, Taha Hussein, and the Al-Azhar circles. W e do not k n o w h o w m a n y hundreds of Taha Husseins there m a y be in the Arab world today.

A n y society that engages in self-scrutiny, trying to understand itself and to relate to its context, is in a way performing a second-order activity which can only duplicate its o w n history. The latter is no longer a straightforward series of events in which w e are involved, and which w e need merely to record with scrupulous accuracy. It is a process leading to a future that w e are required to influence; it is an unfinished process that w e must transform or, even more frequently, resist. Research in the social sciences is not a matter of simply noting the facts. It leads explicitly or implicitly, whether w e wish it or not, to critical assessment. Sociology, social psychology, political science and linguistics, all these are tools of démystification and are inherently subversive. In Europe, for example, the development of the social sciences has followed in the footsteps of industrial societies. They are the end-product of these societies, just as m u c h as they are their cause, and they belong to the same current of thought that—to varying degrees, admittedly, and more or less successfully or opportunely—has m a d e use of all h u m a n knowledge for different rewarding, fruitful, but complementary, purposes. It has been said that a society tackles only those problems that it is capable of solving. Without a doubt, this is true of the West. It was also true of our societies, when knowledge was developing in them from the inside, and w h e n our societies' 'image' w a s that of the inside as seen by the insider. Ibn Khaldun, to mention only one authority, said that history should become an Um aVumrän (science of social phenomena) , and should thereby attempt to understand the past and to transform the present.

The 'natural' purpose of any social science research programme is to understand and analyse aspects of society. It must also define its context, place itself in that context and take action. The next question, inevitably, is: in relation to what must it define its position, and on what must it act? In other terms, if w e Third World sociologists very often feel that events are escaping us, the reason is perhaps that our encounter with history is, in reality, an appointment that is never kept.

For a long time w e believed—and m a n y of us still believe—in the universality of sociological methods, terminology and theories. A n d , indeed, not without reason. This belief, however, entails perceiving history as a homogeneous continuum, indifferent and neutral. It also entails seeing the relation between history and the social sciences as monolithic and ne varietur.

If history and the social sciences have finally converged in Europe, this is because they both stem from the same culture and the same conditioning factors. In the Third World, however, history, usually descriptive of events and politics, has enjoyed quite a long local tradition, whereas research in the social sciences, of recent origin, was first of all confused with ethnography, orientalism, Africanism


and other colonial 'sciences'. Decolonization changed the status of the social sciences, which overnight were upgraded to become emancipating sciences, while at the same time history was required to provide lessons in nationalism and arguments in favour of a particular local power, contender for leadership or ideology. Strange as it m a y seem, the rationality postulated by the historical and social sciences can scarcely ever be divorced from a contingent set of circumstances.

. M o r e specifically, it is quite impossible to separate the social sciences from development studies. Drawing on the experience of the industrialized countries, our o w n countries see social science work as part of a development strategy. Through various studies, of unequal value and often conducted with a fine disregard for order, our countries, starting at the close of the colonial era, have accumulated a hoard of knowledge on various aspects of our societies: population, demography, levels of living and ways of life, urbanization, social change, delinquency, social pathology, etc.

However, this concern to obtain an exact and crystal-clear picture of our societies is.encountering major difficulties, some of which are connected with our tenuous knowledge of history, and especially its social aspects. Field researchers stumble in fact, at every turn on the historical dimension of the problems that they are investigating. W e are continually turning to the historians, with challenges, and these are nearly always, merely a sign of our. powerlessness and of the inadequacies of our o w n work.

I do not k n o w h o w far collaboration between historians and social science specialists can go in.Europe. In Muslim societies, the challenge is almost never taken up. The historian Robert Brunschvig sums up the situation very neatly w h e n he states: ' . . . , • •

But a much greater and more serious shortcoming is the fact that research loses touch with the history of events in trying to reach the fundamental realities of life. Some of these yawning gaps are acknowledged and deplored by the best of our late fellow-writers. 'The history, of Islam has not yet been written,' observed Wensinck. 'The history of domestic trade in Muslim countries still remains wholly unattempted,' declared Sauvaget. A n d one of our most brilliant contemporary French historians, not an Arabic scholar (Fernand Braudel), voices both dissatisfaction and scepticism : ' W e do not know the social history of Islam. Shall we ever know it'?4

Let us consider first of all the methodological challenges. W e are working on societies that are undergoing rapid change, or, as is sometimes said, societies that are incomplete. But h o w can the concepts of change, development and incompleteness be understood in the absence of a reliable reference to history? W e very often find that so-called rapid change, w h e n viewed from a wide historical angle, is after all merely superficial, localized, artificial, precarious or limited. M o r e than once w e have found that 'revolutions' amount to very little indeed and that changes exist only in the 'plans' or statements of those in power. .


Should w e therefore be surprised that m a n y of our questions revolve around the concept of tradition, i.e. the presence of the past in the world of today? M a n y of our failures are attributed to the weight of tradition, which is superficially described in terms of heaviness, obstacles, surviving relics of the past, etc. But h o w can w e define a tradition? H o w can w e pick out its essential features? Is it enough to identify it in terms of values, ideals and principles? But in this case w e are in danger of jettisoning as antiquated our entire culture and w a y of life. Should w e not, rather, seek in current attitudes, conduct and behaviour those aspects that are mere replicas of the past? But, in this case, what alchemy can w e use to separate the n e w from the old, in one and the same attitude?

The present never really exists in a pure state. It is always an extension or a slightly different version of the past, and no social phenomenon can be viewed in disregard of its historical background. Whether he wishes it or not, the social science specialist is a historian. However thin the slice of life on which he concentrates, even if it is as fleeting as a single m o m e n t in time, he cannot understand it unless he sees it in the light of history. The demarcations of our fields of investigation are not only horizontal and sectoral (production systems, fertility, interpersonal relations, family solidarity, etc.); they are also vertical and temporal, and imply continuity. N o fact of life in society can be understood without a good grounding in history and reliable points of reference.

In other words, w e must come to terms with time. W h e n studying criminality in Tunisia in the 1960s,8 I had not only to examine the social changes currently occurring, but also to rediscover in the present the traces left by those 'Robin Hoods ' of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and to define their position in relation to the former order under the Beys, and later in relation to the colonial order. This reference to time was necessary in order to understand h o w , in what respects, and w h y , certain forms of criminality, while violating the legal order, and even in some cases the moral order, unquestionably, enjoyed some legitimacy in the popular view. In another study on images of justice current a m o n g the Tunisian public,8 I had to put forward the hypothesis of the falling status of justice as a value in order to understand the mistrust tinged with hostility and the misgivings of citizens towards institutions that were supposedly, after all, set up for their protection. Each time I appealed to the historians for help. In vain. A n d each time I was obliged, as best I could, and that not very well, to m a k e do with the means at m y disposal in order to cast some light on the matter. Sociology is nothing if not genetic, a fortiori when w e see a fact or event crystallizing or changing almost as w e look on. The birth of a nation, the emergence of a structure, the formation of a social class and the stratification of a society cannot be studied without bearing this fact in mind.7

A plethora of examples m a y be cited. There is not a single sociologist working on the Third World w h o is never tempted to m a k e a detour into social history. But there is also the lurking danger that w e shall be surreptitiously and


unconsciously metamorphosed into pseudo-historians. Demarcation disputes and the blurring of boundaries, however legitimate our motives, have never helped to clarify ideas or elucidate problems.

O n the other hand, to the extent that our work produces a date-stamped image, relatively precise and objective, of the situation at a given m o m e n t , it constitutes valuable historical materiah It is a means of fixing a date and anticipating future work, especially if fortune smiles on the researcher and allows him, several decades later, to confront once again the same group and a similar set of problems. Jacques Berque's Structures sociales du Haut Atlas, for example, has been enriched after twenty-five years, in its second edition, by the addition of a n e w chapter entitled 'Retour aux Seksawa', which in our view is as important as all the other chapters combined.8 But the exception proves the rule, and w e have enough to do here in the present, without wasting our efforts on hazardous predictions of the future.

This is small consolation, and does nothing to palliate the serious. backwardness of history in the Arab countries. The picture given by Geoffrey Barraclough is a gloomy one.

Though the younger generation of Middle Eastern historians, many of w h o m were trained in English, French and German universities, have adopted the standards of Western scholarship and approach history in a positivist and empirical spirit, there are also conservative and orthodox historians who reject Western methodology and seek to keep the traditional Islamic historiography alive.9

Chejne is even more severe, although he acknowledges that some Arab historians use modern Western methods of criticism and m a k e use of social and economic factors to.explain history. But he is probably right in emphazing the tendency towards compilation rather than analysis, and in observing that most present-day historical writings are 'no more than a continuation of medieval patterns and are devoid of any scientific approach'.10

In order to redress the balance, w e should perhaps ask the sociologists for help in understanding this situation. A real sociology of history and historians is needed. In fact, our historians, w h o as a rule are engaged on a n e w reading of history, find themselves promoted, against their will perhaps, to the position of saviours of our national identity. Every, day, in the Maghrib for example, the best of them are urged to give prominence to the history of the nationalist movement.1 1

D o these amount to sociological constraints? History, at any rate, also feeds on current preoccupations. The past can indeed be a link with those living in the present. History is called upon to cement national unity, which is thought to be a guarantee of the efficiency of a society, a condition of political action, a defence against foreign aggression and, above all, an instrument of economic and social development: Historical research is used as a decolonizing force. Oddly enough; but not unreasonably, historians are expected to contribute to nation-building in


the same capacity as workers in the field of the social sciences. This undoubtedly accounts for the fact that in recent years, in our countries, there has been a spate of vindicatory works of all kinds, nearly all of them centred on the greatness of Islamic civilization. Whether its assumptions are nationalist or eschatological, Arab historiography has not yet been elevated into a comprehensive h u m a n science. Furthermore, only a very small handful of Arab historians have more than a superficial knowledge of anthropology, sociology, law, and political or. linguistic theory. While it is true, as Fernand Braudel rightly remarks, that 'a sociology of events clutters up our libraries and the archives of our governments and of enterprises',12 it is also true that a rambling and narrative type of history pads out our works of reference. M u c h remains to be done in our countries to ensure that the social sciences adapt their methods in order to take account of the historical dimension, and also to ensure that the methodology of history catches up with the concerns and requirements of the other social sciences.

The shortcomings of the social sciences are, as w e have seen, compounded by the inadequacies of history, and w e cannot be content with talk of complementarity. Not because the latter is vain or illusory, but because it is still inadequate, and should not be used as a verbal smoke-screen to discourage us from probing further, i.e. conducting a real investigation of the fundamental validity of any analysis of h u m a n phenomena, whether from a historical, sociological, linguistic or demographic viewpoint.

The end of orientalism—and of Africanism—has not only meant the demise of a Euro-centred view of m a n , but is calling in question the concepts, methods and theories used in the social sciences and in history to justify colonial domination and to explain the backwardness of our societies and their inevitable 'colon-izability'. A real advance in knowledge of our societies will be a rebuttal of both the ontological leanings of traditional historiography, and the claims of the West to universality.

But, in order to achieve this, w e must first discover what good use w e can m a k e of Western methods, concepts and theories, and whether w e can create or take as a starting-point something different, something that is really our o w n .

The legitimacy of this question—considered only as a question—is implicit in the historical character of the methods, concepts and theories of the social sciences, which, since they came into being in highly specific circumstances, should be subjected to historical scrutiny before their validity is either asserted or rejected. The fact that sociology came into existence in Western Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century is by no means insignificant. It was, indeed, with the aim of understanding his o w n time and founding a new society that Auguste Comte 'invented' social stasis, social dynamics, sociology and, ultimately, positivism. Similarly, it was in order to understand his time and the industrial society in which he lived, and in order to increase the opportunities of the


working-class movement to play a historical role, that Karl M a r x deliberately steered the dialectic into materialist channels and based all historical investigation on class conflict and the production system. O n e cannot be more explicit than Feuerbach, w h o states that 'Philosophers have only interpreted the world in different ways, but what w e should do is change the world'. This meant returning to practical, concrete action and taking part in history in the making.

Social reflection belongs to both thought and praxis. If everything is part of evolution, then everything is changing, including the world that makes social research possible and the point of view, that social research adopts towards the world. Engels, in his Ludwig Feuerbach, was doing no more than drawing conclusions from these premises w h e n he wrote:

The world should not be regarded as a complex of completed things, but as a complex of processes in which things apparently fixed are flowing, just as are their intellectual reflections in our brains; ideas change in a ceaseless blossoming and perishing in which, despite all the apparent risks and temporary setbacks, a gradual development begins to emerge.13

T h e thoroughly historical merit of dialectical materialism is that it launched social action in the direction of what was feasible, and that it endeavoured to place the objectives of the working class in a specific context that would show them as both meaningful and attainable.

But whether they are regarded from a Marxist or from a liberal viewpoint, the social sciences must be dialecticized; in other words, they must be seen in relation to a historical background. This implies that they should first be subjected to searching criticism. W e find, however, that the methods of the social sciences have been 'transported' virtually unchanged to the Third World in general and to the Arab world in particular. Trusting in their ability to enlighten or to challenge us, w e have relied on them too long to analyse, investigate and act upon our societies.

It is no accident that for too long, especially in the 1950s and even the 1960s, the only Egyptian sociological works of reference were translations into Arabic of English-language publications. A n d if Marxism today, with all its variants, is enjoying so m u c h success with our students and academics, this is because it can be used as a powerful polemical weapon. D o w e challenge the status quo? Yes. But w h e n it comes to making real changes and taking action in the short or m e d i u m term, h o w backward w e still are!

All research in the social sciences is, however, of capital importance, not only because of its o w n value, but because it is a sign. M a n y of our sociologists believe that they can explain everything in terms of class divisions and the production system. Instead of 'official' and therefore 'bourgeois' science, they would have a 'proletarian' science. They fail to realize that recoursé to criteria of class cannot be ahistorical and operate in a vacuum, or that by imposing these criteria


on their knowledge they transform it, however Marxist they claim to be, into pure ideology.

But Marx's o w n approach suggests that w e should m a k e the social sciences dialectical. It was by facts, rather than theories, that M a r x was taught. In France, he found a working class that was to a large extent organized, whereas in England his disciple Engels discovered capitalism in its hey-day. In both cases, class conflict was a fact, abiding by its o w n rules, irrespective of analysis, science or philosophy. History thrust sociology aside, so to speak. It was a lived experience. Analysis begins, not with m a n as an abstract entity, but with his social and economic circumstances as they really are. Hence the wealth of material to be found in the writings of M a r x . It introduced a n e w blueprint, based on the imperative necessity to substitute no theory, not even Marx's o w n , for analysis of the facts. For facts are stubborn things.

Class conflict itself cannot be contemplated in isolation from the factors that condition it. It must be considered and analysed through its specific effects. There is no single contradiction. A social unit is complex and structured. It comprises various levels, and at every level there is a cluster of contradictions. A n authentically Marxist analysis should concentrate on studying—and not in any artificial way—the various social contradictions.

The logic of Marxist dialectic draws us into this perpetual re-examination, which implies radical criticism even of the validity of the concepts, theories and methods of approach current in the social sciences. A n d so m a n y concepts are available to enable us to 'understand' our societies: 'mentality', 'oriental despotism', 'the Asiatic m o d e of production', 'hydraulic civilization', 'simple societies', 'the centre and the periphery', 'dependence', etc. Several times a year there is a change of fashion in ways of thinking in the social sciences. Certain theses which were all the rage a short while ago are today abandoned as suddenly as they were proclaimed, not so long ago, as being the last word on the subject in question. The example of the Asiatic m o d e of production is highly significant. This thesis is no longer defended today, whether in China, the U S S R or any Eastern country. The reason is that advances in knowledge of the history of the Third World have, fortunately, led m a n y researchers to be more circumspect and to inquire h o w far any thesis, however illustrious the person promoting it m a y be, is really 'défendable'."

The reciprocal challenges issued by the social sciences and history, and their criticisms of each other, reveal the deplorable sterility of a great m a n y pseudo-explanations, and should encourage us to think harder about the impact and validity of our research. .••.

S o m e Arab specialists point out that sociological and historical knowledge which concerns our society and which is acquired 'Western fashion', even w h e n it is developed by nationals, and a fortiori when this is done by others: this knowledge is all too likely to be merely a dissertation concerning us, something

592 Abdelwàhab Bouhdiba

foreign and alienating. W e are coming up against epistemological obstacles because, far from arriving at self-knowledge by a process of induction, w e are merely translating into Arabic the incomplete and biased views of outsiders, fondly even believing our work to be scientific.

;. First, time itself constitutes a problem, being the medium of all action and a touchstone for the validity of all research in the social sciences. Georges Gurvitch has taught us that there are m a n y différent kinds of time.15 Using his analysis, w e can show that there is a 'Muslim' time which is a frame of reference for a whole current of thought that is as vigorous today as it was in the past, or, alternatively, that there is a certain Muslim w a y of experiencing time. For Koranic truth stands outside history. Tradition is a refusal of linear time. The Muslim tradition (the Koran, the hadiths, or saying of the Prophet, the exegeses, the fiqh, and attempts at rationalization) forms a whole whose parts do indeed have their origins in different times, but together they constitute an ethic, which sees itself as transcendent and timeless. The sharVa can be explained in a historical context. Its historical formulations have scarcely more value than different views of a single object. W e can even deduce from it that history is merely a falling off or a deterioration, inasmuch as it is a gradual departure from the traditional Koranic model. T h e Quadîm is not to the Jadîd what the old is to the new: it contrasts the contingent and factual with the eternal, the copy with the archetype. A n d indeed, the fundamental model incarnate in the Prophet and described by the sunna is an 'old' model, i.e. 'essential' and true. A s history advances, so Muslims m o v e farther away in time from the original model, and so their collective image of it can only deteriorate. Muslim theorists from Ghazali to Khomeini have not claimed otherwise. Against pure history, a series of events, they set a view of the world in the light of eternity. A n d if w e wish to understand h o w the history-versus-social-sciences debate is viewed in the Arab Muslim world, w e must still, today, ask ourselves this question: h o w can one identify and expound the 'ages' of a tradition which denies the very concept of age?

It is possible to seek and find objective explanations to account for this frozen history. A certain attitude towards tradition can even act as an 'epistemological obstacle' to knowledge of social phenomena. In-depth analysis and even psycho-analysis, on the lines indicated by Gaston Bachelard, m a y in fact prove salutary.16

It is all the more fascinating and ironical to see what advantages can be gained from the fiqh itself w h e n w e seek to understand today's Arab societies and their histories. This means subjecting the development of the Muslim body of fiqh to historical and comparative scrutiny. O n e can even elaborate a kind of 'archaeology' of Islamic views of the world and trace their changing boundaries. Admittedly, too m a n y pointers are missing, and w è have, as yet, very little objective knowledge on the subject/But, as it stands, this body of knowledge outlines the development of m a n y aspects of Arab society.17 A s Claude Cahen very perti-


nently remarks: 'Legal sources naturally deal with economic and social phenomena from their o w n particular viewpoint, and w e cannot fail to ask ourselves in what circumstances they can or should be used, not only by the legal historian, but by history proper.'18 '

Other no less lucid and well-informed minds have stated the problems in other ways, considering them susceptible of solution by total rejection of the attitude that prevailed in the West when the social sciences were first developed. These minds reject two things: the ontological nature of tradition and the Western claim to exclusive universality. O n e w a y of being true to ourselves would be to start first of all with concepts born within Arab society itself, even if w e have to criticize them severely, amend them, or even explode them if necessary. It is in this light that w e must interpret the morbid attachment of some of us to the Prolegomena of Ibn Khaldun. The Khaldunian concepts born within our society could interpret its contradictions better than others could. The schema of the Iraqi writer Ali Al Wardi, for example, proposes a return to social logic through the logic of the discourse of Ibn Khaldun. 'Modern sociology', he observes, 'was created in a context different from the one in which Ibn Khaldun's developed.'19 They derived their fundamental positions from two different cultural traditions. Neither can lay claim to exclusivity or universality, since neither has reached an adequate stage of development. Each school retains its specific features, having taken root in different sociological contexts.

Al Wardi is by no means unaware of the crucial importance of Western sociology in its twofold form, Marxist and Anglo-Saxon. But he does not think that the Arab social sciences can afford to ignore the contribution of Ibn Khaldun. 'Perhaps, indeed, the Khaldunian w a y of thinking is m o r e capable of leading us to an understanding of our society than are the other sociological approaches.'20

Al Wardi proposes that the concepts of Bedounsim (badâwa), beldism or urban civilization (Jtadhard), solidarity Çasabiya) and the emergence of the state (manshu al dawld) should be regarded as 'true and authentic' concepts, better suited than others to give an inside account of Arab societies. A n d he adds:

W e need a specific sociology that will take its frames of reference from our sociological heritage and which will be based on the study of our real circumstances. W e must cease to be blind mimics, who seize any theory and any concept they happen to stumble upon and then seek to apply them to our society, without allowing for the differences that distinguish it from the countries in which modern sociology came into being.21

Al Wardi's idea is as good as any other. W e have chosen it as an illustration because it exemplifies this re-examination of history and the social sciences by an appeal to the 'inside' as against the 'outside'. W e hold no special brief. W e could equally well have cited Abdallah Laroui's history of the Maghrib.22 In an earlier article, I was able to show that concepts such as urbanization and the drift from the land have m u c h less relevance to Arab societies than bedouinism and beldism,


certainly not because only the latter are true, but because they measure the extent both of radical changes and of the permanence of a historical invariable.23

But it is not always necessary to turn to Ibn Khaldun in order to understand Arab society. All investigation and all research is, ipso facto, an attempt to trace origins. It is in the actual sociological or historical survey, the field-work or the sifting of archives, that the validity and fertility of our methods, concepts and theories become clear. For our part, w e shall take care not to replace a Euro-centred attitude with a merely superficial Arab-centred view of things. It is obvious that the work of Robert Brunschvig, Claude Cahen, Dominique Chevallier, André R a y m o n d , Carl Brown, Bernard Lewis, Widad Al Kadhi, Abdallah Laroui and M o h a m m e d Talbi, however dissimilar their premises, cannot be rejected merely because it is not based on concepts that originated in an Arab context.

The value of this debate is that it shows h o w the methodological issue which divides history from the social sciences is reinforced in our countries by an epistemological issue. The validity of any concept, theory or method resides ultimately in its fertility and its ability to account for the facts: to explain and expound. A s Gaston Bachelard liked to point out: ' A theory, after all, is true only as long as it has not been proved false.'

Attempts such as those m a d e by Al Wardi and Laroui are a healthy sign and undoubtedly constitute promising lines of approach. They are an earnest of vitality, and show that the coming together of history and the social sciences, particularly in the Arab world, is laying the foundations for an authentic new humanism. That encounter, which is, moreover, very often a confrontation and conflict, is n o w revealing the sense and essence of Arab unity by tracing the direction of our history, elucidating its meaning and enhancing its attractiveness. History's challenge to the social sciences compels the latter not to skate over the surface of things, but to penetrate to the core of the social phenomenon: in other words, to give it dialectical m o m e n t u m . In making us aware of the historical dimension of social phenomena, history compels us to c o m e to terms with time as a m e d i u m , and with the way communities perceive time, as being factors conditioning h u m a n thought and action. Conversely, the social sciences call in question historiography as it is traditionally practised in our countries, and as it has been rejected for quite some time by the École des Annales in Europe, for example.

W e must be careful not to treat this as a local debate, for it is the harbinger of discussion on a world scale. It calls for a pooling of all the worldwide research in history and in the social sciences which has an original contribution to m a k e to our knowledge of mankind. Since our countries have gained their independence, w e have been searching for the roots of our o w n past. W e had to do this in order to become, at last, what w e really are. But w e are thereby making our contribution, whatever its underlying assumptions, to the c o m m o n heritage


of mankind. It has drawn us into dialogue with the rest of the world and is helping us to break out of our isolation. As such, it serves a historical purpose as an invigorating and demarginalizing force. It has often been observed that, although the h u m a n sciences cannot conduct experiments, they can make good this shortcoming by their use of the comparative method. But for this to be possible, there must, of course, be things to compare.

[Translated from French]

Notes

1 Geoffrey Barraclough, 'History', Main Trends of Research in the Social and Human Sciences, Part 2 , Vol. I, pp . 227-443, Mouton-Unesco, 1978.

2 Fernand Braudel, for example, does not hesitate to write: 'If we take a long-term historical view, history and sociology neither meet nor run parallel; on the contrary, they intermingle. Long-term history is the endless, everlasting history of structures and groups of structures.' 'Histoire et sociologie', in Georges Gurvitch (ed.), Traité de sociologie, Vol. I, p . 93.

3 See Barraclough, op. cit., pp . 273 et seq., w h o gives a detailed account of the situation.

4 Robert Brunschvig, Islamologie, Vol. I, p . 3. B A . Bouhdiba, Criminalité et changements sociaux

en Tunisie, Tunis, 1965. 6 À . Bouhdiba, Public et justice, R o m e , 1971. 7 'For this reason w e have attempted to analyse the

genesis of the concept of nationhood in Tunisia.' A la recherche des normes perdues, pp. 11 et seq., Tunis, 1973.

8 J.' Berque, Structures sociales du Haut Atlas, 2nd edition, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1978.

9 O p . cit., p . 356. 10 A . G . Chejne: 'The Use of History by Modern

Arab Writers', The Middle East Journal, Vol. X I V , 1960, p . 391.

11 See in this connection two fine studies by Constantin Zuraiq: Nahnu wa al-ta'rkih, Beirut, 1960, and Ft ma'rakat al-hadãra, Beirut,

1964. Cf. for example, A . Laroui, Les origines sociales et culturelles du nationalisme marocain (1830-1912), Paris, 1977.

12 Braudel, op. cit., p . 97. 13 F . Engels, Ludwig Feuerbach et la fin de la philo

sophie classique allemande, Vol. II, p . 34 , E d . Sociales, 1946.

11 O n this particular point see Georges Lichtheim: ' M a r x and the Asiatic M o d e of Production', St Antony's Papers, Vol. X T V , 1963.

15 Georges Gurvitch, Déterminismes sociaux et liberté humaine, Paris, 1955.

18 Gaston Bachelard, La formation de l'esprit scientifique, Paris, 1957; especially Chapter 1, ' L a notion d'obstacle épistémologique'.

17 This is what w e attempted to achieve in La sexualité en Islam, Paris, 1975, particularly in the first section.

18 Claude Cahen: 'Considérations sur l'utilisation des ouvrages de Droit musulman par l'historien', Les peuples musulmans dans l'histoire médiévale, p . 82, Damascus, 1977.

18 Ali Al Wardi, Mantaq Ibn Khaldoun, 2nd edition, Tunis, 1977.

20 Ibid. 21 Ibid. 22 A . Laroui, Histoire du Maghrib, un essai de

synthèse, Paris, 1970. 23 See A . Bouhdiba, Criminalité et changements

sociaux, pp. 79 et seq., Tunis, 1965; A . B o u h diba, 'Bédouinisme et beldisme dans la Tunisie actuelle', A la recherche des normes perdues, pp . 29 et seq., Tunis, 1973.

History as a social science*

Jerome M . Clubb

This article is based upon the view that history can and should be studied as a social science and that history can contribute in vital ways to the development of social scientific knowledge. Before continuing, however, it is also appropriate to suggest that the word 'history', referring to the discipline or field of study, probably should not be used in thé singular. The point here is not the diverse temporal, geographical and topical specializations of historians. It is rather that historical studies are approached in a variety of ways, and these varied approaches serve a diversity of goals for historians. These goals surely include satisfaction of essentially antiquarian interests, reconstruction and explanation of historical events as an end in itself, transmission of social values, moral instruction, the recreational and inspirational values that c o m e from a good story or an epic tale, and there are probably m a n y others. The position here is only that history can also be pursued as a social science and can serve social scientific goals, or, from a different perspective, that the other social sciences require a well-developed historical component.1

For present purposes, the social sciences can be defined as those areas of inquiry that seek to identify regularities in h u m a n affairs through the.use of empirical data and methods and which attempt to develop theoretical formulations which link together and explain those regularities. Once again, this is not to argue that all historians should study the past in terms of such a definition, or that all inquiry into the past should be conducted in terms of the goals and criteria implied by that definition. It is to argue that the, social scientific approach; is a m o n g the legitimate approaches to history. It is also to note and accept diversity and to contend that efforts to prescribe an orthodoxy of methods, goals and approaches for history are likely to be both fruitless and destructive.

If the goals of the social sciences are a m o n g the legitimate goals of historical

Jerome Clubb is Executive Director of the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, P . O . Box 1248, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106.

* S o m e of the views expressed in this article draw upon arguments developed in two earlier essays; one written in collaboration with Allan G . Bogue and the other in collaboration with Bogue and William H . Flanigan. The two essays appear in American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 21 (November/December 1977). While I have profited greatly from the erudition and insights of m y collaborators, they should not be held responsible for the views, arguments and interpretations presented here.

Int. Soc. Scl. J., Vol. XXXIII, N o . 4, 1981


inquiry, and if historical inquiry is a necessary component of the social scientific enterprise, a number of further issues merit consideration. This article is concerned with three of the m o r e obvious of them. The first of these concerns the potential contributions of history so conceived to social scientific knowledge. T h e second concerns the characteristics of such a history and the ways in which it departs from m o r e conventional historical inquiry. The third concerns the obstacles which history, geared to the service of social scientific goals, confronts, and the burdens which its pursuit imposes upon historians. In addressing these issues, the examples and experiences of the 'new' history as practised in the United States are drawn upon. The point of view is admittedly parochial. Even so, the n e w history involves a significant departure from an older and more conventional historiographical tradition—which for convenience is referred to here as 'traditional' history—and it is often described as social scientific in both inspiration and aspiration.2 Thus the n e w history, and the debates between n e w and traditional historians, provide useful reference points in considering the characteristics of social scientific history.

T h e task of social scientific history

F r o m the standpoint of m a n y historians, the findings, models and theories of the social sciences, perhaps with the partial exception of economics and to a lesser degree psychology, often seem rather poor. They seem to rest upon unrealistic assumptions about h u m a n motivation, and the relationships and generalizations asserted as bordering upon general laws of h u m a n behaviour often appear excessively abstract, limited in their utility and even trivial. T h e range and generality of findings seems questionable, and findings appear time-bound and limited in their applicability to a specific and narrow historical context. Above all, perhaps, social scientific formulations seem of little value in accomplishing the task which is of central concern to m a n y historians: explanation of the attitudes and behaviour of historical individuals in specific historical situations.

The criticisms can be substantially conceded, but two responses are also in order. The first is that history and historians have not yet contributed effectively to the development of the social sciences. O n the one hand, the development of historical studies from the late nineteenth century on, in terms of method, orientation and goals, has not led in directions that are fully compatible with the goals of social science. O n the other, social scientists particularly during the first flush of the behavioural revolution tended to stress methods that involved direct observation and such methods were often erroneously, treated as synonym o u s with science. History was seen as based upon excessively fragmentary evidence, as too impressionistic, and as empathetic and subjective rather than empirical and objective. The second and equally appropriate response is that the

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expectations of historians, and hence their criticisms, are often based upon misapprehensions of the nature and goals of the social sciences.

T h e relationship between history and the social sciences has often been stated as one of dependence and application. In this view, historians simply apply models and theories borrowed from the social sciences to historical situations the better to describe and explain those situations. A n d indeed this was a characteristic of m u c h of the earlier work in the n e w economic, or 'cliometric','history, the most advanced of the n e w histories. Here, neoclassical economic theory was wedded to quantification to explore nineteenth-century economic life. Such an orientation obviously casts the role of historians and the potential contributions of history to social scientific knowledge in highly limited and uninteresting terms. A s North puts it, 'the n e w economic historians are doing the same things that economists are doing but the economic historians dealwith dead issues rather than live ones and with data of generally poorer quality'.3 The same generalization can also be applied to other substantive areas of the n e w history. In these other areas, however, the use of social scientific theories and models tended to be less sophisticated and less explicit than in the new economic history.

A substantially different and more vital role for history in relation to the social sciences can also be envisioned. Writing of the relationship between economic history and economics Postan argues that an appropriate focus of economic history is upon those factors, such as taste, technology and population change, that are treated as constants in m u c h economic research.4 North makes the same point in commenting critically on cliometric history:

Cliometricians have turned their backs on a long tradition stretching back from Joseph Schumpeter to Karl Marx to A d a m Smith. These scholars regarded economic history as essential because it added a dimension to economics. Its purpose was to analyse the parameters held constant by the economist. If economics is a theory of choice subject to specified constraints a task of economic history was to theorize about those evolving constraints.8

In this view, historical studies have a vital role in the development of social scientific knowledge, and failure to play that role impoverishes social science.

The study of political phenomena provides a further illustration of this expanded view of the role of history in the social sciences. Political scientists, social psychologists and political sociologists have developed in recent years impressive and systematic findings and formulations bearing upon the nature and determinants of mass political attitudes and behaviour. This research, however, has been largely based upon the narrow temporal period from the 1950s to the 1970s. During these years, of course, such factors as communications, the institutional structure of politics, educational levels, the group structure of society, and even expectations as to the appropriate role of government have remained essentially constant. Such factors, moreover, tend to be treated as constants and as 'external'


to the more systematic formulations and models employed in this area of research. O n e consequence is that capacity to predict even the directional impact of change in these parameters of political life upon the performance of government, popular representation or political parties is severely limited. Recognition of these limitations has led to increased emphasis upon systematic examination of the political past, as seen in the w o r k of Burnham, Converse and various others.8

; These illustrations can obviously be stated in m o r e general terms. T h e importance of studying social phenomena in a variety of situational contexts is generally recognized. Extensive effort is devoted to comparisons of nations, cultures, regions and other subnational groupings. T h e same values can be served by historical studies. Historical comparisons can aid the identification of the impact of particular factors present in some historical situations but not in others. In this w a y historical studies can help to specify the boundary conditions of social scientific generalizations; in other words, the conditions under which generalizations apply or do not apply. Put differently, historical studies can aid in defining the content of the ceteris paribus clause that is at least an implicit addendum to all social scientific generalizations. In more optimistic terms, such studies can bring a broader range of factors explicitly into social scientific theories and models. Thus they constitute a means to test, develop and refine theoretical formulations.

But if w e accept these possibilities as legitimate goals of inquiry, other implications follow. These have to do with matters of method, with canons of proof and verification, and with the definition and focus of inquiry. Consideration of these issue suggests, moreover, that the n e w history as practised in the United States has moved, in the main, only a little w a y towards social science.

Methods of research

In the debates between n e w and traditional historians, at least as they have occurred in the United States in recent years, the use of quantitative methods and data has been a central issue. Quantification has often been treated as the primary defining characteristic of the new history both by its critics and often by its practitioners. Moreover, use of quantitative data, statistics and other mathematical tools has been seen as the central area of affinity between the n e w history and the social sciences. Indeed, these debates have often tended to identify, at least by implication, quantification as the primary defining characteristic of the social sciences and, for that matter, of science in general.

T o the degree that it has been cast in these terms, the debate has been seriously misleading. Obviously; traditional historians do not fail to quantify while n e w historians do. A s Fogel and others have pointed out, all historians have always quantified at least implicitly.7 The difference between the two camps in

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terms of the use of quantification lies only in the extent and nature of the use of quantitative methods and materials. The identity that is sometimes implicitly drawn between quantification and social science is obviously also fallacious. Perhaps all science is quantitative, but certainly, not all quantification is science.

The use of quantitative methods and materials in m u c h of the new history involves, moreover, only a modest departure from the goals and procedures of more traditional history. It often involves little more than use of neglected source material to study neglected historical populations that cannot be effectively studied through the use of conventional literary sources. It is based, in other words, upon an effort to escape the elitist bias characteristic of conventional sources and u p o n a preference for data that bear upon the characteristics and behaviour of historical populations rather than the descriptions of those characteristics and behaviour provided by a few supposedly perceptive and informed contemporary observers. T h e goal, however, is the same as that of traditional history, to provide a more complete and more accurate description of past reality. There is little reason to treat such applications as either a major departure from traditional history or as social science.

Taken in total, the debate over quantification has tended to obscure differences between social science and history as usually practised and to mask larger issues of method. A lengthy discussion of the mathematical and technical expertise of n e w historians is unnecessary. A n older view expressed by some n e w historians ran to the effect that crude, 'rough and ready' quantitative methods would suffice for historical research, and it was sometimes argued that the frailties and fragmentary nature of historical data precluded use of complex statistical tools and procedures. Fortunately, these views are n o w less widely held, and it is increasingly recognized that quite the reverse is true. The very frailties of historical data in fact dictate greater mathematical proficiency and more complex techniques than would be required for more perfect data. Although the mathematical and technical expertise of historians outside the field of economic history remains low compared with that characteristic of the other social sciences, the need for substantial improvement is widely recognized.8

Without in any way minimizing the importance of mathematicaland technical expertise, other issues of method are of more fundamental importance. A m o n g these, problems of theory and conceptualization are central. Although often neglected by n e w historians, explicit theory and conceptualization are central to the social sciences both as goals of inquiry and as tools of analysis. T o study phenomena, a theory or conceptualization is employed which specifies the critical elements of the phenomena and describes the relationships between those elements. T h e theory or conceptualization is an abstraction, an intellectual construct, and the elements and relationships which it specifies are non-empirical concepts. T o employ such constructs, further operations are necessary. A process of translation is required which explicitly defines these concepts in terms of


particular data and mathematical operations. Manipulation of the data then provides a basis for inferences about the phenomena and a means to test the adequacy of the conceptualization in terms of the presence or absence of hypothesized relationships. It is in this sense that Alfred Marshall described economic theory as 'not a body of concrete truth, but an engine for the discovery of concrete truth',9 and the statement is equally applicable to theories and conceptualizations in other substantive areas.

Problems of measurement, of translating non-empirical concepts into empirical data and arithmetic and statistical operations, are of critical importance in social scientific research. Blalock states this set of problems in the following way:

There appears to be an inherent gap between the language of theory and research which can never be bridged in a completely satisfactory way. One thinks in terms of a theoretical language that contains notions such as causes, forces, systems and properties. But one's tests are made in terms of covariations, operations, and pointer readings. Although a concept such as 'mass' m a y be considered theoretically or metaphysically as a property, it is only a pious opinion, in Eddington's words, that 'mass' as a property is equivalent to 'mass' as inferred from pointer readings.10

Viewed in these terms, the data and quantitative operations of social scientists—and of social scientific historians—are at best indicators of concepts; their validity depends upon particular operational definitions of concepts; and their use requires explicit theories, conceptualizations, and theorizing about underlying reality. In this perspective, and without minimizing the value of exploratory data analysis, quantification can be seen as the end product of conceptualization and theorizing, rather than the beginning.11

T h e same considerations cast in a somewhat different light questions as to whether particular historical problems are intrinsically qualitative or quantitative in nature. Whether w e think of references to the structure or organization of past societies as qualitative or theoretical, these concepts cannot be employed in research without further and more specific conceptualization. Their use, moreover, requires translation that links them to specific data, whether quantitative or of another form. T h e quality and utility of the findings that result depend u p o n the quality of the initial conceptualization and of the translation process.

.' It is fair to say that, particularly in the earlier work , m u c h of the n e w history tended to neglect problems of theory, conceptualization and measurement. Conceptualizations of phenomena and processes were often left implicit and, hence, unexamined. Data were frequently treated as effectively synonymous with concepts and, indeed, with historical reality, and quantitative techniques were employed prematurely. A few general examples m a y serve to illustrate the point.

In research into historical politics, the popular vote cast in elections w a s sometimes taken as a direct measure of the partisan loyalties or the policy preferences of the mass electorate. But voting behaviour can be a product of a

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complex configuration of political. attitudes, partisan attachments, candidate appeals, and diverse specific issues and local circumstances. Hence the vote cast by historical'individuals—or, more accurately, aggregates of historical individuals—cannot be taken as a straightforward measure of either policy preferences or partisan attachments. T o do so implies a particular conceptualization or theory of mass political attitudes and behaviour.12 In m u c h of this work, however, no such theory or conceptualization was specified and critically examined.

Earlier investigations concerned with assessing social mobility in various historical contexts provide a second example. In m a n y of these investigations, the occupation of historical individuals was taken as a primary measure of social status and change in occupation, or the lack thereof, as a measure of social mobility. Social status is, however, a highly complex concept. Occupation constitutes, at most, only one element of social status and provides at best an impoverished definition of the concept.13 Without further conceptualization, such a definition can only yield findings of questionable utility.

A further example is provided by investigations of the historical family. Extensive effort has been directed to the examination of the nature, structure and characteristics of the nineteenth-century American family. In m u c h of this research the units of analysis employed, the entities studied, are not families but households defined effectively in terms of residence in the same dwelling-place. A family, however, is not the same as a household, and family members do not necessarily reside under the same roof. Use of the household as an operational surrogate for the family, without further explanation and conceptualization, introduces distortion or measurement error. The magnitude and nature of that error depends upon the manner in which the family is conceptualized, whether, for example, as an economic, a social, or a biological unit. In m u c h of the research, no such conceptualization was provided.

The purpose of these illustrations is not to dwell upon the shortcomings of past historical studies. Problems of conceptualization and measurement are n o w m o r e explicitly recognized and more directly confronted. The purpose here is rather to note the inevitable gap between the data employed by social scientists and the phenomena of actual concern and to suggest that in the case of historical studies the 'measurement gap' is significantly widened because of the nature of historical source materials. The examples touched upon above are in part illustrations of the limitations of historical sources. For the political history of the United States, the vote cast in historical elections constitutes the primary and, in s o m e respects, the only source of comprehensive and systematic evidence bearing u p o n mass political participation, behaviour and attitudes. Information on the occupations of historical individuals is more consistently available than information bearing upon other individual attributes which, in combination, would provide superior indications of social status and mobility. The primary and most comprehensive sources of evidence for the historical study of the family, such as


the manuscript schedules for the nineteenth-century population censuses of the United States, usually group individuals in terms of households rather than in terms of familial relationships. Whatever their shortcomings and limitations, these are the kinds of source materials which historians must employ.

Availability of data is obviously a necessary condition for the conduct of research. T h e data available to historians are characteristically more fragmentary, less complete, and bear less directly upon phenomena of concern than the data available to social scientists for the study of more contemporary phenomena. The historian, moreover, has less control over data and cannot s u m m o n u p at will n e w data to clarify ambiguous findings or to test otherwise untestable relationships. Social scientific history, as a consequence, is more heavily dependent u p o n theory and conceptualization, demands more complex methods, and requires even greater attention to these matters than does more contemporaneously oriented social science.14 For the social scientific historians problems of measurement are m o r e severe. Conceptualization or what amounts to 'auxiliary theory', to borrow Blalock's term, is required to specify the ways in which empirical data are related to conceptual properties and processes and to provide a basis for estimates of the manner and degree to which empirical indicators depart from concepts of concern and distort findings." Rather than non-theoretical, as is sometimes asserted of traditional history, social scientific history is likely to be more theoretical even than the other social sciences.

Proof and verification

History is an old and well-developed discipline which itself has a history. That history has led to widely shared views a m o n g historians as to appropriate methodologies, foci of inquiry, approaches to research, and modes of presentation. Fogel reviews the development of historical studies and notes the departure of historians from the natural sciences as a model for research and explanation and their rejection of the effort to establish laws of h u m a n behaviour as a goal of inquiry. Historians adopted instead, he argues, a model more nearly akin to that of the law.16 T o illustrate the application of the legal model, Fogel quotes at length from The Harvard Guide to American History, first published in 1954 and once, perhaps still, a primary text in historical method. T h e passages are worth quoting again:

Once satisfied that he understands what the witness is saying, the historian must consider whether the witness was in a position to know what he was talking about, then whether, if the witness was in that position, he had the skill and competence to observe correctly; then whether if he knew the facts, he would be inclined to represent them fairly, or whether circumstances—emotional, intellectual, political—might incline him to emphasize some aspects of an episode and minimize others. M a n y motives, worthy and

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unworthy, deflect or distort observation: national patriotism, class conditioning, political partianship, religious faith, moral principle, love, hate, and survival....

Like treason in, the Constitution, a historical fact ideally should rest 'on the testimony of at least two witnesses to some overt act, or on confession in open court'. But sometimes, alas, there is but a single witness; or, if there are two, and of equal competence arid probity, their versions m a y be in head-on collision. Charles Evans Hughes told his biographer that he had recommended Robert H . Jackson as chief justice of the Supreme Court; President Truman's firm recollection'is that Hughes had recommended Fred M . Vinson; no documentary evidence survives; h o w to solve the insoluble conflict?

A judge and jury, indeed, would go m a d if they had to decide cases on evidence which will often seem more than satisfactory to the historian. But there is no escape; the historian, if he is to interpret at all, will try and convict on evidence which a court would throw out as circumstantial or hearsay. The victims of the historical process have to seek their compensation in the fact that history provides them with a far more flexible appellate procedure. The historian's sentences are in a continuous condition of review; few of his verdicts are final17.

T o synthetize, interpret and bring meaning out of diverse and multitudinous historical facts, traditional historians tend to rely u p o n empathy, creative imagination and intuitive understanding. They also draw u p o n the social sciences, but in eclectic fashion, picking and choosing ideas and generalizations as suited to particular needs.18 A preference is shown, as McClelland observes, for imprecise and evocative statements of interpretive themes, generalizations, and presumed causal relations rather than precise and specific statement and elucidation.19

A statement of J. H . Hexter's illustrates the point: '[Historians] deliberately choose a w o r d or a phrase that is imprecise and m a y turn out to be ambiguous, because of its rich aura of connotation. Without compunction they sacrifice exactness for evocative force.'20

T h e strict accuracy of this characterization of traditional history can probably be debated, and it m a y be unfair to m a n y traditional historians. Yet it seems to capture at least the moda l tendencies of traditional history.21 This general view of the research process is strikingly at odds with that of the social sciences and of social scientific history. Social scientists also stress the accumulation of evidence, and the cumulative weight of the evidence is brought to bear upon reported findings, generalizations and theories. T h e accuracy of data is rigorously assessed, and rigorous procedures are employed to estimate the potential effect of possible inaccuracy of data u p o n the results of analysis. But the social sciences also employ rules and criteria of research practice, inference and verification which differ in basic ways from those of traditional history.

Indeed, it would probably be legitimate to define the empirical social sciences in terms of a poorly codified but widely agreed u p o n body of criteria and rules of inference through which statements about social reality are provisionally accepted or rejected. T h e familiar rules for justifying causal inferences are a simple


illustration. Although variously stated, these rules require for acceptance of a causal statement establishing the temporal priority of the presumed cause in relation to the presumed effect; demonstrating that the presumed cause and effect covary; elimination of the possibility that other factors are the actual source of covariation; and provision of a plausible conceptual or theoretical rationale which describes the processes that link cause to effect.22 This set of rules and criteria also includes precise specification of operational definitions that link empirical data to concept and theory, of all assumptions employed, of methods of data collection and analysis to permit critical evaluation and replication, and the list could be extended to considerable length. '• , : :

Such rules and criteria are often honoured in the breach, and, like those of other mortals, the pronouncements of social scientists are frequently better than their practices. But the existence of this body of rules and criteria, however poorly codified and however frequently violated, reflects an effort to provide an objective basis for agreement to provisionally accept or reject statements about reality, and it amounts to significantly different standards of proof and verification, and perhaps to a different epistomology, than those characteristic of traditional history.

In applying these standards, however, the historian again confronts major difficulties that result from the limitations of historical source materials. T h e historian's analytical model frequently cannot be adequately specified. All potentially relevant variables often cannot be brought directly into the model because appropriate data are unavailable. Hence the effects of all potentially relevant factors cannot be assessed. These same difficulties also confront the social scientist concerned with the contemporary world. But the social scientist, at least in principle, can design n e w data collection efforts, re-interview, and m a k e additional observations. T h e historian, in contrast, cannot interview the dead, re-create records that were destroyed, or return to long past situations to m a k e additional observations. i

These are, however, differences of degree, not of kind. T h e social scientific historian does confront greater difficulties than does the social scientist concerned with the contemporary world. These difficulties do not require rejection of social scientific method and standards, abandonment of the goals of social science, or return to empathy and intuition. They do require m o r e rigorous application of the methods and standards of the social sciences; they dictate m o r e rigorous conceptualization and use of theory; and they render the historian m o r e heavily dependent upon theory and generalization. They also require the skill of the traditional historian in ferreting out source material and in gleaning from diverse sources data that can be systematically employed to measure otherwise unmeasur-able concepts.23 O n the other hand, these difficulties also dictate a different focus of inquiry than that often seen as characteristic of traditional history.

606 Jerome M. Clubb

The general and the particular

It is frequently asserted that history is concerned with the particular and social science with the general. Indeed, the central concern of history with the particular is so frequently announced in one w a y or the other that it seems to be. a basic canon of the orthodox creed. F r o m this perspective the social sciences seem to lose sight of specific individuals, to compartmentalize h u m a n life, drastically to reduce or ignore the rich diversity of h u m a n experience, and to attempt to explain society and h u m a n experience in terms of a few excessively abstract and mechanistic generalizations. Traditional historians obviously recognize similarities between events, institutions and individuals, and they are not indifferent to broad patterns and forces. But similarities, general patterns and forces are less interesting than deviations from them, and the behaviour and thoughts of particular individuals and the sequence of events in particular circumstances remain of central concern.

T h e social scientific historian commits additional violations of the creed. Stone summarizes the additions to the indictment: . • •••

[History] deals with a particular problem and a particular set of,actors at a particular time in & particular place. The historical context is all-important, and cannot be ignored or brushed aside in order to fit the data into some overarching social science m o d e Witchcraft in sixteenth-century England, for example, m a y be illuminated by examples of witchcraft in twentieth-century Africa, but it cannot so easily be explained by them, s nee the social and cultural contexts are so very different.24

T h e goals and orientation of the social sciences, and of social scientific history are different from those of traditional historians, although the differences m a y not be quite as Stone and other traditional historians suggest. Virtually by definition the social sciences are concerned with generalization and the goal is to develop generalizations that describe and explain the broadest possible range of p h e n o m e n a under the greatest possible diversity of conditions. Social scientists are concerned with collectivities and their central tendencies and with the similarities between individuals, institutions, and events in terms of certain properties that are of importance from the perspective of a given theory or model . Differences in other properties that are irrelevant to the theory or model are ignored. A n d they do attempt to describe and explain society and h u m a n behaviour in terms of abstract and parsimonious theory. It is not, however, that deviations from central tendencies are ignored as unimportant. Such deviations can weaken the credibility of. the formulation, but it is central tendencies and generalizations that are important.

; Stone's charges are partially correct. Social scientific historians are concerned with the similarities, between individuals, events, and institutions including those that are widely separated in time and space. They are willing to apply the same general model or theory to diverse historical situations in an effort to gain improved


understanding of those situations. But differences in social, cultural, or other contexts are of central importance. B y taking these differences explicitly and systematically into account, the applicability of generalizations and theories can be tested and their boundary conditions more effectively assessed. In this w a y , additional factors that are present in some historical situations but not in others can be brought directly into theories and models in the effort to increase their generality and broaden their explanatory relevance.

This is, if I understand them correctly, what m a n y n e w economic historians are attempting to do. They apply neoclassical economic theory to diverse historical situations in an effort to explain the characteristics of those situations. But they are also attempting to extend that theory in order to take explicitly into account such factors as technological and demographic change, the role and operation of governments, and investments in h u m a n capital through improvement in standards of living. The goal is, in one sense, to generalize neoclassical theory and to extend its applicability and explanatory capacity to include a broader range of h u m a n phenomena. !

Social scientific history does view historical diversity in a different perspective from that of traditional history, and it also seeks to apply and develop abstract theory. There is no indifference to historical diversity, but concern for diversity is not an end in itself. Rather, this concern is harnessed to the development of more general theory of greater explanatory power. In this sense, social scientific history is reductionist since it seeks to describe and explain h u m a n p h e n o m e n a in terms of abstract, general and parsimonious theory. O n the other hand, it is not reductionist in that it seeks to develop theory that describes and explains the broadest possible range of h u m a n phenomena. Indeed, the ultimate, but perhaps unrealizable, goal is a generalized theory of h u m a n behaviour.

Obstacles to social scientific history

It is easy enough to speak of the characteristics of social scientific history. Such a history would depart in fundamental ways from history as usually practised, and its products would be significantly different from those to which historians and their readers are accustomed. But these are not the major issues if, that is, w e believe as is argued here that historical studies are vital to the progress of social scientific knowledge. O f substantially greater importance from the latter perspective are the obstacles confronted in the pursuit of social scientific history. These obstacles, and the burdens they impose upon historians, m a y help to account for the characteristics of the n e w history as it has emerged in the United States. After more than two decades, the n e w history still constitutes, in the main, what amounts to a half-way house between traditional history, on the one hand, and a genuinely social scientific history, on the other.

608 Jerome M. Clubb

The primary obstacles to social scientific history lie in the characteristics of historical source materials. Historical sources are fragmentary and incomplete, they are marked by serious inaccuracies, and they frequently bear only tangentially u p o n concepts of concern. T o cope with these characteristics requires the skills of the traditional historian in locating and evaluating sources and in extracting meaning from them. Also required, and of equal importance from the perspective of social scientific history, is methodological innovation to develop procedures and techniques more' adequate to the characteristics and frailties of historical data. A n d for these purposes the limited 'cook book', training which is n o w the n o r m a m o n g n e w historians will not suffice. Rather advanced expertise in statistics and other areas of mathematics is required.26

The characteristics of historical evidence also d e m a n d strong working theories and conceptualizations and capacity to use them rigorously and explicitly. T o employ limited and imperfect data requires rigorous definition of the conceptual elements of phenomena and specification of the relationships between elements that can be measured and those that cannot. If the occupational structure of past societies must be used to draw inferences about status structure, then a theoretical definition of status is required. That definition must also specify the interaction between occupation and the other elements of social status to allow the use of occupational information to estimate status rankings. For such theoretical and conceptual definitions and formulations, the social scientific historian must frequently draw u p o n the other social sciences, since work in these areas tends to be based u p o n research settings, which, in terms of data sources and opportunities to collect data, are more advantageous than those of the historian. The relationship between social scientific history and the other social sciences, moreover, is one of symbiosis. That relationship involves reciprocal borrowing of theoretical formulations in the interest of application, testing and generalization. Hence, here again, a familiarity with other social sciences, which extends well beyond the casual, is required of the social scientific historian;

Explicit concern for the general as opposed to the particular imposes additional and perhaps less obvious burdens and requirements. Statements asserted as explanations of phenomena in one temporal or geographical context must confront explanations of similar phenomena in other contexts. If the explanations are different, the onus is upon the social scientific historian to reconcile the differences. If a credible explanation of witchcraft in sixteenth-century England, to return to Stone's example, is at odds with a different but equally credible explanation of witchcraft in twentieth-century Africa, the onus is upon the social scientific historian explicitly to address the discrepancies. T h e required research m a y result in specification of the reasons for the discrepancies, perhaps in terms of specific aspects of the two historical contexts, or it m a y result in the conclusion that because of specified differences the two phenomena cannot be classified under a c o m m o n term and subsumed under the same set of generalizations. T h e first result is an


extended and generalized explanatory model; the second result is conceptual clarification. In either case, the consequence is improved understanding.

But these are obviously councils of perfection. S o stated the requirements of social scientific history d e m a n d a range of technical skills and a diversity of knowledge to which few of us can realistically aspire. T h e consequence of these requirements is further difference between traditional and social scientific history. T h e pursuit of traditional history is a singularly individualistic enterprise. Perhaps because of the view of history as a form of literary art, the image of the traditional historian is that of the individual scholar labouring alone and requiring little beyond source material, experience, and native intelligence; and the product of that effort is a uniquely individual contribution. Social scientific history in contrast is a heavily co-operative and collaborative effort. Emphasis is placed o n rapidity in c o m m u n i cating findings, u p o n sharing needed resources, a n d u p o n , co-operation in their development. Specialization is explicitly recognized and d r a w n u p o n , a n d the results of research, whether or not direct collaboration is involved, are seen as the products of cumulative,and co-operative effort.26

Even at best, however, social scientific history confronts serious obstacles, and its pursuit is foredoomed to frequent frustrations. Yet social science seems to hold the best hope for a systematic, albeit provisional, knowledge of society which would provide the basis for solutions to h u m a n problems. Historical studies, or so it is argued here, can contribute in vital ways to the development of social scientific knowledge. T h u s the effort required to confront obstacles and willingness to accept frustrations are justified.

. Notes '

1 The latter perspective is stated in broader terms . by George C . H o m a n s when he argues that

'the social sciences include psychology, anthropology, sociology, economics, political science, history, and probably linguistics. These sciences are in fact a single science. They share the same subject matter—the behavior of m a n . ' The Nature of Social Science, p. 3, N e w York, Harcourt, Brace and World, 1967.

2 The new history and the debates between new and traditional historians are discussed in various places. See for example the collection of essays, 'History and the Social Sciences: Progress and Prospects' published in American Behavioral Scientist, N o . 21, November/ December 1977. See also Robert W . Fogel, Scientific History and Traditional History, Harvard University, 1979 (mimeo) ; and, from a different perspective, Lawrence Stone,

'History and'the Social Sciences in the Twentieth Century', in Charles F . Delzell (ed.), The Future of History: Essays in the Vanderbilt University Centennial Symposium, pp . 3-42, Nashville, Term. , Vanderbilt University Press, 1977.

3 Douglas C . North, 'The N e w Economic History After Twenty Years', American Behavioral Scientist, N o . 21, November/December, 1977, P. 197.

4 M . M . Postan, Fact and Relevance: Essays on Historical Method, pp . 74-5, Cambridge,

. Cambridge University Press, 1971. 6 Douglas C . North, 'Structure and Performance:

The Task of Economic History", p p . 1-2, 1978. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, University of Washington. (Mimeo.)

6 See for example Walter Dean Burnham, Critical Elections and the Mainsprings of American

610 Jerome M . Clubb

Notes {continued)

Politics, N e w York, W . W . Norton & C o . , 1970, and Philip E . Converse, 'Change in the American Electorate', in Angus Campbell and Philip E . Converse (eds.), The Human Meaning of Social Change, pp. 263-337. N e w York , Russell Sage Foundation,. 1972.

7 Robert W . Fogel, 'The Limits of Quantitative Methods in History', American Historical Review, N o . 80, April, 1975, pp. 329-50..

8 These issues are briefly reviewed in Jerome M . Clubb and Allan G . Bogue, 'History,1

Quantification, and the Social Sciences', American Behavioral, Scientist, op. cit., p p . 167-85, and at greater length in J. Morgan Kousser, Quantitative Social Scientific History', California Institute of Technology, June, 1979. (Social,Science Working Paper, • 272.) (Mimeo.)

8 Quoted in Peter D . McClelland, Causal Explanation and Model Building in History, Economics, and the New Economic History, p. 105, Ithaca, N . Y . , Cornell University Press, 1975.

10 Hubert M . Blalock, Jf, Causai Inferences in Non-experimental Research, pp . 5-6, Chapel Hill, N . C . , The University of North Carolina Press, 1961. The italics are Blalock's.

11 See in this respect Arthur L . Stinchcombe, Theoretical Methods in Social History, pp . 4-7, N e w York, Academic Press, 1978.

12 These issues are discussed more specifically in Allan G . Bogue, et al., 'The N e w Political History', American Behavioral Scientist, op . cit., pp. 201-20.

13 For a discussion of some of these issues in relation to one historical problem, see Jerome M . Clubb and Howard W . Allen, 'Collective Biography and the Progressive Movement: The "Status Revolution" Revisited', Social Science History, 1 (Summer, 1977), pp. 518-34.

11 For a discussion of problems of historical data and their implications, see Murray G . M u r -phey, Our Knowledge of the Historical Past Indianapolis, Ind., The Bobbs-Merrill C o . , Inc., 1973.

16 Hubert M . Blalock, Jr, 'The Measurement Problem: A G a p Between the Languages of Theory and Research', in Hubert M . Blalock and A n n B . Blaclock (eds.), Methodology in Social Research, N e w York, McGraw-Hill, 1968, pp. 5-27.

18 Robert W . Fogel, 'Scientific' History and Tra

ditional History, pp. 1-12. See also McClelland, op. cit., pp. 77-84.

17 The quotations are in Fogel, op. cit., pp. 6-7 and are from Oscar Handlin, et al., The Harvard Guide to American History, pp. 24-5, C a m bridge, Mass. , The Belknap Press, 1954.

18 Noting the rapidly changing nature of the social sciences, the frailties of social scientific theories and findings, and the importance of choosing 'the appropriate theory or method rather than the wrong one', Stone suggests that 'there is nothing. wrong with poking about in a social science to try to find some formula, some hypothesis, some model, some method which has immediate relevance to one's o w n work, and which seems to help one to understand one's data better and to arrange and interpret them in a more meaningful way. . . . T o ignore the contributions of the social sciences is clearly fatal; to master them all, or even any one, is clearly impos-

' sible. The most the historian can hope to achieve is the somewhat superficial overview of the enthusiastic undergraduate interested in the field'. Lawrence Stone, 'History and the Social Sciences in the Twentieth Century', p . 19.

19 McClelland, op. cit., pp. 78-80. 20 Quoted in ibid., p. 79. See J. H . Hexter, Doing

History, pp. 18-19, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1971.

21 The preceding paragraphs in this section draw upon Fogel, 'Scientific History and Traditional History', at least as I interpret him. The following paragraphs m a y depart from his views.

22 Obviously these rules and criteria represent an effort to translate the experimental method of the natural sciences into a form that can be employed in situations in which experimentation is impossible.

23 A n excellent example is provided by Charles, Louise and Richard Tilly, The Rebellious Century, 1830-1930, Cambridge, Mass. , Harvard University Press, 1975.

21 Stone, op. cit., p . 28. Stone's italics. 251 See Murray G . Murphey, Our Knowledge of the

Historical Past, Chapters 5 and 6. 26 For a more extended discussion of these issues see

Fogel, 'Scientific' History . . ., op. cit., pp. 34-7.

Allegories

Andcrson-Giraudon History, bas-relief by Agostino di Duccio, Tempio Malatestiano, Rimini, Italy.

Allegories

Giraudon

History, bas-relief by Clodion, Palais de la Légion d'Honneur, Paris. Note bust of the young Napoleon, left.

Supports for historical records

Col. Musée de l'Homme

Engraved stone recording local history, Chekou, Yunnan, China.

Supports for historical records

Bison skin clothes, eighteenth century, M a n d a u Indians, Arkansas. Above, for a warrior recording his exploits. Below, for a w o m a n , symbolizing the world and the universe. Col. Musée de l 'Homme

White whale jaw, Alaska.

Col. Musée de l 'Homme Engraved bamboo, N e w Caledonia, relating daily and ceremonial life.

Allegory of the history of America on toile de Jouy (French). Roger-Viollet

T h e history of history

i wtfiwftc contaitfrfatw

WnoOfcyiinm mon

tßuy itcfktpitíon cottteSe tcißucnroaneftit* hJiHtwp

' fouuuont befand}** cr h *t}t>ttfmt froiflart ytoît It

roi{+(\iu(tc*ttu>êkHt4tütt tob tftKfc <m40n)*paffù ÍC me(iirni j &q*\\\\H fit Qii(f(ítm4(trctM"lc :

"-iefoét<ti»tfütecK rtÎK Cmt* \

atpTt tâvnnait »ir fottnifùt* i Ciceione-Bulloz

- . ' . . * • ^ , ^ . .

T h e French chronicler, Joinville, presenting his w o r k . Illuminated manuscript, 1479.

Illustration to a History of the French in America, showing landing in Florida, end of the sixteenth century.

Roger-Viollet

z3É$$çmz A library in the Netherlands, 1630. Note the number of shelves devoted to history, right.

Snark/Bibliothèque Nationale

History in strip form

^t»T-nttwwM»c'' ir . ' t t» .? : t :* c* UfM-fA'-JfMA-' •in-««.

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Col. Musée de l 'Homme Detail from The Legend of the Queen of Sheba by the Ethiopian artist Agganaw Engeda (early twentieth century).

Detail from the Bayeux tapestry (1066-71) showing a coronation. Roger-Viollet

Historical fantasies

Daily life in prehistoric times as acted out in the Federal Republic of G e r m a n y .

Roger-Viollet

Bulloz Moses Saved from the Waters (1638) by N . Poussin.

The Return of the Menfolk is Announced (1898). A painting in a series on 'Life in the Bronze Age ' by P . Jamin. Roger-Viollct

History in the theatre

Chinese painted masks (Jien p'ou) representing historical personages. Left, a wounded bandit. Right, Chi-Liao, King of W u , w h o was assassinated by his brother's servant.

Col. Musée de l 'Homme

Combat between samurai in the snow, a scene from Japanese kabuki. Gerster/Rapho

Br.

'€íM

ztiJM

K e a n as Shakespeare's Richard III (early nineteenth century). Rogcr-Viollet

History in opera

Portrait of Czar Boris Godunov (1551-1605).

Doc. Bibl. de l'Opéra

Fcodor Chaliapine, bass, as Boris Godunov in Mussorgsky's opera.

v ; . [i- ¡I. I

A traditionally realistic production of Wagner's The Mastersingers of Nürnberg.

A modern production oí Boris Godunov by Joseph Losey at the Paris Opera, 1980, using symbolic historical elements only.

History in the cinema

F r o m an early French film of The Three Musketeers. Col. Y ' . Christ

F r o m D . W . Griffith's Intolerance (1916). Col. G . D e Pierre

Col. G . D e Pierre From S. M . Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible (1945).

The early camera captures history

'King Billy and his wives'. A group of Australian aborigines, c. 1856.

Col. Sirot

D . R . Japanese soldiers w h o had fought the Europeans, 1864. The photograph has been retouched for effect.

The last day on the battlefield of Nashville, Tennessee, during the American Civil W a r , 16 December 1864.

Roger-Viollet

Rogcr-Viollct British cavalrymen fraternizing with a French soldier during the Crimean W a r , 1855.

Science serves history

X-ray of a Greek vase showing cracks.

Photo C E A

Treating a wooden statue by the consolidation process perfected by the Centre of Nuclear Energy, Grenoble, France.

Aerial photograph revealing prehistoric tracings in Californian rocks. Gerster/Rapho

Historical reconstructions

D . R . Nineteenth-century Norwegian rural interiors displayed at the Romsdalmuseet, Molde, Norway.

•» .%ÊjSomM

' i máft W&SkAi

Col. Monuments Historiques The castle of Challain-la-Pothcric, constructed in 1856 in the Loire Valley, France.

The Troubadour bed-chamber of Ludwig II of Bavaria, Schloss Ncuschwanstein, Bavaria (1886-88).

Jünger Verlag

Photo Unesco Dismantling temples of Philea, Nubia, to save them from the waters rising behind the A s w a n High D a m . They were transferred to safe ground (1978-80) by the Egyptian Antiquities Organization assisted through an international campaign launched by Unesco, in 1960.

Historical reconstructions

R . Burry Magnum A Graeco-Roman temple, purchased in Europe and reconstructed at William Randolph Hearst's San Simeon estate in California, 1919-24.

Documents by Florence Bonjean

History and the sociology of art*

, Krastio Goranov

Marxism m a d e evident and methodologically binding the relation between scientific historicism and the sociology of art. This relation however is neither automatic nór without problems. T h e problems arise with the very definition of history. I believe that the term 'history' has three different meanings: an objective and irreversible process which, though it is the result of people's action, is independent of the will and arbitrariness of individual and collective consciousness; an elementary (spontaneous) notion ('objectivized' in mythology, folklore, religious belief, customs, superstitions, c o m m o n consciousness, manipulated mass psychology, etc.); and a science with a defined structure and methodology as a basic principle of scientific thinking (historicism). These three meanings are, of course, interrelated.

These three interrelated meanings can also be applied to art. It is n o doubt difficult for the sociology of art, which studies objective processes, to be concerned with the three aspects of history, but the very core of artistic phenomena is spiritual and psychological, while the historical approach to art is a methodological necessity. Apart from this, art is part of general history but has its o w n relatively independent history. Both constitute the soil on which the sociology of art is likely to grow. But these two aspects of the problem (the first characterized by certain notions about the social determination of art, and the second by the idea of the effect of art upon the society which has given rise to it) do not always coexist comfortably and give rise to m a n y problems. It is not easy to define convincingly the determining role of the history of society with regard to the history of art, and especially with regard to individual artists or works of art. A n y determinism in this sphere turns out to be misplaced, though art is essentially a social phenomenon . Furthermore, art not only has its o w n history (universal, regional, national and varied by genre and type) but, being a cultural p h e n o m e n o n , it is an indispensable component of h u m a n history. But is it really indispensable? A n d where are the roots

Krastio Goranov is Professor ofPhilosophy at the Higher Institute of Theatrical and Cinematographic Arts, of Aesthetics at the Academy of Fine Arts, of the Sociology of Art at the University, and of the Theory of Culture at the Academy of Social and Managerial Sciences in Sofia, Bulgaria. He founded the Institute of Culture in Bulgaria, of which he was the first director and has published widely on aesthetics, the sociology of art and the theory of culture.

* The quotations in this article have been freely translated and m a y differ from the relevant passages in English versions of the works quoted, where these exist—Ed.

Int. Soc. Scl. J., Vol. XXXIII, N o . 4, 1981

612 Krastio Goranov

of its incomparable value, its constructive potential for social groups and personal spiritual development?

I would like to dwell here on two aspects of the interpénétration between sociology and history. The first aspect is methodological: the principal point is to clarify h o w the various conceptions of history are transformed into scientific historicism, the core of this aspect being the logical comparison between historical and artistic cognition. The second aspect is the specificity of art as a historical phenomenon.

Philosophies of history

T h e comparison between history and poetry—at least in European thinking—was first drawn by Plato and Aristotle. Their conceptions are both contradictory and similar. The conception concerning the relation between history and poetry (explicit or implicit) is based on a certain idea of the relationship between reality and art in general. According to Plato, reality is the realm of ideas, while the realm of objects and, hence, of history is merely the pale shadow of ideas. W h e n art imitates that 'shadow of the shadow', it is false and Plato has no respect for it. H e wants art to penetrate only into the sphere of eternal and invariable ideas, for only then can it be eidos of the truth, of virtue and beauty. Aristotle's position is quite different. H e maintains that nature (i.e. h u m a n life and history) represents the true reality the mimetic capacity of art being its principal and supreme quality. This difference constitutes the demarcation between materialist and idealist aesthetics, between the materialist and the idealist interpretation of art. It remains valid for all subsequent interpretations of the relation between history and art.

But the similarity is also obvious. Both for Plato and Aristotle, poetry has certain advantages over history for various reasons. A t the beginning of Chapter 9 of his Poetics, Aristotle sees the difference between a historian and a poet in that 'the first speaks of what has really happened, while the second of what might happen'.1 This is probably the only point in Aristotle's comparison not challenged today. Aristotle further maintains that there are two additional characteristics: the ideological character of an artistic work, in contrast to the fortuitous relations between historical events; and that art expresses more about widespread phenomena, while history deals with isolated ones.

Without considering this further, for it has often been discussed, I propose to dwell on a question left to us by Neo-Kantianism in the nineteenth century: h o w is it possible to apprehend history? Chronologically, this question was formulated after M a r x had already answered it, and both the question and the answers of Neo-Kantians were to a certain extent provoked by, and opposed to, Marx's answer.

According to M a r x , history is a science about the development of society, whose relation to materialistically interpreted dialectics is organic, and for that


reason it is the 'sole science'. Things, however, are not confined to the cognitive sphere. History as a science is the reflection of objective relations between events and p h e n o m e n a , which M a r x called a 'natural-historical' process. H e gave a n e w meaning both to the relation between society and natural evolution and to the n e w principle, arising from labour and social organization. Objective laws govern both nature and society. At the basis of h u m a n history lie the productive forces, which are the concrete relations between m a n and nature, on which are built the various forms of h u m a n communication; in antagonistic societies the laws of history have the effect of blind elemental forces of nature. 'Hence, ' writes M a r x in The German Ideology,

this interpretation of history posits the need (starting from the material production of life) of considering the real process of production and understanding the form of communication, resulting from a given m o d e of production and born of it. This means that class society in its various forms is the basis for all history. It is necessary also to represent the dynamics of class society in the sphere of state affairs and to explain the various theoretical products and forms of consciousness, religion, philosophy, morality, etc., and to trace their emergence on that basis, as a result of which the process can be represented as a whole (hence, also the interaction between its various aspects).2

M a r x believed that earlier conceptions of history 'completely ignore the real basis of history', eliminate 'people's relation to nature, thus creating an opposition between nature and history' . and the belief that ideologies, 'imagination', 'notions', etc., determine the course of history. M a r x criticized G e r m a n objective-idealist historiography, according to which importance is attached not so m u c h to reality, and not even to political interests, but to clear thoughts, which devour each other and finally disappear in 'self-consciousness'. 'So-called objective historiography'—according to M a r x , 'consisted in considering historical relations in isolation from activity',3 which explains its reactionary character.

M a r x sees in practical activity a real category through which the dynamics of history are explained. Activity presupposes the existence of an actor, without, however, losing its objectivity. T h e actor is not merely a subjective consciousness but possesses an ontological reality going beyond the frames of the basic gnosio-logical 'object-subject' opposition. Lenin, in Materialism and Empiriocriticism, writes:

The standpoint of life, of practice, should be the first and principal standpoint of the theory of cognition (gnosiology). O f course, w e must not forget that the criterion of practice can never completely confirm or refute the essence of any h u m a n notion. This criterion is 'indefinite' to the extent that it prevents knowledge from becoming 'absolute', and at the same time is sufficiently definite so as to conflict ruthlessly with all varieties of idealism and agnosticism.4

Such an approach clarifies the relation between the object and the subject in the historical process. History is objective, but that does not m e a n that it progresses

614 Krastio Goranov

without people's participation. H u m a n production and the division of labour is the point of departure of all history. However, subjective factors play a considerable role which expands with the acceleration of social progress.

Marxism discovered that the laws of class struggle, and of the development of socio-economic formations were the real laws of history. It is the socioeconomic formation that can 'unmask' the apparent contradiction between objective laws and the 'whims of coincidence' oriented by the desire and will of millions of consciousnesses. The laws of history are objective, but they do not operate automatically, without the participation of consciousness. In this way, the relatively autonomous development of separate components of socio-economic formations becomes more comprehensible: productive forces, productive relations and especially the various elements of the superstructure. M a r x left an unfinished and brilliant explanation of the irregularity in the development of the ancient Greek ethos and of art in general. The irregular and relatively independent development of the spiritual spheres does not imply the rejection of social determinism, but it is an argument against a metaphysical interpretation of the automatic operation of the laws of history.

Historical thought moves in zigzags, with m a n y turn-abouts; sometimes old theoretical positions re-emerge as new ones. This, for example, is the case of the opposition between nature and history, or natural and historical sciences, typical of Kant's and Hegel's philosophies. It was to some extent disregarded by French and English Positivism, but became the point of departure of the Neo-Kantian philosophy of history. It is against this background that the two forms of nineteenth century positivism must be understood: that of Auguste Comte and of the Neo-Kantians. T o the positivist method of cognition, the basic requirements are the identification of the facts and the formulation of certain laws, by way of induction. Emphasis is placed on the facts, which are regarded as independent of each other and of the consciousness apprehending them, while the laws are rather disregarded by professional historians, to become the domain of sociologists. The task of the historian is to collect raw material (facts), out of which the sociologist fashions a science (deduces laws). In this way, history as an aggregation of separate facts turns into something between science and the simple monitoring of facts, or is considered as an art. Comte's positivism identifies the laws of nature and society, and justifies the assimilation of historical methods of cognition to the methods and procedures of the natural sciences. This is reflected in the interpretation of the very notion of a 'fact'. A 'fact' is that single given thing which is perceived directly by the feeling and observing subject. The direct sensation constitutes the decisive cognitive act. But can historical fact, most often confirmed by documents or by indirect evidence, be assimilated to the recurring facts of the natural sciences? C a n it be tested in the laboratory?

The Neo-Kantians' answer is negative. A s early as the middle of the last century, Dreuzen5 regarded nature as a simultaneous coexistence of objects, and


history as their successive emergence. A t the end of the nineteenth century, the Neo-Kantians gave a n e w definition of the cognitive capacities of the subject. Windelbandt was the first, in 1894, to speak of two types of scientific knowledge: nomothetic sciences (formulating laws) and history (describing discrete facts).6

Historical cognition is value-laden, informed by moral judgement and thus goes beyond science. Such was the conclusion of Neo-Kantian positivism, which subjectivized the Aristotelian opposition through the theory of values. Starting by a critique of this extreme position, Rikkert7 goes no further with his ideas about generalizing and individualizing cognitive methods. According to him, Windelbandt differentiated natural science and history not by two but by four categories: the difference between a generalizing and an individualizing thought and the difference between an evaluating and a non-evaluating thought. W h e n these categories combine, four types of science are obtained: non-evaluating and generalizing (pure natural history, which is an arbitrary construction of thought); non-evaluating and non-generalizing (such as the so-called historical sciences of nature, geology, evolutionary biology, etc.); evaluating and generalizing (sociology, economics, etc.); and evaluating and individualizing (history). Here, history turns out to be the leading science, but at a very high price: Rikkert adheres to the positivist interpretation of history, as a description of isolated events, singled out from the continuous historical process. Thus, he is unable to answer the important question: H o w - is historical cognition m a d e possible?

Here w e must admit a contradiction. Positivism is a path towards subjective idealism, but it is still 'naturalistic' or, as Lenin says, allows for materialistic interpretations. This compromise was characteristic of Kant, but also of his followers, in the late-nineteenth-century, w h o , though renouncing 'naturalism' to a certain extent, tried to interpret history as an experience, if not of ideas, at least of sensations or images. For Simmel,8 the important thing was not to distinguish between natural science and history, but the fact that natural science phenomena can be examined here and n o w in laboratory experiments, while historical facts, though confirmed by documents, evidence and relics, must be reconstructed in the consciousness of the historian. But h o w is this possible and h o w can w e be sure that such a reconstruction is accurate, and not just an arbitrary manipulation? Wilhelm Dilthey9 tried to answer this. In his opinion, historical cognition represents the historian's inner experience with regard to the subject of his studies, one that is psychologically grounded. Hence, historical cognition emerges only w h e n supported by a natural science, such as psychology, which is nomothetic. But what relation does this bear to the laws of history? S o m e time later, Meyer maintained explicitly that historical laws did not exist. Simmel and Dilthey tried to trace them in the historian's experiences. But then, is there r o o m for cognition about the object? Simmel said that history is a projection of the historian's cognitive experience into the past, a projection of a certain state of consciousness against the screen of past events. Such is the source of the famous Einfühlungstheorie (theory of empathy),

616 Krastio Gòranov

which exerted a strong influence upon the psychologization of aesthetic phenomena. For Dilthey things were different, but similar. T h e laws of history in the long run turned out to be laws of self-cognition (self-knowledge). Individual existence was an immediate experience {Erlebnis), when one recognized oneself this was already knowledge—self-knowledge. O f course, for the past to become self-knowledge, it was necessary for it to become part of the historian's personal experience. But h o w could this purely subjective experience lead us to the object of historical knowledge? Obviously, it could not. The historical process was understood as being spiritual, since self-knowledge was a part of the spirit.

The inner contradiction, characteristic of Dilthey, that history is self-knowledge, which, however, can only be derived from the natural-scientific positions of psychology, shows that the dilemma between naturalism and idealistic historicism survives. That was also Kant's dilemma. History as an experience is not yet a science, and psychological naturalism is entirely devoid of historicism. The very concept of naturalism in this case is vague and obscure. It gives, above all, a negative perspective on any materialism (mainly on Marx's historical materialism), and also contests the positions of Freud and partly of Jung (which indeed are hostile to historicism).

Phenomenology appears at first as a critique of the psychologism of the Neo-Kantians. But it is not a materialistic critique, as it tries to support the idealistic interpretation of the essence of existence and history. In the light of phenomenological transcendentalism and reduction, historical phenomena acquire a n e w meaning. In the Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Philosophy (1936), E d m u n d Husserl, after opposing the objective truth of materialistic 'objectivism' to the position of phenomenological transcendentalism since 'the raison d'être of the living world is a subjective formation, an acquisition of those cognizing', draws a principal deduction: Is not the existence of the world in its unquestionable simplicity the primary essential and should w e not ask the simple question: what belongs to it? T h e first essential is subjectivity, which initially naively acknowledges the existence of the world, and then 'rationalizes, which means objectivizing'.10 Admitting that the whole history of philosophy is that of the struggle between objectivism (materialism) and transcendentalism (idealism), Husserl explains history through transcendental subjectivity. History is a 'self-meditation by the philosopher and the historian; a "self-understanding" of what the individual (as a historical being) is striving after'. Such a 'teleological historical interpretation' stands above, and is independent of any historical documents and evidence, 'because it is proved only through the evidence of full critical consideration, which makes possible ultimately reasonable harmony arising from behind the "historical facts" of documented philosophemes and their imaginary existence in sequence and contiguous to each other'.11

Such is the conclusion of transcendental phenomenology, widely diffused and continued by its numerous supporters. History becomes subjectivized and the


distinction between the historical and historicism only represents two different ways of subjectivizing time and the historical process. This is a vast question, which leads us to an extremely influential methodology for understanding not only history as a sui generis culture, but also cultural phenomena. The opposition between the existence and meaning of cultural phenomena gives birth to a methodology which unfolds the potential of empirical and theoretical sociology, at least in some of its present manifestations.

T h e connection between history and art is clear in the works of Benedetto Croce and Robin G . Collingwood. In his early writings, at the end of the nineteenth century, Croce gives a new meaning to Aristotle's problem. H e submits that art narrates what is likely to happen, and history what has really happened. But what actually happened was likely to happen at an earlier stage. It was then a possibility, which occurred at length, and in this sense history is considered as a mere subcategory of art.12 In his later works, Croce corrects his o w n standpoint, subjecting it to the laws of logic, and considering history to be an 'individual judgement', with a conceptual predicate. It is not hard to apply this to art as well. Certainly, the artist is not a tabula rasa with regard to the reality portrayed by him, and when he imitates persons and qualities he already has his o w n conception, conviction, experience, that is, his o w n definite conceptual predicates.

Collingwood borrowed m a n y of his premises from Croce, but he paid special attention to the role of imagination in historical cognition. The point concerns constructive imagination. W h e n imagination is necessarily tied to events that really happened, this is already in the sphere of history. But at the origin of both there is 'the a priori imagination'. Collingwood is inclined to admit the constraining character of the writer's narrative, though he does not accept truth as its m a r k of merit. H e writes in his Epilegomens that the historian has a double task: like the writer he must build up a picture filled with meaning and at the same time this picture should represent things and events just as they happened in reality.13

F r o m this brief account of various philosophical conceptions of history, w e can see that the dialectics between the 'widespread' and the 'individual' and the inability to understand correctly the category of the 'peculiar' is an obstacle. A n d it was not by coincidence that, borrowing certain ideas from Goethe, Georg Lukács considered the 'peculiar' as a basic category of the 'aesthetic' and the 'artistic'.11

The sociology of art and its problems

The main point here is the exaggeration of the constructive role of historical consciousness (very often attributed to the historian's personality). According to Collingwood, historical thinking is an act of the imagination, with the help of which w e attempt to invest the inner idea with concrete content. This is achieved by using the present as evidence of the past. Every reconstruction of the past in the

618 Krastio Goranov

imagination is directed towards a reconstruction of the past of the present, being perceived here and n o w . 1 5

Such a conception meets with obstacles w h e n w e face problems of sociological cognition. Sociology always deals with the present; its facts are always here and n o w . But it cannot interpret without reference to the necessity and causality of historical continuity; in other words, it is potent only so long as it is historical. W e m a y say that sociology is quasi-historical, for it deals with general laws, not with discrete facts. But Croce had already pointed to the necessity of a conceptual predicate about the 'personal judgement' of the historian. Hence, history is not possible without general ideas, and sociology is not possible without an analysis of mass phenomena and also of certain typical individual phenomena ( M a x Weber also felt it necessary to typologize sociological facts). C a n w e then draw a borderline between history and sociology on this basis, suggested by Gollingwood, also taking into consideration the distinction between the historicism of sociology and history as an autonomous science? Such a distinction cannot be established if these two sciences are considered not as two different ways of making reality objective, but as constructions either of the imagination, or of another element of consciousness.

This leads us directly to the problems and difficulties faced by the sociology of art, which are mainly methodological.

Both positivism ( M m e de Staël, Hippolyte Taine) and Marxism, though in radically different ways, admit history as the basis for the sociology of art. The later positivists (Charles Lalo, H . Focillon, Housenstein, Fritsche and others) are inclined to interpret the sociology of art as a 'morphology of history' (the term is H . Focillon's),16 as a science of forms, arising out of defined social conditions. Certain positivists, like L . G o l d m a n , having passed through Marxism, try to replace the problem of historicism with the so-called 'genetic problem' or with the problem of structures, while others have doubts as to the idea of historical causality." At best, according to G o l d m a n , art and literature are the expression of a given conception of the world, such conceptions not being individual but social phenomena. Roger Bastide underlines that art and literature are to be attributed to a group or class of people with all their economic and social conditions of life.18 Thus , historicism is c o m m o n to all significant schools in the sociology of art (though in different ways and from different philosophical positions), the attempts of both 'naturalism' (Freudism and Jungianism) and 'transcendentalism' (e.g. phenomenology) because of their very anti-historicism to base their parameters on sociology in general, and on the sociology of art in particular being quite groundless.

Historicism is obviously not the only condition for success in sociological studies of art. T h e value of historicism depends directly on the quality and consistency of materialistic monism. Husserl saw the cause for the crisis in European science in the Cartesian dualism between nature and spirit, in natu-


ralistic objectivism, which applies scientific methods also to the examination of the spirit, but is incapable of bridging the gap between the body and the mind, and tried to impose idealistic monism. It turned out, however, that monism had nothing to do with history, that it was 'too m u c h for it'. There is also a type of materialism which approaches spiritual phenomena in a mechanical way , does not understand their relative independence, and tries, for example, to reduce them to economic factors. This 'economic materialism' is identified with Marxism by some. Such a critique of Marxism was m a d e by Pierre Francastel19 in the context of certain works by Arnold Häuser, w h o is familiar with the shortcomings of 'economism', adopted under the influence of Simmel, Sombart and M a x Weber.

This economic reductionism has nothing to do with Marxism. 'With regard to art,' writes M a r x , 'it is well k n o w n that certain periods of its golden age do not correspond to the general progress of society, and consequently, to the development of its material basis, which represents the frame of its organization.'20

It is not economic automatism that is characteristic of Marxism, but the idea of the irregularity of historical development, which is one of the premises of materialistic monism in the sociology of art.

T h e specificity of artistic creation

Hippolyte Taine compared the sociology of art with botany, seeing it as a kind of botany, applied not to plants but to h u m a n creations.21 Its task is to reveal the relations of consistency and simultaneity between works of art and other social (moral, political, etc.) factors. Through works of art, the scientist reconstructs the truth about historical periods, which cannot be observed directly. In Lanson's opinion, readers have to learn h o w , through the prism of a page by Montaigne, a play by Corneille, or a sonnet by Voltaire, it is possible to apprehend particular moments of universal, European or French culture. Even the most original artist inherits three-quarters of his make-up. 2 2 Georg Brandes believed that a consistent acceptance of the conceptions of Hippolyte Taine led to the construction of a history of literature without authors (this has been done by Wölflin in the history of fine arts), with the help of Sainte-Beuve's 'biographical method'.

These basic ideas of the cultural-historical school, with all its indisputable merits, m a k e it incapable of penetrating the sancta sanctorum of the peculiarities of both artistic works and schools. The work is reduced to a historical relic, without any inherent value, mere evidence of historical and social events.

This almost total determinism of the cultural-historical school has been corrected by comparative historical methods, which are of great importance both to the history of art and to its sociological analysis, but the general inability to attain the actual creative act and the work of art remains. A . N . Vesselovsky, one

620 Krastio Goranov

of the greatest representatives of the comparative-historical theory of literature, wrote in 1884:

The main result of m y survey, which is especially dear to m e , is vital for the history of poetic creativity. I would not dream of raising the curtain hiding from us the secrets of personal creativity, dealt with by the aesthetes and which rather belong to the realm of psychologists. . . . O f course, the poet is connected with material, inherited from past times, but his starting point has been determined by what has been done before him. A n y poet, Shakespeare or another, enters the realm of existing poetic works, has an interest in certain subjects, keeps abreast of the fashion, and finally appears at a time, when a certain poetic genre has already been developed. T o be able to define the degree of his personal initiative, we have to trace from the very beginning the history of what he used in his work, and consequently our research should break up into the history of poetic language, style, literary plots and conclude with the problem of the historical consistency of poetic genres, of their regularity and relations to historical and social development.23

Historical determinism is not so rigid, and includes the traditions of poetry and culture, but nevertheless personal creation remains a veiled secret. Is there any creative w o r k that is not personal to some extent? Even collective folk creativity is not impersonal.

W e have already seen that attempts both of psychologism and p h e n o m -enologism to approach the specificity of artistic creation, whatever their drawbacks and merits, are affected by their inadequate historicism. It is hardly necessary to underline explicitly that present-day manifestations of both the cultural-historical school, and of psychologism and phenomenologism have corrected a n u m b e r of shortcomings without, however, modifying the essence of their methodologies.

Within authentic Marxism, G . V . Plekhanov was one of the first to apply the materialist interpretation of history to the complex sphere of art. His Letters without Address demonstrated h o w the sociology of art can reveal the regularities which gave birth to and determined the character of primitive art and of aesthetic attitudes to the world. His Art and Social Life is also a classic. F r o m the positions of historical-materialistic m o n i s m he threw light not only on the general relationship between society and art, but also on the specificities of personal creative w o r k . H e analysed very convincingly the mystery of Pushkin's passion for 'pure art', compared Pushkin's o w n interpretation with the idea of Fart pour l'art in French poetry, and defined not only the widespread social but also individual distinctions.24 N o r can w e underestimate the fine w o r k of Franz Mehring, The Legend of Lessing, in which this great G e r m a n Marxist provided not only a materialist picture of G e r m a n Enlightenment, but also a unique creative work. His works on Klopstock, Herder, Goethe, Schiller, Heine and others25 are equally remarkable. The sociological contribution of A . V . Lunacharsky is also great: his numerous researches into the sociology of literature, music, drama, , theatre,

History and the sociology, of art 621

fine arts, cinema, the general problems of the sociology of culture and the sociology of art still do not attract the attention they deserve. In his History of West European Literature (lectures delivered in the first difficult years following the October Revolution), he applies with great competence the dialectics between 'general', 'particular', and 'individual'. Lunarcharsky studies not only the 'norms', but also the pathology of art. In his remarkable study Sociological and Pathological Factors in the History of Art, he conducts an analysis of Hölderlin's work . H e introduced the notions of 'healthy' and 'sick' epochs. In the first case pathology in art seems an eccentricity, but in times of collapse 'when every normal m a n suffers from contradictions and looks for heralds, w h o feel the contradictions in a subtle way and k n o w h o w to express negative experiences in a captivating manner—in such times history touches the pathological keyboard with the hand of a piano virtuoso'.28 A talented, but mentally disturbed person living in a normal epoch might remain u n k n o w n or little k n o w n , but in 'sick' epochs he m a y be resurrected—in which case 'history touches not only the live, but even the dead keyboard: what was dead comes to life, becoming contemporary with the later epoch'. For all the significance of objective social conditions, of the class struggle, individuality is of unique importance to Lunacharsky. 'In art,' he writes, 'we should not believe that importance attaches to groups, and not to geniuses'."7

In this same vein the analyses of Antonio Gramsci, especially of Dante and Pirandello, are also of great importance.

Conclusion

The sociology of art is still defining its subject, methods and categories. It will have to bridge the gap between the average statistical data of empirical observations and the uniqueness of individual aesthetic perception, to dethrone the would-be objectivism of experimental methods and to seek genuinely objective criteria for the subjective contribution of the observer. A reasonable combination of synchrony and diachrony requires a sociology of artistic culture and a social psychology of artistic culture. The notion of artistic culture28 embraces the creative process as a social act, the total artistic value, covering socialized works of art, the diffusion of these values through 'traditional' and 'mass' channels and the paradoxes of artistic perception: It is important to point out that the cultural approach intensifies the positions of historicism in the sociology of art, for art is not merely considered as a subjective image of the objective world, as a psychological or emotional state, but as an integral, specific process, possessing social objectivity, so that w e should be able to observe its emergence and development, its influence upon persons, groups and other social phenomena, its participation in the social mix, the disappearance of some of its forms and the appearance of n e w ones. Artistic culture is not limited to the figurative systems of art (though they are its nucleus),

622 Krastio Goranov

but also comprises certain institutions, without which there is neither creative activity, nor perception or effect of artistic values.29

The approach considered here bears upon m a n y problems, concerning the relationship between 'world history of society—world history of art' and embraces the interactions and dynamic typology of universal, regional, national and other specificities. Today, the original notions of world literature or world culture are m u c h more of a reality than a theoretical construct. In C u b a and other Latin American countries, it was not by coincidence that a broad discussion on 'Europocentrism' and 'anti-Europocentrism' in Latin American literature and art has started. Into this discussion, m a n y voices from Asia and Africa will inevitably be drawn. Sometimes the important notion of cultural identity becomes contaminated by chauvinism or even racism, this 'sick' aspect being contrary to the international significance of cultural influences and relations. Sometimes it is not even understood that, in a class society, there are two cultures within the framework of the national culture. This attitude becomes the basis of reactionary mythologies or mysticism, parochialism, or even eschatological speculations, non-humanistic Messianism and racist segregation. Nevertheless, the dominating trends are not these, but the growing interpénétration between various past and contemporary cultures. These regional comparisons, for example, can m a k e us perceive the European Renaissance in a fresh way:.was it an exclusively European phenomenon or are there similar phenomena in Asian, American and African cultures?30

Notes

1 Aristotle, The Art of Poetry, 1857, p p . 67-8. 2 Karl M a r x and Friedrich Engels, Complete Works,

Vol. 3, 2nd ed., p p . 36-7 . 3 Ibid. 1 V . I. Lenin, Complete Works, Vol. 18, p p . 131-2. 5 Grundriss der Historik, Jena, 1958. 6 Windelbandt, Präludien, Vol. II, p p . 136-60,

Tübingen, 1915. 7 Die Grenzen der naturwissenschaftlichen Begriffs

bildung, Freiburg, 1896. 8 Die Probleme der Geschichtsphilosophie, Leipzig,

1892. 9 Dilthey is at thé origin of a number of ideas about

contemporary idealistic philosophy of history and theory of culture, on the basis of which modern hermeneutics, the method of empathy and 'understanding' historiography related to it were later developed. A n d all this takes its source from the well-known and only w o r k of Dilthey, Einleitung in dit Geisteswissenschaften, published in 1883. Dilthey,

the initiator of the 'Philosophy of Life', criticizes the abstract-spiritualistic theory of h u m a n nature and paves the way towards Husserl's 'phenomenological transcendentalism*. 'Thé word "to live" ', writes Husserl, 'here should be interpreted not in the physiological sense, but rather as meaning a goal-directed life, manifesting spiritual creation in the broadest sense—as creating culture (Kulturschaffend) within the framework of the historical continuum*. (Die Krisis der europäischen Wissenschaften und die transzendentale Phänomenologie: Eine Einleitung in die phänomenologische Philosophie, Vol. 6, p . 315, The Hague , Husserliana, 1954.)

10 Husserl, o p . cit., p . 72. 11 Ibid. 12 La s tor ia ridotta so tto in concetto generale dell'arte,

Bari, Primi Saggi, 1919. 13 R . G . Collingwood, The Idea of History, Oxford,

1961.


Notes (continued)

11 'Das Besondere als zentrale Kategorie der Ä s thetik', Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie, N o . 2, 1956.

16 Collingwood, op. cit. 16 H . Focillon, Vie desformes, Paris, Presses Univer

sitaires de France, 1970. 17 R . Bastide, Art et société, p . 39, Paris, Payot, 1977. 18 Ibid., p . 40. 18 Pierre Francastel, 'Problèmes de la sociologie de

l'art', Traité de sociologie, Vol. II, pp. 278-9, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France.

20 Marx and Engels, op. cit., Vol. 12, p. 737. 21 Hippolyte Taine, Philosophie de l'art, p . 13, Paris-

Geneva, 1980. 22 H . Lanson, Method of the History of Literature,

p. 4, Moscow, 1811. 23 In Memory of Acad. A. N. Vesselovsky, pg. 1921

(Supplement), pp. 29-30. 24 G . V . Plekhanov, Aesthetics and Sociology of Art,

Vols. I and II, Iskustvo, 1978. 25 Franz Mehring, Articles on Literary Criticism,

Moscow, G I H L , 1964.

26 A . V . Lunacharsky, Complete Works in 8 Volumes. Vol. 8: Artistic Literature, p . 80, M o s c o w , 1967.

27 Ibid., p . 81. 28 Krastio Goranov, Introduction, Art as a Process,

2nd ed., Sofia, 1977; Art and Social Life, 2nd ed., p. 249-75, Sofia, 1979.

29 Not everybody agrees with such a culturalist approach. In his book Notes towards the Definition of Culture (1948), T . S . Eliot m a d e a clear distinction between religion and culture. T o him religion was not merely the basis, but also the active starting-point of each culture, while the latter was considered to be the established way of life of a given people. A similar distinction was made in our days by Athanas Natev concerning art and culture. 'Individuality—a Trial for Art', Collective Works: Ethics, Social Cognition, Moral Behaviour, p. 346, Sofia, 1979.

30 N . I. Konrad, West and East, M o s c o w , 1966.

T h e contribution of history to social science*

E.J. Hobsbawm

All social sciences require historical evidence, in;so far as they deal with social reality, or attempt to verify or falsify general theoretical models by reference to evidence. This is self-evident, since any kind of evidence collected for the purpose of any social science, however contemporary, becomes 'historical' one m o m e n t after it has been collected, i.e. it refers to the past, even if it is the immediate past. Indeed, by the time that most of it is ready for use for the purpose of current analysis or future trends, it is already likely to be historical, for normally there must be a time-lag between collection and utilization. Public opinion polls designed to forecast election results have often demonstrated this. T o this extent there is no sharp distinction between historical and non-historical source-material. In practice there is some distinction, in so far as most evidence about 'the present' produced for current use in the social sciences, whether by official or private inquiry, experiment or in some other way , can be planned to meet a specific purpose, and the inquiry can be extended or elaborated or modified to meet this purpose. Historical evidence (which, as observed, includes all yesterday's current evidence) has to be taken as given. W e cannot add to it, though w e m a y try to extract all that is possible from it, including where possible the answers to questions which were not in the mind of those w h o compiled it. Thus, until 1831, British censuses did not give occupational data for individuals but only for families. There is no w a y of interpreting these census data to provide occupational data for individuals, though w e m a y use them to speculate about this matter with varying degrees of plausibility.

Most social sciences also use more strictly historical material for various purposes, most notably to establish trends, or more generally for purposes of comparison over time. H o w far back in time the material goes, depends partly on

Eric J. Hobsbawm is Professor of Economic and Social History at Birkbeck College, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX. Amongst his books are The Age of Revolution (1962), Industry and Empire (1968), Bandits (1969), Revolutionaries (1973) and The Age of Capital (1975).

* © E . J. Hobsbawm.

Int. Soc. Sei. J., Vol. XXXIII, N o . 4, 1981


its availability and partly on the nature of the inquiry. Thus censuses are usually only available for at most two centuries, though comparable demographic evidence can be compiled from other sources for earlier periods or, where the taking of censuses has been irregular (as has sometimes been the case) for intermediate periods. For the purposes of establishing the curve of demographic growth, such a time-series is essential, but for other demographic purposes it is not. Thus a study of different ways of controlling family size (by birth control of various kinds, infanticide, varying the age of marriage or in other ways) could rely on evidence taken from both the present and different dates and places in the past, not necessarily successive. The study of trends must rely on time-series of varying length. It is widely used, not least for purposes of extrapolation, though this procedure raises very serious problems. O f course any use of an array of data for purposes of comparison raises the problem of their comparability, as well as their reliability.

This problem becomes particularly serious w h e n social scientists are not content to use historical material which is already available, whether collected specifically for purposes which suit them at some time in the past, or excavated and published by historians, but require historical material which is not already available; for instance in order to verify or falsify their theoretical propositions. This is likely in the case of social scientists concerned with essentially or ostensibly historical questions, as in the theory of economic growth. Calculations of Gross National Product or national income at various times m a y be necessary for this purpose. But hardly any such data were collected before the twentieth century, still less regularly collected, and such estimates as might have been m a d e were not necessarily m a d e in the terms required by the theorists. In such cases the historical material used by the social scientist or historian is not original source material, but an artefact constructed from a combination of original sources elaborated and moulded by various means on the basis of assumptions and guesswork. T o some extent this is the case of available historical sources also, e.g. in so far as they consist of grouped data (e.g. census tabulations) or general estimates whose exact sources.can no longer be discovered (e.g. assessments of current public opinion in police reports). However, the difficulties increase in proportion to the distance between the data which are available or m a y be discovered and the data the social scientist requires.

, A fourth use of historical material is customary a m o n g politicians, journalists and laymen, but also occurs a m o n g social scientists. This is the use of history as precedent, parallel, model or anti-model for the present. This is familiar in the old phrase 'generals always prepare for the last war', and in such examples as the reference to 'Munich' in international politics since 1938. It is probably the oldest practical use of history, and little more than an extension of the natural practice of taking decisions in the light of past experience. However, it affects social scientists also, though they are generally (but not always) less naïve about it. Thus political scientists, analysing the nature and stability of the political system of the

626 E. J. Hobsbawm

United States, m a y well find themselves referring back, for example, to de Tocqueville's description and analysis of this system in the 1830s. Even more c o m m o n l y , examples from past and present are used indifferently for the purposes of generalization or comparison, as in the study of the typology of revolutions or wars. (Since most of the wars and revolutions to be analysed are past ones, the material for the analysis must be largely historical.) The problem of comparability is crucial here. The basic assumption of all such exercises is that comparability exists, i.e. that for the purposes of the social scientist the differences between the cases which are regarded as similar can be neglected.

The examples given above describe the use of historical material which is c o m m o n in the social sciences today, and, though the list is not exhaustive, it probably includes the bulk of such uses. It is descriptive and not normative. That is to say it does not consider which uses are more desirable and which less. This will be considered below. However, even without going further, the list raises the problem of the nature, assessment, and manipulation of historical evidence. This is important, since social scientists are often insufficiently aware of the difficulties of using such evidence and insufficiently critical in using it. A c o m m o n practice a m o n g sociologists, for instance, has been to use secondary historical accounts as their raw material and then to 'theorize' them. Similarly economists, especially econometricians, are tempted to use any statistical series that is available just because it is there, and not to inquire too closely into its reliability. Conversely, they are tempted not to w o r k into their theories historical data which do not happen to be available, for example, data about the subsistence sector of the economy as distinct from the market sector, or about the unrecorded or 'black' sector of the economy as distinct from the one adequately covered by statistics.

The nature of historical evidence

Historians, like lawyers, take scepticism about evidence as their starting-point. Indeed the problem of h o w to assess and verify evidence has been the foundation of historical methodology, and exhausts the problem of methodology for some traditionalist historians. T h e assessment of evidence naturally varies with the problems the historians set themselves, as well as the nature of the data. Thus, where both the problems and the data are limited, a totally exhaustive study of the sources m a y seem desirable or even practicable, as in the study of ancient history from literary sources, all of which could be fitted into a room of modest size, or in the scrutiny of some diplomatic incident, which could be studied by exhausting a limited n u m b e r of files of documents in a limited number of archives, together with a limited number of collections of private papers. Such cases are not typical of the historical sources and problems which concern the social sciences, and indeed the most influential school of traditionalist historiography,


that represented by Leopold von Ranke and his followers, has generally been concerned with questions which are of limited interest to social scientists (e.g. the chronological narrative of the actions of decision-makers—kings, presidents, generals—in matters of politics and war) and it has often deliberately rejected the search for generalizations and regularities which characterizes social and other sciences. Nevertheless, the technical expertise built up over centuries even by this very limited type of historiography, is not to be underrated. It has developed great ingenuity in the study of errors in the transmission of information—e.g. the copying of documents—in assessing the bias and reliability of individual witnesses, the difference between first-hand and second-hand accounts, the difference between factual statements and formulae, etc. Such experience is relevant to the social sciences. Thus it has a direct bearing on such exercises as the reporting of the size of crowds involved in current social or political activities. A n example of the application of traditionalist historical criticism in a social science: the Oxford scholar, R . N e e d h a m , in the course of a discussion of anthropologists' views on cannibalism,1 suggests that while there is reliable evidence for the practice in some societies, several examples in the literature are based, directly or indirectly, on one or two ancient travellers' reports which, w h e n checked, prove to report merely 'what I was told'. Thus any anthropological models about, for instance, Indonesian societies which assume that cannibalism occurred there at some time in the past, must be seriously reconsidered. The techniques of the detective, and the trial lawyer, which, as has been plausibly suggested, are very similar to those of the traditionalist historical or textual scholar, clearly have a fairly wide applicability especially to non-experimental sciences which must rely on evidence which cannot readily or at all be reduplicated.

These techniques, while not irrelevant, are not central to the sort of history which is closest to the social sciences: e.g. economic and social history. Here two other elements enter, one methodological, the other concerned with the treatment of data. While traditional history generally took its data as given (e.g. a collection of texts, or of written documents preserved in a public or private archive), w e k n o w that m a n y of our sources are only brought into being by the questions historians ask. S o m e m a y be implicit in the sources collected for other purposes. Thus it is, in theory, easy to derive various demographic findings—birth or death rates, etc.—from the simple records of births and deaths in parish registers, which were not directly concerned with them. S o m e can be reasonably derived from the data, though they are not implicit in them: for instance, m i n i m u m measures of literacy from the proportion of m e n and w o m e n capable of writing their signature on marriage certificates or records. However, while the inference from signatures or their absence to literacy is n o w generally accepted, it rests on arguments which have nothing to do with the nature of the source. T h e first use of marriage records for this purpose (by Farr in nineteenth-century England) was challenged at the time by people w h o suggested alternative explanations. S o m e uses of sources are

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linked with the original data by even longer or more complex chains of inference or argument, for example, the analysis of the testamentary formulae and funeral inscriptions and monuments in the eighteenth century, by Vouelle and others,2 to measure the decline of Christian faith and the rise of a secular world-view. In the three cases cited above, most observers would today find this use of sources quite acceptable, though it must be remembered that this acceptability itself rests on our familiarity with certain forms of analysis, such as the use of time-series and trends, statistical generalization, etc. In other cases they m a y remain debatable, for instance in the use of iconographie evidence for the study of ideology, or in assessing degrees of literacy from the quality of marriage signatures. However, the major point to note is that in all cases where data are not 'given' but extracted, derived or constructed in order to answer the historian's questions, their selection, presentation and processing as well as their interpretation are likely to be affected by the historians' purposes as well as by their biases and preconceptions. There is no room here for the old-fashioned positivism which regards the data as external to the observer and as given. For example historians whose theory lead them to the view that the Spanish colonies were part of a world capitalist system from the sixteenth century on, are likely to concentrate on those aspects of Spanish colonial haciendas which show their involvement in production for a wider market and to neglect (a) those aspects which are not so concerned and (b) the differences in the hacienda economy of Mexico in the seventeenth century and in the Porfiriato, both being considered as 'essentially' capitalist. (I a m not criticizing this procedure here, but merely pointing out its selective character.) In extreme cases the data m a y be almost entirely 'constructed' in terms of some explanatory model, as in the so-called counterfactual exercises of econometric historians. For instance, estimating the social costs of education in the United States in the nineteenth century (by Fishlow, Engermann, Schultz and others) implies measuring not only the social resources devoted to education, of which only some kinds of direct expenditures are easily measurable, but also estimating the income which people undergoing education have forgone by not yet earning their living or in other ways (the 'opportunity costs'). This requires 'frequent resort to assumptions about the values of relevant variables',3 which are highly speculative and controversial. W h a t exactly does a table of estimated 'educational expenditures' so arrived at represent, other than a means of answering a question posed by an economic model which m a y have little relation to the changing social realities it claims to be relevant to? Historians are perhaps more constantly confronted by such methodological complexities than other social scientists, and their experience therefore provides a valuable guide to them.

The second element arises from the technical nature of some of these non-traditional historical sources, and notably their sheer, quantity, which makes exhaustive study by old-fashioned individual artisan methods impossible, as well as often inapposite. Moreover, for purposes of some questions, 'proof in the


traditional legal sense is not available. T h e correlation of two or more statistical time-series in itself can establish only a connection between them, but not in itself a causal connection. However, in these sectors of their activity historians have not so m u c h developed techniques and methodologies of their o w n , but rather adopted and adapted those developed in other social or even natural sciences. It therefore lies outside the field of this article, and I shall not deal with the problems it raises.

So far w e have dealt in very general terms with the source materials commonly used in history and the techniques and disciplines developed in their use, which m a y be relevant to the practice of other social sciences. W e must n o w look at a very m u c h more important question: what can history as a specific field of the study of humanity as seen over periods of time contribute to the social sciences, which must also be concerned with such questions, prospectively or retrospectively? This is also true, in a more general sense, of all sciences, and the historical dimension of several of them has been markedly strengthened in recent decades, not only in biology and geology, which have long been, a m o n g other things, sciences of change and evolution, but in the physical sciences, n o w m u c h concerned with the history of the universe. T o this extent even the natural sciences have m o v e d away from the traditional experimental methodology, since some of the phenomena they study can. neither be isolated in laboratories or replicated (e.g. the process of 'continental drift'). S o m e of them cannot even be observed in the process of change but have to be inferred from static observations (e.g. the life-history of stars), or even established as speculative constructions of what it is supposed must have happened (e.g. the theories about the events in the first moments of the birth of the universe).4 Paradoxically the recent development of the social sciences has been away from the basically historical and evolutionary perspective in which they studied social phenomena a century ago, as a comparison of linguistics in the 1880s and in 1980 shows. They have tended to advance along the road of theoretical abstraction and static analysis, which has indeed proved to be very rewarding within its limits. It has produced such interesting and sometimes powerful general models as equilibrium analysis in economics and various kinds of structuralism/functionalism in sociology and anthropology, linguistics, etc. Yet it has advanced by means of two kinds of simplifications which are themselves very dangerous: it reduces its models to deliberately general and abstract components, assuming 'other things to be equal' and hoping that reality can be approximated by gradually relaxing or elaborating these assumptions. But, as every historian (and every living person) knows 'other things are never equal', and social reality is too complex for most such models to describe or analyse it adequately. Two-person games, for which a very fine mathematical theory has been developed, do not represent m a n y situations in real life in which they.provide m u c h guide to strategy. Again, such models generally abstract from historical change, often, as in the case of Lévi-Strauss's structuralism, quite

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deliberately; hoping perhaps eventually to inject an element of dynamization into an essentially static analysis.5 But every historian (and most living persons) k n o w that w e do not live in economies which aspire to stable equilibrium. All economic historians are concerned with are economies not in equilibrium. A n y theory which does not bear in m i n d the forces which tend to destabilize societies or economies as well as those which tend to maintain them in being, cannot constitute an adequate social science, though it m a y be an essential part of such a science. But the forces which ensure that equilibrium will never be permanently 'stable', are precisely those which cause societies to change over time, i.e. the ones with which history is essentially concerned.

The evolutionary question

W h a t is history essentially concerned with? Here I cannot speak for all historians, for there are still m a n y schools and individuals in m y profession for w h o m history is radically and qualitatively different from the social (or any other) sciences, and w h o therefore deny any connections with them, or relevance to them. It is technically impossible to deny the right of historians w h o take this view to call themselves historians, and what they do m a y , in its way, be interesting and valuable. However, since it has, by definition, no relation to the social sciences except a very peripheral one, w e m a y leave it out of account here.

The history I a m concerned with is related to the social sciences, and for that matter to the historical natural sciences, since it deals with the evolution and transformations of m a n as a social being. In doing so it maintains a continuum with the evolutionary natural sciences, and especially the biological ones, though it must reject the fashionable reductionism of social biology. M a n is a social animal, but a social animal with consciousness and culture. Nevertheless, the basic question of history is evolutionary: h o w did humanity as a whole, through the process of increasingly controlling nature by labour, proceed from palaeolithic communities to modern industrial society, or, in a simple phrase, from a time w h e n he was frightened by lions to one in which he is frightened of nuclear warheads? W h y did some h u m a n societies proceed in this direction along different routes, and for different distances? Humanity as a whole, with numerically negligible exceptions, has n o w been transformed by the effect of the capitalist society which proceeded the entire distance (so far) in one and only one region of the globe, but that is a very recent development even on the time-scale of written history. It has occurred only in the past handful of generations. The fact of these transformations is undeniable. So is the fact that in one obviously central respect—man's ability to control nature—they have, speaking globally, tended to be in one direction. This is independent of whether w e choose to call them 'progress' or not. The most systematic and serious attempt to answer this basic


question of history is Karl Marx's, whose general approach to it has been summarized in the famous Preface to the Critique of Political Economy of 1859 and elaborated in some other texts, mainly of the same period.6 I a m not arguing here that ' M a r x is right', though I a m arguing that his approach is the most fruitful. (I a m also implying that Marxists w h o reject the approach sketched in the Preface are not merely elaborating or modifying M a r x , but actually abandoning his line of analysis.) I merely note that, while Marx's approach is not the only evolutionary version of history, (a) most other such versions (e.g. the 'stage theories' popular towards the end of the nineteenth century) are n o w n o longer influential and (b) that Marxist history, with or without admixtures from other historians and sociologists w h o accepted his questions but tried to provide alternative answers, remains the most powerful and influential such approach to history at present. This does not m e a n that within this general approach it is not possible to arrive at a variety of different answers.

Marx's approach contains two elements. First, it provides a basic mechanism of historical transformation through the changes in the m o d e of h u m a n social production (and reproduction) in which m e n enter into various social relations of production which correspond to a definite stage in developing the material forces of production, though coming into conflict with them from time to time. Second, it provides a model which brings the other h u m a n social activities—what M a r x calls the 'superstructure' and the specific 'forms of social consciousness'—into relation with the economic structure of society and with each other. T h e relations between base and superstructure have been m u c h debated a m o n g Marxists, and I do not wish to enter this discussion here, but it is clear that both the dynamics of historical change and the nature and characteristics of h u m a n activities in any society and at any period can be understood only by first analysing its m o d e of production in material life. This is indeed obvious. If w e wish to understand anything whatever in the nineteenth-century world, in so far as it was not isolated from global history, w e must begin with the central fact of the triumph of the capitalist economy. A n y other analytical starting-point will, sooner or later, prove to explain only some parts or aspects of it, and to leave others in obscurity. However, Marx's approach also contains a third element: the relation between conscious h u m a n action and historical changes which are independent of men's will. Since M a r x was at this point primarily concerned to establish the independence of long-term historical development in general from h u m a n consciousness and acts of h u m a n will, he did not elaborate this relation, though he noted it; but it naturally has a direct bearing on the social sciences and in particular those concerned with policy.

M a r x was, in his general analysis, abstracted from individual cases and specific societies. In its most general form, as in the Preface, he did not even mention classes as such, presumably regarding them as special cases (in the long historical epoch of class society) of social relations of production. Nevertheless,

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it seems to m e that he might have paid more attention to one further element, which later Marxists have elaborated at length. This is the coexistence of different h u m a n societies or socio-political and economic units of differing structures, or at different stages of development, but which interact. In short, whatXenin called 'the law of uneven development' and what Trotskyite Marxists call 'combined and uneven development'. The differentiation of the capitalist world into 'developed' and 'underdeveloped' countries has drawn attention to this. I do not think this can be regarded as a secondary aspect in history, even in history considered in its most general and global form. This is w h y Marxists have increasingly been forced to include it in their analysis.

O n the other hand M a r x did imply that this aspect exists, because he was acutely conscious that historical development was not linear. H e did not, I think, regard all h u m a n societies as being engaged in climbing the same stairway and destined to arrive at the top by themselves sooner or later, only some climbing it m o r e slowly than others. H e sketched out a model of w h y some kinds of society develop more readily than others, and w h y some (in the so-called 'Asiatic' m o d e of production) tended to stability and inhibit further development. The model was very sketchy, and his actual opinions on some societies were mistaken. However, it is important to note that his approach is designed to explain not only historical development in different forms, but also stabilization and resistance to development: societies tending towards equilibrium of various kinds, and societies tending to destabilize themselves and, in doing so, to change.

A final point to be m a d e is about Marx's analytical procedures. H e establishes a highly general model of all h u m a n social transformation, which says little specifically about any one stage of society or any particular society. H e then builds more specific models about particular types and stages of society—'modes of production'—which have a more restricted but still very broad application. A s w e k n o w , the only one of these models he tried to elaborate in detail was that of the transformations, by its internal contradictions, of capitalism, but similar models of other modes of production are hinted at, and indeed implied. H e also applied his approach to concrete cases and particular situations, notably in his o w n century. At this level of analysis, which is exemplified by his writings on French history between 1848 and 1871, the workings of the long-term general mechanisms are no longer sufficient: the relations between base and superstructure are presented in all their considerable complexity. A n d indeed, if history provides general explanations of change, it must also consider the concrete and specific situations—in his o w n words 'the legal, political, religious, aesthetic or philosophic—in short the ideological forms in which m e n become conscious of this conflict (between the forces and social relations of production) and fight it out'.'

History as a discipline is therefore concerned with very complex forms of social change, interaction and synthesis. In fact it is largely concerned with what


other (and especially experimental and theoretical) sciences attempt to eliminate from their field of vision by isolating the precise phenomenon to be studied under laboratory conditions, or formulating theories of extreme generality which abstract from the irregularities and special cases of the real world. History requires both general theories and, for analytical purposes, techniques analogous to experimental isolation, such as the systematic comparison of cases and certain statistical phenomena, such as the transition from pre-capitalist to capitalist societies or the tendencies of development of capitalism, it must also and primarily operate at less general levels of theory. A s M a r x knew, it is not enough to formulate the mechanism of h u m a n social evolution in its most general form, man's increasing capacity to control his natural environment by means of the social process of labour (the combined material forces and social relations of production), but these must also be analysed and specified for particular stages of development, societies and situations. Moreover, there are considerable limits to the possibility of isolating phenomena for the purpose of analysis. History might almost be defined as the discipline which deals with things which are never equal and cannot be supposed to be equal. Furthermore, it requires not merely mechanisms of general change and within the limits of the particular stage of development, but explanations of the specific outcomes of change, i.e. answers to the question w h y situation A was followed by situation B and not C , D or any other. A t the level at which particular events or decisions affect situations, the level of the 'history of events', it m a y not be open to generalized explanation at all, though generalization will still establish the limits within which such events as, say, Lenin's personal intervention in the Russian Revolution or Stalin's death can exercise an effect. Natural and social sciences normally do not take an interest in this level at all, and w e m a y leave it aside for reasons of convenience, and because it resists explanation in general terms. Nevertheless, even above this level specific outcomes have to be explained. W h y did Germany and not Great Britain become fascist between the wars? W h y did Australia not develop like Argentina? W h y did the Industrial Revolution occur in the late eighteenth century and not in the seventeenth or nineteenth? Such questions cannot be eliminated from history.

O f course, they also arise in any historical science, possibly with the exception of the level at which particular events are to be explained, though there are sciences which are, at least in part, obliged to operate at an analogous level, such as meteorology or economics, at least in so far as they are, for practical reasons, obliged to consider such questions as tomorrow's weather at London Airport or the possible repercussion on the economy of a firm, a country or the world of a coup in Saudi Arabia. Still, any science concerned with complex historical change must supplement its general theory with more specific theories and explanations unless, like cosmology, it operates in a field, and at a level of generalization, when—given an unexplained starting-point—it can present all subsequent change as the necessary working out of processes based on the fundamental forces of

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physics. Historical geophysics cannot rest content with establishing the mechanism which explains continental drift in general, but also attempts to discover—within rough limits—how and w h y the actual continents and oceans acquired their actual shapes and distribution. Evolutionary biologists w h o wish to explain, not evolution in general, but the rise and disappearance of the dinosaurs or the evolution of birds or m a m m a l s (not to mention any particular genus or species), also confront historical problems which need more specific explanations than natural selection in general. A n d indeed there is a period and region of investigation where the subject and the techniques of palaeontology and prehistoric archaeology overlap. It is, of course, true that such historical sciences normally remain content with explanations which are far more general than historians of humanity would require. They m a y be satisfied with saying that a particular species evolved because it 'discovered' a particular ecological niche not previously occupied by any other, whereas historians interested in, say, the development of a diaspora of Syrian-Lebanese traders in West Africa and parts of Latin America would want to k n o w , for instance, w h y it was they and not other peoples with a historical tendency to form similar diasporas such as Greeks, Armenians and Jews w h o tended to fill this 'niche' in the economies of these regions, and a number of other matters. T o some extent this m a y be a problem of sources and evidence. Such questions could not be answered from the evidence available to, say, palaeontologists. Nevertheless, historical questions, methodologies and answers are not confined to the discipline of history. Even historical evidence plays a role in the n o n - h u m a n sciences. Thus the strongest prima facie evidence for continental drift, apart from the shape of the coasts of South America and West Africa, used to be provided by the peculiar regional distribution of certain types of land animals, from which the world m a p of various periods in the past could be roughly inferred. It was dismissed by geophysicists w h o could not, until the 1950s, think of a mechanism which could have achieved this drift. Similarly in the mid-nineteenth century good physicists knew of no forces which could have allowed the earth to have the age that the geologists (a historical discipline of the natural sciences) claimed was demonstrated by their findings and their explanations. In both cases the relevance of such 'historical' evidence has since been demonstrated.

Aspects of change

However, if the historical approach is not confined to history, this discipline is essentially and centrally concerned with change, transformation and dynamic interaction. Here lies it's fundamental significance for the social sciences. W e m a y single out a few aspects of it.

The first is analysis in terms of several levels of regularity. A n y historical


(i.e. social) phenomenon must be analysed in terms of several sets of 'laws' of increasing specificity. 'Bourgeois' society is not merely subject to the regularities of any socially organized group of animals investigated, for example, by ecology, social biology, etc., though in a specific manner. It is also subject to the regularities of any h u m a n society, any such society operating at its particular level of the control of nature ('industrial society'), to the specific mechanisms of its m o d e of production (capitalism), to the mechanisms specific to its phase of development (e.g. today 'imperfect competition' or monopoly capitalism), etc. This is particularly relevant to the social sciences which, imitating a certain phase of development of the natural sciences, have tended towards reductionism, or short-circuiting these complexities. H u m a n social behaviour cannot be reduced to the mechanisms of socio-biology. Feudal economies are no doubt 'economies' like any other—those of Australian aborigines as well as of the modern capitalist world economy—but they cannot be understood adequately only in such general terms. The capitalist economies of the 1980s are no doubt capitalist, but they cannot be understood only on the assumption of entrepreneurs freely competing in a market, assuming they ever could. Disciplines which deliberately seek for excessive generality (e.g. by defining economics as any h u m a n behaviour for allocating limited resources between competing ends or by defining societies as any (human) functional systems) actually eliminate from their analysis m u c h of the subject-matter they claim to be concerned with.

The second concerns the nature of historical change. Here again the main adversary is an excessive would-be scientific reductionism. Economic 'development' which implies qualitative changes cannot be reduced to economic 'growth' which (in theory) does not. A pure theory of such growth, on certain assumptions, can no doubt be formulated, and has its value. (Such a theory was indeed formulated by the mathematician V o n Neumann . ) 8 Nevertheless, as experience shows, theories of this type are incapable of explaining the actual processes of economic development and its concrete problems. It is true that (as M a r x observed in the Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy*) a study of 'the degree of productivity' is important, but even this very general programme must be carried out also 'by periods in the development of individual peoples', since w e cannot generalize from the 'degree of productivity' of, say, Sung China to that of pre-Columbian America, and the calculation of the m e a n productivity of all h u m a n economies, at any rate before the existence of a global economy, would have very limited value, even if it were practicable. Moreover, even the forms of development which can be presented in a linear form, such as the secular growth of population, require to be explained by a mechanism of complex social change, since they are not directly controlled (except in the last instance) by any such simple Malthusian relationship as that between population and the means of subsistence. That is w h y demography, one of the most highly developed social sciences, has had such difficulties in forecasting future population trends. Even situations which could be

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explained in Malthusian terms, such as the population crises in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries or in nineteenth-century Ireland, became 'Malthusian' precisely because of a specific, general or local, contradiction between social relations and forces of production (to use a shorthand phrase) without which the curve of demographic growth could not be explained. Even more complex mechanisms of contradiction m a y be necessary to explain, say, the demographic development of colonial Latin America. Such mechanisms are precisely what history is concerned with.

The third aspect concerns complex interactions. History is concerned not with societies which can be defined in the abstract, or in general terms, but with societies which are the products of their past. Thus a pure structural-functionalist analysis of any h u m a n society, however useful, omits the major question—as indeed does any such analysis—why the system consists of specific 'components' and not other functional equivalents; and what the effect is of operating with historically given 'components' which are adapted to functions for which they m a y not have originally been designed. O r alternatively, h o w far the historically given situation inhibits such adaptation. W e k n o w that hereditary monarchies are quite compatible with the development of capitalism and modern bourgeois society, subject to changing their character and function in various ways. The fact is not very significant, but if w e are interested in it, w e must explain w h y m o n archies have been maintained in some capitalist societies but have more usually been abandoned. Again, history is concerned with the interaction of qualitatively as well as quantitatively different socio-economic, political or other units, however these m a y be defined and whatever the origin of these differences. Historians are constantly occupied with such interactions, whether in the fourteenth century w h e n Ibn Khaldun explained the development of the Islamic world by a model of the conflict and interaction of nomadic pastoralists and settled agrarian-urban populations,10 or in our century, when the process of world capitalist development (and underdevelopment) is seen as the expansion of capitalism into pre-capitalist societies, and as the interaction of sometimes conflicting developed nation-state economies. Such interactions are both external and internal. In both cases they require a composite analysis, or rather a model based on the interaction of more than one system. Thus studies both of the Third World and of the expansion of European commerce before the Industrial Revolution have shown that w e are dealing with at least two separate sectors, the 'developed' and the 'underdeveloped', and that therefore an economic theory based on a universal market economy and the doctrine of comparative costs is not relevant. Kula in his Economic Theory of Feudalism11 elaborates such a two-sector model by observing that economic enterprises in the feudal sector operate in both sectors, applying the 'rationality' of a capitalist and a non-capitalist economy where each is apposite or combining them, and this (as studies of peasant societies have shown) is also true of those classed as a 'subsistence peasantry'. A theory of economic growth which short-


circuits this problem by excessive ahistorical generality, thus encounters insuperable difficulties, for example w h e n dealing with agrarian development, where structural and institutional factors are basic.

The fourth aspect concerns explanations and predictions. I confine myself to predictions, since, if based on explanations, they are normally regarded as a test of these. In the social as in other sciences predictions take three main forms: First, 'if certain conditions are fulfilled, other factors being eliminated, then certain results will always occur'. T h e prediction holds only in such restricted circumstances and is not invalidated except if shown to be untrue in these circumstances only. N o b o d y points to the flight of birds or aeroplanes to invalidate the theory of gravitation. Second, some general theory enables us by deduction to predict phenomena not yet k n o w n , as the periodic table of elements predicted certain chemical elements as yet undiscovered. Third, mathematical statements of the type 'If demand rises but not supply, prices will rise', applied to real circumstances, other things being equal. (Such statements must be distinguished from tautological predictions, which are not predictions at all, such as that any undiscovered society can be shown to be a structural-functionalist system. If a society or structural-functionalist system are defined in a given way, all members of this class of entities will conform to the definition.) All these predictions m a y indicate future outcomes, but are not specifically aimed at forecasting them, nor can they do so except under restrictive conditions such as 'other things being equal'. T h e pure theory of supply and d e m a n d will predict prices only in a perfect neoclassical market, which is far from c o m m o n . However, the social sciences are concerned largely, perhaps mainly, with predictions about future outcomes in reality. T h e types of scientific prediction mentioned above are only of limited help for this. Moreover, m a n y social sciences lack developed theoretical structures from which predictions can be deduced. Most of them therefore tend to be 'little m o r e than statistical projections based on compilations of empirical data within categories of perhaps little theoretical significance'.12

But paradoxically, history must develop a methodology or framework for prediction. It is always concerned with the future, though this future m a y merely be so in relation to an even more remote past: the nineteenth century in relation to the eighteenth. Historians w h o analyse the consequences of the Industrial Revolution are formulating models of a future as seen from a past and testing them against recorded outcomes. Naturally they have the unique advantage of knowing what that outcome was. T o this extent the process of explaining w h y Argentina w o n the World Football C u p must be different from betting on w h o will win it next time; but essentially the analytical nature of the exercise is the same. Moreover, historical analysis must be largely concerned with changes from one complex state of the past to another complex state of the future. Analysing the 'consequences of the Industrial Revolution' involves not only factors definable as strictly economic or technological, but also the effect of institutional, cultural

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and other elements, and the historical 'forecast' must also try to explain the structure and character of the n e w bourgeois society in all its aspects, in so far as it w a s the outcome of the Industrial Revolution. Historians must distinguish between outcomes which were in practice or in theory unpredictable, and those which were theoretically predictable, and attempt to define the fields of both. They are in a position to develop a methodology of historical prediction, by analysing from results w h y and in what respects models of prediction or actual predictions were inadequate and modifying or elaborating them in consequence, e.g. by analysing retrospectively the limitations and achievements of Marx's prediction of the tendencies of capitalist development. They are in a position to choose between models which have greater power and scope and those which have less. All this is no doubt very complex, and raises enormous problems about the nature of explanations and theories, the criteria of choice of models (including the subjective and historical limitations of this choice) and the nature of verification. However , these are no different from those in the social sciences. The analytic methodology of history is therefore of crucial interest to the social sciences, which require such a methodology themselves for their o w n , admittedly m u c h more uncertain predictions.

T h e last aspect concerns the nature of the social sciences themselves. In most such sciences the actual subject or field of inquiry is vague, uncertain, and its definitions are selective, a priori or empirical, and likely to change in an unsystematic manner. Thus economics was defined empirically by Marshall as 'the study of mankind in the ordinary business of life' (a vague enough definition), but by Robbins in a qualitatively quite different way as 'the science which studies h u m a n behaviour as.a relationship between scarce means which have alternative uses'. (This definition has been amplified but is still substantially accepted by Samuelson.13) Whereas the relationship of the field of inquiry of the main natural sciences and their specialized subdisciplines is basically systematic, this is not usually the case in the social sciences. Such basic terms as 'society' are themselves virtually undefined. They are all, in one w a y or another, concerned with h u m a n behaviour, but beyond this their field is hard to define, except by listing what economists, sociologists, anthropologists, etc.,.actually do at any given time. Social scientists can avoid the difficulties this gives rise to by selecting for study, in ways that can be considered almost arbitrary, any part or aspect of h u m a n behaviour without reference to the rest; for example, within sociology they can select 'ethnomethodology', which according to H . Garfinkel is 'an organizational study of a member's ordinary affairs, of his organized enterprises, where that knowledge is treated by us as part of the same setting that also makes it orderable'. This is a rather unsatisfactory situation.

Historians must structure their field, simply because they cannot (except for reasons of pure technical convenience or necessity) select from a m o n g the totality of all h u m a n activities in the past which is their subject. Even when historians,


for whatever reason, choose to concentrate on certain h u m a n activities and to neglect others, it is always in terms of a conscious or unconscious judgement of analytical priorities. Traditional historians concentrated on kings and cabinets, wars and diplomacy, because they considered the actions of decision-makers a m o n g the ruling groups as the most important motivé forces in history. All historians, whatever their view of the central forces of history, k n o w that they have to bring them into some systematic relation with the other phenomena of the past—economic, political, cultural, religious or whatever—within their field of vision, and, however restricted that field of vision m a y be by the standards of other historians, it always implies the synthesis of phenomena which, outside history, would be treated separately and without relation to each other. Newtonian physics 'belongs' to natural science, Hobbes and Locke to philosophy, debates on the balance of trade to economics. Milton is a subject for literary critics and the massacre of Glencoe would today be part of a field report by social anthropologists on kinship systems in Scottish clan society. But all historians of Great Britain in the late seventeenth century must fit all these into their accounts. If all history is thus obliged to structure the totality of h u m a n activities and to establish relationships between the subject-matter of various specialized disciplines, s o m e kinds of history (such as Marx's) do so systematically and consciously. In doing so they are not only forced into conceptual clarifications, but also assist in structuring the field of the social sciences. That is w h y the most fruitful approaches to social science—classical political economy of the eighteenth-century kind, M a r x , Weber—have operated in an essentially historical framework, even w h e n their practitioners were not themselves primarily historians.

This structuring of the subject of historical and social science inquiry must nevertheless be to some extent selective and subjective. N o b o d y today accepts the simple positivist view that the scientist observes an objective reality existing outside himself or herself, unaffected by the observer's prior assumptions, paradigms and activities, a reality whose essential nature and laws will be discovered by the application of the scientific method. The existence of such an objective reality is not usually denied, but the relation between it and the investigator is notoriously complex. Hypotheses and theories can be verified to some extent by various tests, or at least it can be established that they are not inconsistent with observed facts. However, this also raises difficult problems, especially in the social sciences. Politics and ideology, historically determined assumptions, are overwhelmingly present in these sciences. The problem is not simply to recognize this, and to recognize that w e too (all of us) are subject to these limitations, but to discover h o w , nevertheless,.an increasing understanding of h u m a n society can be achieved. There are philosophers w h o doubt whether this is possible at all. If they are right, no social sciences deserving that n a m e are possible. I assume that w e do not accept this position. History at least provides a possible guide through these complexities. It allows us to study and to analyse the relations between a

640 E. J. Hobsbawm

very large number of ways of looking at the reality of nature and society, of selecting aspects of both for investigation and of theories and explanations, and the 'extraneous' framework which determined or conditioned them. It allows us retrospectively to assess their limitations. In so far as h u m a n understanding of this reality has actually increased cumulatively—not necessarily by linear growth—it allows us to analyse h o w this has happened. It m a y still be impossible for us to act, think and study other than as children of our time, our social and historical situation. A s M a r x pointed out, w e are not free-floating intelligences and cannot be. But in the light of history w e are in a position to see m e n and w o m e n like ourselves operating under limitations analogous to. our o w n . In this sense also history can m a k e a significant contribution to the social sciences.

Notes

1 Rodney Needham, 'Chewing on the Cannibals', The Times Literary Supplement, 25 January 1980, pp. 75-6.

2 M . Vouelle, Piété baroque et déchristianisation en Provence, Paris, 1978.

3 Stanley L . Engerman, ' H u m a n Capital, Education and Economic Growth', in R . W . Fogel and S. L . Engerman (cds.), The Reinterpretation of American Economic History, p . 244, N e w York, 1971.

4 Steven Weinberg, The First Three Minutes of the Universe, London, 1977.

5 C . Lévi-Strauss, in Sol Tax (ed.), Anthropology Today, p. 343, Chicago, 111., 1962.

6 Karl Marx , Preface, to the Critique of Political Economy, in Marx-Engels Werke, Vol. 13, pp. 7-11, Berlin, 1961; and numerous editions in many languages; the relevant passages in

Karl Marx, Grundrisse, Berlin, 1953, are in E . J. Hobsbawm (ed.), Karl Marx, Precapitalist Economic Formations, London, 1964.

' Marx, Preface . . ., op. cit. 8 John Von Neumann, ' A Model of General Econ

omic Equilibrium', Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 13, 1945, pp. 1-9.

9 Karl Marx, Grundrisse, p . 86, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1973.

10 Ibn Khaldun, The Mukaddimah: An Introduction to History, 3 vols., N e w York, 1958.

11 Witold Kula, The Economic Theory of the Feudal System, London, 1976.

12 Karl F . Schuessler, 'Prediction', International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 12, p. 419, N e w York, 1968.

13 P . Samuelson, Economics, 10th ed., 1976, p. 3.

History today

Ruggiero Romano

A s I consider it essential to make: myself absolutely clear, before talking about history I wish to discuss the role of the historian.

The historian as an agent of social change? Let us be serious! Historians are not agents of social change. The only intellectual I know w h o , in historical terms, managed to m a k e a social—or rather revolutionary—contribution was Lenin with his great work The Development of Capitalism in Russia. Apart from that w e have only had pretentious experiments of no value whatsoever (an extreme case is André Gunder Frank). .

The historian must accept his mission for what it is: to act as the m e m o r y of mankind. But what kind of memory? A n d this is where the major difficulties arise. Defining m e m o r y implies defining the history (type of history) involved.

Thus, if I a m interested in the history of religion it follows that I shall tend to concentrate on the religious memory of m y people and cultural group. If I were to specialize in the diplomatic aspects of m y country's past, another set of m e m ories would be highlighted. '

Hence, the great debate on a new form of history using a new approach is also, to m y mind, a sterile exercise. Innovation in historiography consists in broadening, by whatever method, the range of h u m a n m e m o r y .

If these premises are valid, and I firmly believe they are, it becomes easier to identify the new element in historiography in the last fifty years. It seems fairly evident to m e that it consists in the penetration of economics by history and a renewed awareness of communal problems (ranging from social organization to beliefs). It is worth while taking a few moments to describe h o w this came about.

History has turned its attention to economics, sociology and psychology, assimilating m a n y of their techniques but only a few of their concepts. A t all events, the changes have been enormous and their repercussions are evident not

Ruggiero Romano is Director of Studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, 54 boulevard Raspail, 75270 Paris Cedex 06. Amongst his books are Tra due crisi: 1'Italia del Rinascimento (1971), Les mécanismes de la conquête coloniale : les conquistadores (1972), and L'Europe tra due crisi (xrv e xvii secólo) (1980).

int. Soc. Sei. J„ Vol. XXXIII, N o . 4, 1981

642 Ruggiero Romano

only at the level of individual studies or monographs but also in works of broader scope (or general treatises as they are frequently called).

F r o m this point of view, it m a y be maintained that recent historiography has m a d e quite a number of people aware of the fact that historical m e m o r y consists not only of the deeds of kings, emperors, generals and ambassadors, but also, necessarily, of the activities of humanity as a whole.

The question that immediately arises is: h o w did history pay off the debt it had incurred to economics, statistics, sociology and psychology? Frankly, in m y opinion, historians are still in debt and have not yet repaid their borrowings in full measure. There are two reasons for this. Basically, I do not think that the type of material that economists, statisticians, sociologists and psychologists found in history—although it was new—served any useful purpose as far as they were concerned; the historical material that had been accumulating, whatever its his-toriographical quality, did not, in practice, lend itself to conversion into economic, psychological, sociological or any other terms (despite a few notable exceptions, for instance the Hamilton-Keynes relationship).1 O n the other hand, it should be pointed out that the sociologists, economists and psychologists have not paid m u c h attention to what the historians have had to say (though again there are exceptions, in this case primarily geographers).

But instead of remaining on this general plane, I should like to engage in a somewhat more concrete discussion of the relations that I feel could exist between historians, economists (and sociologists) in the difficult field of study of economic and social development.

I think no one will dispute the fact that historians have changed: they are n o longer concerned exclusively with the past but are interested in the present as well. Moreover, economists have also changed their approach, inasmuch as while formerly they concentrated on the short term, they are n o w paying increasing attention to the long term.

This convergence of two movements, which clearly has other causes as well, opens the door to genuine and practical co-operation. It is impossible to disregard the major contribution of historians to price theory, monetary theory or the trade cycle. Need w e recall, for instance, the part played by E . J. Hamilton's works in the development of Keynesian theory? Inevitably, the work of historians w h o were willing to 'collaborate' with economists was affected, for better or worse, by the motivations of economic thought that were essentially quantitative. Thus , long-range historical series were established which are frequently excellent, occasionally debatable, but always useful. Generally speaking, they suffer from one defect: compiled from archival records from the earliest date permitted by the state, they frequently c o m e to a halt around the end of the eighteenth century, and it always seems difficult if not impossible to link them to the data gleaned from the statistical yearbooks that started publication in the course of the nineteenth century.

History today 643

But the long-range series compiled by historians are not just of importance to economists alone; the historians themselves have derived great benefit from them, not only in terms of historical reconstruction but also in terms of method. A new critical sense has developed which has enabled us historians to realize that there is nothing more dangerous than lack of homogeneity, nothing more deceptive than the mere presentation of figures remote from the political, social, economic, spiritual or, in short, h u m a n context in which the events reflected by the figures have been played out.

Methodological doubts, vacillations and worries built up gradually to the point where w e doubted whether there was any real possibility of compiling long-range series capable of reflecting concrete realities, doubts that were, of course, surmounted. But is it really possible to study the spice trade in a given town in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries without taking into account the fact that changes affecting not only the spice trade but all branches of trade occurred between the two centuries? It is impossible to give a full account here of the problems involved, since this is evidently a task for our community of historians. I say 'evidently' because, in reality, is it possible to study changes in the traffic patterns in a large city from the beginning of the century u p to the present day without stopping to think that it is the city itself that has changed? The number of radios in a given country? Fine, but h o w do you set about defining a radio, since there is an enormous difference between valve radios and transistorized equipment? In some countries with a limited and inadequate electrical distribution network, radio m a y be said to have begun playing an important role only a few years ago with the introduction of battery-run transistor radios, as evidenced, moreover, by the major changes in broadcasting in the countries concerned in response to a sudden need to satisfy a greatly expanded radio audience. Thus , a problem which at first glance seems relatively 'compact' and condensed (in both the chronological and qualitative sense) m a y turn out to have certain very special features which lead to intense complications.

In truth, I a m not sure whether economists have devoted sufficient attention to these issues. In any case, they only played a relatively important role as long as economists were concentrating all their attention on essentially quantitative data. But—and at this point our discussion seems to be verging on the domain of sociology—when the emphasis changed to the problem of development, economists began to urge historians to join forces with them in the qualitative field (without, of course, neglecting the quantitative aspects).

There are grounds for satisfaction in this turn of events because it teaches us a first important lesson, namely that one cannot draw u p a strict set of rules governing co-operation between our disciplines: the particular line of investigation followed by one will incite or induce the other to adopt a specific orientation.

It is clear, however, that recourse to quantitative data alone can no longer be considered a scientific and realistic approach to the problem of development.

644 Ruggiero Romano

Such data m a y constitute a very useful point of departure but they must be supplemented by ; qualitative elements in order to arrive at reasonably valid conclusions.

But let us proceed methodically. First of all, w e have to determine h o w m u c h use can still be m a d e of the quantitative material accumulated by historians in the last few decades. O n e example will suffice. Alongside the persistent and still flourishing vogue enjoyed by the history of prices and wages, there has been a growing tendency to study the cost of living: the cost of the 'family shopping-basket' (with its qualitative variations) has been studied as well as changes in family budgets, these data providing a very useful basis for assessing the standard of living and, indirectly, social capillarity (upward social mobility). In too m a n y parts of the globe this type of investigation has been neglected but a complex methodology is none the less being perfected, and this should facilitate a kind of conversion of information already acquired in the field of prices and wages history, monetary history and demographic history with a view to compiling a long-range series relating to family budgets. Conversions of this type can be effected easily and to great advantage. Another, problem that concerns us, this time directly, is that of the qualitative forces that should be taken into account. It is a problem that has to be examined from two points of view, though this m a y not appear to be so in reality. Indeed, one m a y always assume the existence of a qualitative aspect even in sources that seem to be largely of quantitative significance. First of all, the qualitative aspect of the sources themselves. W h a t is their value and h o w reliable are they? If a limit has to be set, approximately what rate of adjustment should be applied to ensure proper use of the data? T o m y mind, historians have an exclusive and clearly indispensable role to play in this domain. Only historians can determine the degree of reliability of sources, above all those relating to the period from around 1850 to the 1920s, which are frequently full of errors; only historians can determine the general framework in which the quantitative sources can be applied with accuracy.

Historians can help to resolve this first aspect of the problem not only by virtue of a kind of topographical familiarity with the records but above all by applying their critical sense, their source-processing techniques and their ability to identify the circumstances to which the source refers.

I noted above that there is another aspect to the problem of the qualitative sources of development, those sources which by their very nature reveal specifically qualitative in addition to quantitative characteristics. For the sake of clarity and by way of a simple example, let us take the trend in the school-attendance rate in a given country. Clearly, this rate can prove very informative in regard to public investment in educational infrastructure, road conditions, which can sometimes be of decisive importance for school attendance in rural areas, and the economic circumstances of the parents of schoolchildren w h o have to be withdrawn from the productive activities of the family group to be sent to school. It

History today 645

should be stressed that the factors so far considered are of a strictly quantitative nature. The qualitative element consists in the fact that today's schoolchild is tomorrow's newspaper reader, w h o will be able to communicate by the written as well as the spoken word, w h o will perhaps be a technologist or a skilled worker or a teacher. It is clearly difficult to quantify these 'consequences', and the historian can supply very interesting data with a view to shedding light on them. But the qualitative problem has, in effect, just begun. It is doubtless very interesting to k n o w the number of secondary schools per thousand inhabitants. But I feel it would be even more valuable to investigate, in addition, the curricula followed and the textbooks used in the schools in question. Certain basic concepts which are the almost exclusive heritage of the ruling classes and which are subsequently imposed on the whole population are implanted in the schoolroom. This is an established fact, and only the historian can provide the necessary qualitative analysis. The national, religious and group consciousness of the ruling classes was formed largely on the basis of the 'textbooks' they used at a very early age. A n d as w e k n o w very well, this upbringing will influence the attitude adopted by the future ruling class to its country's economic, social and political problems. It is here, and here only, that w e c o m e in direct contact with the qualitative dimension. But h o w can this dimension be converted into figures, into 'symbols' that can be handled by economists and sociologists?

A problem of this kind arises, for instance, in.connection with the relationship between literature and society. W h a t criteria do w e apply, for example, to classify books written in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as 'history' or 'theology' or 'philosophy' or 'geography'? H o w are w e to select our criteria? Purely external criteria, the w a y in which the subject-matter of a book is defined? O r are w e to take into account the fact that for someone living in the centuries in question the boundary between philosophy and theology was very indistinct? Should w e in this case respect certain attitudes that prevailed in the past? A n d suppose that, on the other hand, w e m a k e allowances for the fact that today it is the boundary between history and geography that has become somewhat blurred? In this case w e are permitting twentieth-century attitudes to colour our views. It should be stressed that all three procedures are more or less correct. But it is also true that they lead to distortions which it is futile to attempt to eliminate and which the historian is urged to bear in mind. Similarly, people taking advantage of such information in the other disciplines must be m a d e aware of these distortions.

This is a particular example but one that can be applied to m a n y circumstances, not only in the context of education, which was the starting-point for our discussion. Clearly, the problem remains m u c h the same when w e consider the press or elections. Counting the number of newspapers, or rather the amount of space they devote to internal or external affairs, and calculating the proportion of abstentions or of right-wing or left-wing voters m a y undoubtedly serve a useful

646 Ruggiero Romano

purpose. But such exercises cannot reflect reality until the terms 'left-wing' and 'right-wing' have been defined and until the degree of independence (political and economic) of the press has been determined. Such factors, which m a y be termed 'qualitative aspects of the qualitative', can be revealed, studied and analysed only by historians whose training qualifies them for this type of work. It would be really dangerous if our colleagues in the other social sciences were to indulge in a kind of intellectual autarchy of which they themselves would be the first victims. O n e of these genuine risks has already assumed a very definite form: the tendency to draw comparisons. Historians have long been exploiting the possibilities of 'comparative' history, or at least a certain kind of comparative approach. But the comparative trend that has recently become evident in other disciplines is manifestly dangerous since it leads to comparison in cases which do not lend themselves to comparison because they are structurally disparate. H o w can one compare elements reflecting basically dissimilar situations? At the present time historians are seriously concerned at the way in which their colleagues in other disciplines (including social scientists, if they will pardon m y saying so) are following certain lines of comparative research which have already proved sterile in the historical field. T h e real problem is not to discover similarities or contrasts, which are frequently illusory and also dependent in large measure on the attitudes of the researcher concerned, but consists in identifying the broad lines of development, the constants and the contingencies in the major areas of research. The comparative method m a y prove valid in the intermediate stages of research but it cannot under any circumstances be adopted as its primary objective.

I apologize for m y polemical approach to certain topics which are usually a source of enjoyment, but for the purposes of this brief outline (too brief for m y liking) of the possible bases for co-operation between historians and sociologists, I thought it important to m a k e m y view of the matter really clear: frankness is essential if, rather than one group scoring points against the other, everybody concerned is to benefit in m a n ' s difficult quest for self-knowledge.

At this point I might be justified in considering m y task complete, but this is not, in fact, the case.

So far I have m a d e several references to the relationship between history on the one hand and economics and sociology on the other (and also in passing to psychology and geography), and I think it is right to confine ourselves to these disciplines w h e n considering periods spanning almost a century at a time.

However, it should also be pointed out that in the last thirty years or so history has started to m o v e closer to other disciplines such as anthropology, biology or mathematics. O f course, w e can, if w e are so inclined, discover connections with these disciplines (especially mathematics) even before the period under review. But I think it is undeniable that in the last thirty years or so the relationships between history and the disciplines in question have assumed an entirely

History today 647

n e w character, and involve logic rather than techniques and concepts rather than methods.

1 think it worth while to trace these relationships carefully and in detail. With regard to history and anthropology, I should like to refer for a m o m e n t to the Andean region. H o w does one describe the pre-Hispanic Andean world? W e have had answers couched in purely historical terms and answers which nowadays cannot be sustained even with the aid of crutches: Incan socialism, Incan feudalism, the Incan Asiatic m o d e of production. This (false) problem has been the subject of lengthy debate (though only the zombies of Andean historiography are still debating), and it was only by dint of the intelligent and careful work of John Murra 2 that a solution was found which struck a perfect balance, namely ethno-history. It was ethnohistory, that happy marriage between history and anthropology, which showed that the pre-Hispanic Andean world was essentially a world of reciprocity and redistribution.

Admittedly, ethnohistory has itself a number of limitations, limitations in time (it is hard to imagine h o w ethnohistory could be used to study, say, the Greek classical world) and limitations in terms of space (ethnohistory is likewise virtually inapplicable to the study of rural problems in contemporary Western Europe). All the same it constitutes a valid tool for illuminating a whole range of phenomena which are imperceptible or almost imperceptible to the eye of the pure historian or pure anthropologist.

In short, when history is associated at the logical level with anthropology, it is possible to reread texts which already seemed to have yielded all the information they had to offer, to re-examine the results of field missions, to reinterpret archaeological discoveries.and to obtain entirely new analytical results.

O f course there are risks involved, as is always the case when something new appears on the horizon, and a flock of vultures are hovering overhead to see what can be picked up. But in fact they will not gain anything out of it; at best they will write folk history or the history of popular traditions and persist in passing it off as ethnohistory. They will be the losers in the end but not before having spread great confusion.

The other new development concerns the relations between history and mathematics. O f course, any historian involved in quantitative historical research will have been concerned to some extent with mathematics, if only through the m e d i u m of statistics. But I a m not referring at present to mathematics of this kind and even less so to this particular use of mathematics.

I a m referring rather to two different uses, first of all, by order of appearance, to the problem of mathematics in the ' N e w Economic History'.3 Quite frankly, I do not think that the importance of the latter lies in the use of computers or even so m u c h in the results obtained thereby (which are none the less very interesting). I think, above all, that the major contribution of this school consists in its having introduced an absolutely n e w element: the 'alternative'. W h a t would

648 RUggiero Romano

have been the course of events if, instead of opting for a specific solution, the ruling class had decided to maintain the prevailing political, administrative, economic and social system? In this respect and in this respect only, I consider that the'novelty'of the N e w Economic History is truly fundamental.

N o less important, to m y mind, is the contribution of biology to history, particularly through the study of blood types. It is this discipline that introduces a n e w documentary category: m a n . Each h u m a n being is a living record of a very remote past through which the ancestral genetic stock, selective pressures (environment) and migrations can be rediscovered.

The results of research are already available for prehistory,1 but also for more recent history, for instance, the Andean region.5 The trouble is that most of the work in this field has been undertaken by biologists rather than historians, yet the latter would be well advised to become acquainted with this branch of study if only to be able to express more authoritative views on such important works as Wilson's Sociobiology" which has been too readily dismissed.

But still more crucial, in m y opinion, is the wealth of information that history can extract from the n e w mathematics. For example: is a local/global concept purely mathematical or can extrapolations be m a d e from it? Let us proceed methodically. The basic problem is: to what extent is a system whose components operate solely on the basis of local information capable of global application?

This purely mathematical problem can be applied to the h u m a n sciences: thus, for example, in the last few years the metalanguages, which have enabled some of the most crucial 'dialectical' problems raised by the logical, semantic and syntactical structure of natural languages to be restated in new terms, were derived from this concept. A n d not only that: the whole local/global approach can lead (has already led?—a difficult question) to a new, encyclopedic, organization of knowledge, precisely because it states the problem of classification in rigorous terms.

But from the local/global issue let us go on to consider another concept which, from the historiographical point of view, m a y prove to be of absolutely fundamental importance. I a m referring to the problem of 'catastrophes'. A catastrophe, in René Thorn's sense of the term,' is something that should be of interest to historians! Similarly, historians cannot afford to ignore another mathematical concept, that of centralization/decentralization. Having rejected a form of research based on centralized structures (which has persisted for over a thousand years), it is time to shift the emphasis to decentralized structures; this is the only w a y of getting rid of the idea of historical (and not only historical) knowledge as something arborescent and replacing it with a philosophy in which concepts such as that of the labyrinth or the combination are attributed their due importance.

At this point, 1 should like to digress for a m o m e n t . In the last few years there has been a great deal of talk about histoire nouvelle (new, history). Books are

History today 649

published; interviews are held; programmes are launched • and speeches are delivered. Frankly, I can detect very little that is n e w in all this. At best, these programmes can result in history on a grand scale but not in a n e w kind of history. A n d I feel it would be more useful to try to produce n e w history—no matter h o w modest the results—than to reproduce history on a grand scale.

Having m a d e this point, w e m a y resume the thread of our discussion. The n e w material can be provided (and has begun to be provided) by mathematics, anthropology and biology, but also by linguistics, genetics and physics. Clearly, the historian cannot be expected to become an expert in all these fields. But he can attempt to master the logic, rather than the techniques, underlying the disciplines referred to above. In short, the idea is to abandon interdisciplinarity in favour of something really more universal: metadisciplinarity.

Only on this condition can the 'products' of historians be of use to other scholars. Otherwise, w e shall persist in the futile exercise of exchanging material in the false hope that this ritual handing over of jetsam will constitute a 'contribution', as the phrase goes, to the 'popular cause', to the 'solution of the problem of underdevelopment', to the 'cause of the revolution', to the 'maintenance of order'. Perhaps historians will begin to serve a useful purpose again w h e n they admit their social 'uselessness' and concentrate on enhancing their intellectual dignity and usefulness by helping to broaden the scope of h u m a n m e m o r y .

But attainment of this objective implies abandoning revealed truths and having the modesty to admit that there is no ideology capable of explaining h u m a n history everywhere and for all time. Hence, the only possible procedure at any time must be to construct the model required to solve whatever problem is to be solved, taking care to avoid anachronisms.

[Translated from Spanish]

Notes

1 See E . J. Hamilton, American Treasure and the 4 J. Ruffié, De la biologie à la culture, Paris, 1976; Price Revolution in Spain, 1501-1650, C a m - L . Cavalli-Sforza, 'The Genetics of H u m a n bridge, Mass. , 1934, and J. M . Keynes, A Population', Scientific American, Vol. 231, Treatise on Money, 2 vols., particularly, N o . 3, p . 80. pp . 152-62 of Vol. II, London, 1931. B J . - C . Quilici, 'Hémotypologie des populations

2 J. V . Murra, Formaciones económicas y politicas del andines et du piémont andin', Colloque sur mundo andino, Lima, 1975; La organización l'anthropologie des populations andines, económica del estado inca, Mexico City, 1978. Paris, 1977.

3 See, in particular, R . Dacey, 'Aspects of the 6 E . O . Wilson, Sociobiology—The New Synthesis, Counter-factual Controversy', Ninth Purdue Cambridge, Mass. , and London, 1975. Conference, 1969. ' R . Thorn, Théorie des catastrophes, Paris, 1974.

Modern Soviet historiography

Valéry Tishkov

Introduction

There is an old saying, 'History is the teacher of life' {historia est magistra vitae). This is very true, in so far as m a n and society at large tend to base all their activities on the experience of the past and then to judge them in the light of the results of similar activities in earlier times. A n d although the past does not always provide answers to the increasingly complex questions generated by each new step in h u m a n progress and each new stage in society's development, the events of today cannot be properly understood without reference to historical experience.

T o cut the modern world adrift from the course of h u m a n history and cut each individual off from his o w n experience and his historical heritage is tantam o u n t to returning mankind to the Stone A g e and reducing it to a state of complete helplessness. The great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin wrote: 'Respect for the past is what differentiates civilization from savagery.' History is the accumulated experience of mankind. It is the depository of its material achievements, the treasure-house of h u m a n thought and the launching pad for further achievements. A s to history as a scientific discipline, it is concerned with the study of the development of h u m a n society 'in all its tremendous diversity and contradictions as a unified process governed by laws'.1

It is Marxism-Leninism that provides historical science in the U S S R with its ideological, theoretical and methodological basis. The materialist concept of history is based on the notion that world history is a unified process that develops in conformity with natural laws, proceeding from lower forms of social organization to the highest form of the social order or c o m m u n i s m . Deriving strength from this all-embracing and universal theory of the historical process, the works of Soviet historians are notable for their scientific breadth and diversity, covering

Valéry Akksandrovich Tishkov is Academic Secretary of the History Department of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. He is the author of The Liberation Movement in Colonial Canada (1968) (in Russian), and The Country of the Maple Leaf. Early History (1977) (in Russian), and he has written a number of articles on Soviet historiography.

Int. Soc. Sei. J., Vol. X X X m , N o . 4, 1981

Modern Soviet historiography ,651

all periods of mankind's historical development and the history of all the countries and continents of our planet. Soviet historians concentrate on the study of concrete manifestations of the historical process, on the analysis of the laws governing the progress of h u m a n society, as seen in the successive changes in social and economic structures, and on the creativity of the masses and their role in creating outstanding monuments of material and spiritual culture.

The further development of historical methods and of a general concept of world history and national history is an important area of scientific research. It should be pointed out that one of the basic principles of the Marxist historical method is that of the dialectical approach to the study of nature and society, which requires that all processes and phenomena be regarded not as static but as continually developing and evolving. This principle applies to Marxist theory itself, which is continually in the process of creative development. In speaking of his concept of the world, M a r x himself, said that 'it does not provide ready-made doctrines but rather points of departure for further study and a method for such study'.2

Comprehensive studies

Proceeding from that principle, Soviet historians, while taking account of concrete historical facts, try to develop the materialist concept of history further. In recent years, they have completed a number of special studies on the functioning of socio-economic structures, on the problems of transitional periods between antagonistic class structures and the typology of historical phenomena. They have broken n e w ground in their work on the concept of historical structures and laws, the relationship between sociological and historical laws of development, the description of societies in terms of their structure and stage of development, the principles of the splitting of world history into periods and the notion of social progress.3

A m o n g the most notable achievements in this field is a series of basic comprehensive studies, the fruit of the concerted efforts of large teams of specialists. Supplementary volumes in the 'World History' series1 attempt, for the first time in world historiography, to chronicle world history up to the end of the 1960s, thus bringing in a period marked by the establishment of the world socialist system, the complete and final victory of socialism in the U S S R and the creation of the foundations of socialism in a number of other countries, the rise of workers' and national liberation movements, the aggravation of the world crisis of capitalism and the crumbling of the colonial system of imperialism. Essential historical lessons and new and important methodological conclusions have been drawn from the work that went into the preparation of major multi-volume works on the history of the Second World W a r , the international labour movement and the

652 Valéry Tishkov

history of the U S S R from the earliest times to the present.5 Several multi-volume works on the history of the Soviet Far East and the peoples of the North Caucasus are scheduled for early publication.

Ethnohistorians working together with geographers are preparing a twenty-volume work on the countries and peoples of the world,6 which contains up-to-date information on all the peoples of the modern world, both large and small, on the organization of states and on their economic and cultural life. A comprehensive work of this kind is especially necessary today since it identifies the place and role of all peoples in world history and substantiates the thesis that no people, even the most numerically insignificant, lies outside the scope of history and that each has .made its contribution to the world's cultural heritage. The information it brings together sheds n e w light on the points of convergence between different cultures and civilizations throughout the world and on the way in which they influence and enrich one another. Despite the frequency with which conflicts and wars have recurred in the history of the world, the fact of the matter remains that it is the contacts, links and co-operation established between different peoples that constitute the major factor of historical development.

It is worth noting that complete and systematic histories of the peoples of almost all the union and autonomous republics have been published. A s a rule, these works are published in the national languages and are tangible evidence of the high professional level of historiography in the Soviet republics. A unique example of the collective achievement of professional historians extending their collaboration to include broader sectors of society (amateur historians, history teachers, regional specialists) was the publication of a twenty-six-volume history of the towns and villages of the Ukrainian S S R . This work, which was awarded the State Prize of the U S S R , is n o w being published in Russian.7

Intensive research into the history of foreign countries has likewise m a d e it possible to prepare comprehensive historical studies of a number of those countries which give a purely Marxist-Leninist interpretation of the development of their states and peoples. In the past five years alone, works have been published on the history of the G e r m a n Democratic Republic, C u b a , Viet N a m , India, Japan, Canada, N o r w a y and Iran. Soon to be published are multi-volume studies on the history of the United States, Y e m e n and various Latin American countries. In view of the crucial importance of the European continent in the history of the world and the urgency of the problems confronting it today, particular importance is attached to the plans for fundamental research into the history of Europe from earliest times to the present day.

A m o n g works of a more general character, the sixteen-volume Soviet Historical Encyclopedia, which has just been completed, is worth mentioning. Military historians have n o w completed publication of an eight-volume Soviet Military Encyclopedia, which contains a wealth of information on military history. The publishing house Soviet Encyclopedia has published or will be publishing encyc-

Modem Soviet historiography 653

lopedic reference works on the October Revolution, M o s c o w , Latin America, and world mythology, all containing a vast amount of historical information. Encyclopedic publications such as these are invaluable for the collation of scientific knowledge and for determining the level and the limits of scientific development at the present stage, and are of incalculable assistance to research workers, teachers, students and all those interested in history.

Although, in the final analysis, it can be confidently asserted that egocen-tricity and chauvinism are attitudes alien to Soviet historiography, the main focus of Soviet historians is the study of our nation's history, which plays such an important role in the ideological and political education of our country's workers. A s was pointed out in the Report of the Central Committee of the C P S U to the Twenty-sixth Party Congress, Soviet m a n is a conscientious worker, a person with high political standards, a patriot and internationalist. H e is the product of the Party, of the country's heroic past and of our whole system and w a y of life.

Russian history

At the centre of our nation's history lies the Great October Socialist Revolution. Amongst the m a n y works devoted to this subject, mention should be m a d e of the second edition of the three-volume work by. 1.1. Mints.8

Studies of the processes leading up to the revolution and its impact on the contemporary world have acquired special significance in connection with the intensive study of its international implications. For the first time historians have studied the socio-economic changes involved in the revolutionary process with a view to establishing comparisons, taking as their basis the October Revolution and the people's democratic and socialist revolutions.of central and south-east Europe.9 The combined efforts of historians from various socialist countries have given n e w impetus to study of this question.

O u r attention continues to focus, however, on the history of the construction of socialist society in our country. Integrated studies of problems related to, the n e w economic policy and its international implications have been m a d e . 1 0 Soviet historiography has achieved notable successes in the study of the history of the working class and of the country's industrial development. A number of collective works and monographs describe the leading role played by the Soviet working class in socialist and communist construction, the history of the spirit of constructive rivalry that has developed a m o n g socialist workers and the problem of the size and composition of the working class and of the changes in its cultural level and material welfare. Studies of the history of the working class in different regions and national republics of the country have been published. A large number of books on the history of factories and industrialized concerns has appeared. In recent years research into socialist planning, industrial management,

654 Valéry Tishkóv

socialist industrialization's use of domestic resources, scientific and technological progress and the role of science in the country's socialist transformation has been intensified. W o r k is going forward on the history of collectivization, the mechanization of agriculture, the class struggle and the international importance of the experience gained in implementing the Leninist plan for co-operation. In that connection, I should mention the new work dealing with the Party's experience in tackling the agrarian question by S. P. Trapeznikov.11

A large group of experienced scholars sifted a vast amount of factual material to prepare a series of works on the history of the working class (nine volumes) and of the peasantry (ten volumes). A comprehensive study of the history of the working class in Siberia is to appear shortly.

Other serious problems are being tackled in the field of Soviet cultural history: the essence and nature and the stages of cultural revolution and the general features, specificity and international importance of Soviet culture. O f great practical and theoretical significance is the study of the Soviet state's m a n a gerial role in the building up of culture. There has been a marked widening in the area covered by research in this field: new works have been completed on the history of cultural development in the Soviet countryside, on the role of the working class and the Soviet intelligentsia in the development of Soviet culture and on the history of national culture-building. Historians have begun a systematic investigation of the culture of advanced socialism, of its national and international components and the interaction between them and of the role of culture in developing a n e w historical community of people—the Soviet nation. A work chronicling cultural life in the U S S R has appeared,12 and a multi-volume history of Soviet culture is in preparation and is expected to appear within the next few years.

Soviet historiography has been further enriched by new studies of the Great Patriotic W a r of 1941-45. The decisive role played by the Soviet Union in the Second World W a r and the organizational role of the Party in winning the war against fascism is described in the multi-volume History of the Second World War—1939-1945, and a number of group studies and monographs explore the subject of the 'people in wartime'. There has been a notable increase in the number of works devoted to the struggle of the people in fascist-occupied territories, to the problems of Soviet workers on the h o m e front and the social, political and cultural life of the nation during the war. A short history of the Second World W a r has also been published.13

Further work is being done on the history of Soviet foreign policy. A new edition of the History of the Foreign Policy of the USSR has appeared, and the final volume of the History of Diplomacy has n o w been published. A number of n e w studies throw light on the Leninist principles of Soviet foreign policy and the struggle to implement the Peace Programme, on the activities of the U S S R in the United Nations, the history of the Soviet Union's struggle to put into practice the principles of the peaceful coexistence of states with different forms of social organ-


ization, and on the place and role of the Soviet Union in the world socialist system and the history of its relations with the developing countries.

Recent years have seen the development of a solid documentation base for studies on the history of foreign policy, which also cover such important questions as the activities of Soviet diplomacy during the Second World W a r , the U S S R ' s struggle for peace and against the threat of war.14

A s the result of an interesting experiment in co-operation with documen-talists from other countries, Soviet specialists have m a d e available a collection:of foreign policy documents.15

A valuable contribution has also been m a d e to study of the pre-revolutionary period. The task of educating the Soviet people and inculcating in them a respect for their cultural heritage makes necessary a serious examination of the history of the Motherland at air stages of its development, including the far distant past. Research on Russian history during the period of the development, consolidation and downfall of capitalism has led to increasing interest in demographic and urban history and has produced some interesting findings. A number of works have thrown light on important population indicators, population migrations, the economic development of outlying regions, the key role of urban centres in the country's social, economic and cultural development and in the liberation and revolutionary movement. Valuable work on the history of the peasant family and the peasant c o m m u n e has also been carried out.

The country's socio-economic development during the period of the consolidation of capitalism has proved a particularly fruitful field of study. N . M . Druzhinin's basic work on life in the Russian countryside during the 1860s and 1870s was awarded the 1980 Lenin Prize.18 A number of questions which hitherto had been rather neglected have been the subject of serious investigation: a series of monographs have appeared on such general subjects as the consolidation of capitalism in the country's socio-economic structures and the formation of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, as well as on more detailed aspects of the capitalistic development of the peasant and landowner economy, and the history of industry and trade and government policy in that sphere. S o m e attention has also been given to the history of monopoly capitalism in Russia. It is worth mentioning, too, valuable works recently published on the history of the formation of the Russian proletariat, its transformation into the driving force behind the liberation movement and into the revolutionary vanguard of the country's whole working class. A large number of works deal with the labour movement at various stages of its development.. :

Gaps in our knowledge of the history of the bourgeoisie and nobility in the social structure of capitalist Russia have been filled in recent years. The role of the grande bourgeoisie and the nobility in post-emancipation Russia has been studied, as has the autocratic system in the age of imperialism; and some comprehensive studies have been m a d e of the history of thé nobility, the bourgeoisie and

656 Valéry Tishkov*

the autocracy. Historians have shown particular interest in liberal-bourgeois and conservative ideology and the liberal movement, in particular zemstvo liberalism, and in the history of the landowner, bourgeois and petty-bourgeois parties in Russia.

W o r k continues on the history of feudal Russia and such aspects of it as the expansion of the territory, the settling of the country and the origins and development of feudal and early capitalistic relationships. Special emphasis has been placed on study of the formation and development of peasant landholdings and feudal land ownership, on what became of the communal economy, on the peasantry, landowners, monasteries and the nobles in different parts of Russia proper and its national regions. W o r k has been done on the history of the peasants and their class struggles and especially on the impact of peasant modes of thought on the development of a populist social Utopia. The history of crafts, early capitalistic forms of industrial production and domestic and foreign trade have been examined in slightly less detail. However, our knowledge of medieval cities and their inhabitants has been significantly enhanced by materials on Greater Novgorod, Polotsky, Pskov, Vitebsk and other centres, exploding the popular myth of the cultural backwardness of ancient Russia.17

In recent years, a great deal of attention has been given to comparative studies of absolutism in Russia and in other countries, to typological comparisons of public and state institutions in ancient Russia and to the history of limited representative and absolute monarchy.18

Research on the international economic, political and cultural relations of ancient Russia is of considerable scientific and political importance. The latest studies confirm the thesis that the ancient Russian state had attained a high level of development and was one of the great powers of the Middle Ages. These studies focus considerable attention on problems connected with Russia's efforts to achieve national liberation from the Mongol-Tartar yoke and the unification of the ancient Russian lands. A number of works on this question, including those published in commemoration of the 600th anniversary of the battle at Kulikovo, identify the adverse effects of Mongol-Tartar domination and emphasize the grandeur of the Russian people in their victory at Kulikovo.

It is particularly interesting that multinational Soviet historical research has recently turned u p abundant evidence of the historical roots of the friendship linking the various peoples of our country, of their cultural and economic ties, of the concerted struggle of the working masses of different nationalities against exploiters and foreign occupiers and of the role played by the Russian people in contributing to the progressive development of other peoples of the U S S R and their struggle for social and national liberation.

A m o n g the most recent works on the ancient history of our Motherland, I should like to mention the book by B . A . Rybakov on the ancient Slavs' combination of pagan and religious beliefs.19 Slav paganism was part of a huge elemental


complex of primitive views, beliefs and rites which date back thousands of years and served as the basis for all later world religions. Using data from written sources, ethnography, folklore, epic poetry, popular art, archaeology and linguistics, the author identified the roots of the national attitudes of Russians, Ukrainians and Byelorussians, delved into the origins of their pagan gods, their conception of the world and the forces directing it, as far back as.the hunting society of the palaeolithic and mesozoic periods, and studied the approach to life of the ancient soil cultivators of the fourth and third millennia B . C . on the territory of the Ukraine and its influence on the outlook of the Slavs.

Foreign history

A large team of Soviet historians is engaged in the study of foreign history. They are writing a history of the peoples of central and south-eastern Europe, of their struggle against fascism and for national and social liberation, for democracy and socialism. The following subjects have received particularly close attention: the history of socialist construction in the countries of the region, the formation and development of new intergovernmental relations, the activities of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Pact Organization, and the contribution of the socialist countries to efforts to strengthen peace and security in Europe and throughout the world. Publications on the history of Soviet-Polish, Soviet-Bulgarian and Soviet-Czechoslovak relations and ties are the result of the joint efforts, of Soviet historians and scholars of European socialist countries.20

In recent years the history of the labour movement in Western Europe has been the object of renewed interest. Apart from research on the problems of working-class unity, trade unions, relations between communist and social democratic parties and the impact of the labour movement on non-proletarian segments of the population, a great deal of attention is n o w being given to the study of the changes in the status and degree of awareness of various social groups, of methods for mobilizing workers in the struggle against monopolies, of the efforts of workers to transform the machinery of economic development and of their fight for disarmament, peace and security. Specialists in the history of the labour movement have turned their attention to countries which had hitherto been neglected by labour historians, such as Italy, Spain, Austria and the Scandinavian countries, and the history of mass movements in recent decades has also been a centre of interest. Their works throw light on a major development of the modern age, that of the appearance of the proletariat on the stage of history and the birth of the workers' and communist movement. Apart from the multi-volume work on the international labour movement, mentioned earlier, a number of other studies provide general information on the class struggle of the proletariat and its manifestations in a number of different countries and on the history of general

658 Valéry Tishkov •

strikes, one of the most effective instruments of the political struggle. The subject of the rise and development of Marxism has been enriched by n e w studies along with n e w biographies of M a r x and Engels, the founders of scientific communism.

Recent years have seen the preparation of a significant number of general works on the socio-economic and political history of the countries of Asia and Africa. Soviet scholars have m a d e a serious contribution to the study of the social and class structure of Asian and African countries, class formation in the newly independent states and the place and role of different classes and social groups in public life, and to the history and typology of traditional communal institutions.21

A series of works have been published on the formation and development of the proletariat, on the labour movement in various countries and regions and on the peasantry, which constitutes the largest class in the countries of Asia and Africa.22

The primary concern of specialists on Asian, African and Latin American history has been the national liberation and revolutionary movements and their present stage of development. Study of the liberation struggle of African peoples has led to the development of a typology of national movements reflecting the evolution of resistance to colonialism;23 and studies on the various stages through which the liberation struggle in different countries and regions has passed have also been completed. Special monographs deal with such subjects as the development and functioning of political systems in countries of Asia and Africa, the role of the armed forces and the policy of military regimes. There has been a marked increase in studies of the role of Islam in the life of the peoples of the East today.21

Research has gone forward on such problems as the relations of Asian and African countries with the U S S R and other countries of the socialist c o m m o n wealth in the fields of economics, politics, ideology and culture, the role of the newly independent countries in the world revolutionary process, their struggle against imperialism and neo-colonialism and their fight for economic independence and a n e w international economic order. Further studies are being conducted on the increasingly important role of the newly independent states in international relations and world trade.26

Specialists on the Middle and Far East are n o w turning their attention to n e w problems: population, food and raw material problems and their impact on the economic and socio-political situation in the developing countries; international conflicts and the prospects for settling them; ways and means of securing peace in the new international situation; the problems of disarmament and security in Asia and the development of the Non-Aligned Movement . 2 6

Research continues to be carried out on basic stages in the development of the countries of Latin America, for example the period of colonial dependency and that of the revolutionary liberation struggle. Studies have appeared on the history of the Catholic Church and biographies of outstanding Latin American figures—Francisco de Miranda, Bolivar, Ché Guevara, Allende, Siqueiros and


others—have been published. A series devoted to the history and culture of Latin America has been created and books have appeared on Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Paraguay and other countries. Studies on the history of Russo-Brazilian and Soviet-Argentinian relations have been completed.

Modern Western European history has been the subject of intensive investigation in recent years: there has been a substantial broadening of the subject-matter covered along with a more comprehensive treatment of this period. T h e whole body of problems connected with the influence of the October Revolution on the evolution of the modern world has also been a subject of constant concern. Soviet historiography has been enriched by n e w studies that have convincingly shown once again the lasting global impact of the October Revolution on Wes t European society and the importance of the solidarity manifested by democratic segments of Western European public opinion towards the liberation struggle of the peoples of Russia during the Revolution and the Civil W a r ; at the same time these studies present a comprehensive picture of the solidarity of the Soviet people with the workers of foreign countries in the post-revolutionary period.27

Notable work has been done in the study of foreign-policy problems, examined in close relationship to internal policy and civil history. It is characteristic of present trends that, along with the perennial interest in the history of foreign policy in the inter-war period and during the Second World W a r , more attention is n o w being devoted to the post-war period. There have also been studies on international relations on the eve of the Second World W a r , the situation of different countries during the war, the history of fascism and the anti-fascist liberation movement, and efforts to maintain peace after the war. Works have been completed on the problems of neo-fascism and the democratic struggle against the resurgence of fascism. The complex problem of the place and role of religion in the modern capitalist world has also been the subject of scholarly investigation.28

Specialists in modern history have focused attention on the rise of capitalist socio-economic structures, exposing their inherent contradictions, which are evidence of their transitory character. They have written histories of the class war, of social and political movements and bourgeois revolutions, especially the French bourgeois revolution at the close of the eighteenth century and of the American bourgeois revolution of the eighteenth century. Interesting work has been done in the field of the history of social and, above all, socialist thought. N e w studies have been carried out on French thought of the Enlightenment, the social ideas of Voltaire and of Italian and English thinkers and political figures and of the Utopian socialists Saint-Simon, Robert O w e n and others. Studies of the social and political doctrines and ideas of a number of major Western European thinkers (Diderot, Kant, Hobbes, Holbach, Meslier and others) have also been completed. A n d a number of books have been published on the religious and cultural history of Western Europe in modern times.

Substantial progress has been m a d e in the study of the complex process

660 Valéry Tishkov

that was involved in the building of nations and national cultures in central and south-east Europe, especially during the period of transition from feudalism to capitalism. Studies have been m a d e of the history of liberation movements in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the processes of the national revival and formation of Slav literary languages and national cultures.29 The most recent works in the field use the techniques of various sciences, and this integrated systems approach contributes to the multidisciplinary elucidation of complex historical phenomena. Considerable attention has been devoted to relationships between the different Slav peoples and also their relations with other countries and other peoples.

Ancient and medieval history

Medievalists have studied a broad spectrum, of problems relating to the socioeconomic, political and spiritual history of mankind. Interest in typological research has risen palpably a m o n g specialists in the history of Byzantium, the central issue being the identification of general patterns in the development of feudalism. The specific features of the class war in that historical context have been investigated, and the extent and range of the popular heresies and their social origins have been illustrated. Studies have been m a d e of the agrarian structure of the Byzantine Empire, the situation of the peasantry, the development of the early Byzantine town and the history of Byzantian law, literature and early social thought. There has been lively debate over the relationship between Graeco-R o m a n and Byzantine culture, which has shed light on both the individuality of Byzantine civilization and the. great contribution that Graeco -Roman culture m a d e to its development. A two-volume history of that culture is n o w being prepared for publication.

The history of urban settlement, too, has aroused particular interest a m o n g medievalists. Studies of feudal society in its heydey have hinged upon its socioeconomic history, especially the interaction between rural development and the history of the towns and the influence of money-exchange relationships on the agrarian and social structure of feudal society. Studies of the social structure, economics, guilds, municipal law and political system of the medieval cities at the height of their power are on the increase. Analysis of the relationships between town and country has led scholars to study m o r e closely the development of domestic and foreign trade, trading routes and the struggle to control them and the systems of monetary circulation.and credit. T h e social characteristics of the feudal burghers have been a subject of lively debate. A hallmark of work on the late Middle Ages has been investigation of the entire process of feudal decay, the emergence of the capitalist method of production and feudal reactions to the first successes of the emerging bourgeoisie. Studies of social and class warfare and the social and ideological content of the medieval heresies have continued. Soviet


historians have m a d e a distinctive and positive contribution to the international debate on agrarian problems relating to the bourgeois French Revolution of the late eighteenth century.30

W o r k on medieval culture, the early feudal ideology and socio-political thought of Western Europe and the life-styles and mores of various sections of feudal society at that time has produced some very interesting findings. Monographs and joint works have been written on aspects of the history of Renaissance humanism and culture.31 The history of the progressive ideologies and cultures has been investigated, with particular reference to the early communist utopias, and the philosophies of T h o m a s M o r e , Erasmus arid Campanella have been scrutinized in depth.

The past few years have seen solid achievements in such traditional fields as the study of the ancient Orient and the publication and interpretation of outstanding historical and literary documents. Scholars have gained access to crucial evidence of the social and artistic thought that represents a unique contribution to world culture by the peoples of the ancient and medieval East. A n y list of specific research projects must include the deciphering and translation into Russian of twelfth-century Tangut hieroglyphic texts, the deciphering and investigation of ancient Sogdian texts discovered in the ancient territory of Kirghizia, and the use of comparative etymological studies to establish a lexicon of the Eastern-Iranian languages.

Major research has been done on pre-capitalist societies in the East, which has m a d e a major contribution to knowledge of the socio-economic structures of ancient and medieval oriental societies, the emergence of c o m m o n historical patterns in the Orient, and the reconstruction of the histories of long-dead oriental civilizations: Especial interest was attached to the cultural and ideological aspects of ancient societies and to the ancient history of such countries as Egypt, India and Iran.32 The scope of specialist research into antiquity has widened considerably, and n o w embraces areas previously overlooked by Soviet historians. Greater interest has been taken in the Creto-Mycenaean and Achaean periods and in the Greek colonization of the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts. A n extensive range of issues relating to the socio-economic and political history of ancient R o m e have been studied: forms of slavery and dependency, agrarian relations, ideology and culture and the relationship between R o m e and the outer barbarian lands. Study of R o m a n slavery has m a d e a major contribution to the general theory of the role and place of slave-owning societies in the history of mankind: The rural c o m m u n e in the western provinces of the R o m a n Empire has been discussed.

662 Valéry Tishkov

Ethno-history

In the field of ethnography, particular attention has been paid to problems of methodology and above all to the theory of the 'ethnos', elaboration of which has established the concept of ethnography as the study of peoples as 'ethnoses' throughout world history, defined its role in the study of the modern world and clarified its relationships with allied disciplines, especially with applied sociology. It has proved possible to found a n e w discipline, ethnosociology, drawing alike on ethnography and sociology and chiefly concerned with the study of contemporary ethnosocial or national processes. Efforts have focused more particularly on the further elaboration of such important aspects of the theory of the ethnos as the definition of its place in relation to other types of community, the typological classification of ethnic communities, the ethnic features of culture and the psyche, and the varieties of ethnic processes.33

The central trend in ethnography is still the study of modern peoples, and above all modern ethnic processes in the Soviet Union. Research has been conducted into changes in the socio-ethnic composition of the republics, the impact of national factors on social mobility and migration, söcio-ethnic aspects of family relations and their influence on family composition and structure. Considerable attention has been devoted to changes in the culture and life-styles of the peoples and the interplay of traditional and modern cultural elements in urban and rural social groups; research into the socio-ethnic aspects of bilingualism and linguistic processes has continued; and work has been doné on the ethno-sociological aspects of the Soviet way of life.34

Major efforts have been m a d e in the field of modern ethnosocial processes in foreign countries, a grasp! of which is of utmost importance for analysis of the situations that m a y arise in a given country. Studies have been published on the immigrant population of the United States of America, ethnic processes and ethnic minorities in southern Asian countries and ethnocultural processes in the West Indies. Research has been done on modern ethnic processes in Western Europe and South America, and the ethnic and national evolution of Indonesia. These and other studies have been incorporated in a general work, Etnicheskie protsessy v sovremennom mire (Ethnic Processes in the M o d e r n World).

Great emphasis is placed on research into traditional life-styles and cultures. The indigenous cultures of the Soviet Union have been dealt with in a series of publications that cast n e w light on the peoples' past as reflected in their occupations, customs and outlook and their artefacts. In identifying the ethnic origins of the various components of traditional culture, a major part has been played by comparative typological studies of the basic elements of housing, food, calendrical rites and festivals.35

O f particular importance to the study of traditional cultures is the investigation of certain long-forgotten scripts which hold the key to any substantial


insight into the ethnoses that used them. For deciphering the ancient M a y a n script, Y . V . Knorozov was awarded the U S S R State Prize for 1977. The Proto-Indian texts that record the culture of Harappa have n o w been deciphered, and work is proceeding on the script of the Easter Islanders.

Further studies of problems of ethnogeny and the ethnic history of the world's peoples have been carried out in recent years, and have continued to produce new and convincing evidence that the history of mankind has been one of contacts and intermingling between groups of different anthropological, linguistic and cultural allegiances, and that the world knows no such thing as a 'pure' people free of alien elements.

Archaeological investigations have been and are being extensively conducted throughout the Soviet Union, with over 600 expeditions in the field each year; The preparation of a twenty-volume Arkheologiya SSSR (Archaeology in the U S S R ) has been the main preoccupation of the Institute of Archaeology of the U S S R Academy of Sciences. Another focal point has been the major problems relating to the origins of m a n and society, the establishment of a productive economy, the emergence of the ancient city and study of the cultural history of the earliest societies.

Study of the palaeolithic era has yielded valuable information on the origins of m a n and the development of the earliest cultures.36 A breakthrough has been achieved in research into relics of the period of the h u m a n settlement of north-east Asia and penetration of the American continent. F r o m archaeological finds, it is n o w possible to date the appearance of m a n in Siberia at between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago, rather than 20,000 to 14,000 as previously accepted.

A key discovery was made by the Soviet expedition to Mesopotamia, which found an agricultural settlement dating from the eighth millennium B.c., belonging to the pre-ceramic neolithic period. A number of monographs and collective works have been published on the prehistory of Europe, Asia, America and Africa.

Conclusion

The last few years have seen a growing involvement of Soviet historians in the building of communism. Historians were directly associated in the drafting of the law relating to the conservation and use of historical and cultural monuments , and work is n o w in hand on the publication of the nation-wide List of Soviet Historical ana Cultural Monuments. Ethnohistorical research has begun to have a more practical bent: a number of specific studies have been carried out containing recommendations for the development of the minor peoples of the Far North. The symposia and conferences held by the U S S R A c a d e m y of Sciences in conjunction with other organizations to mark the 325th anniversary of the reunification of the Ukraine with Russia, the 600th anniversary of the Battle of

664 Valéry Tishkov

the Field of Kulikovo, the fortieth anniversary of the start of the Second World W a r , etc., have caught the imagination of the public. Each year more history books are published for the general public, the dissemination of historical knowledge and the number of history lectures for the working people are increased, and wider use is m a d e of scholarly and consultative services by television, radio and other state or public organizations.

Thus history as a science also fulfils an important social function. The value of history lies in its success in identifying the laws of the historical process, since only the experience of world history as a.whole enables the universal to be distinguished from the particular, or the essential from the accidental. Only history can provide a basis for the formulation of the laws of societal development. That is w h y the science of history, together with the other social sciences, provides a valuable scientific foundation for the management of contemporary society.

[Translated from Russian]

Notes

1 V . I. Lenin, Complete Collected Works, 5th Soviet ed. in Russian, Vol. 26, p . 53.

2 K . Marx and F . Engels, Works, Russian ed., Vol. 39, p. 352.

3 Cf. E . M . Zhukov, Ocherki metodologii istorll [Outlines of Historical Methodology], M o s cow, 1980; or E . M . Zhukov, M . A . Bari, E . B . Chemyak and V . I. Pavlov, Teoretl-cheskle problemy vsemirnoistorlcheskogo pro-tesessa [Theoretical Problems of the Process of World History), M o s c o w , 1979.

4 E . M . Zhukov, Vsemlrnaya istoriya [World History], Vols. 6-12, M o s c o w , 1977-79. (Vol. 13 will appear shortly.)

5 Istoriya vtoroí mirovot voíny, 1939-1945 [History of the Second World W a r , 1939-1945], Vols. 5-11, M o s c o w , 1976-80, 12 vols.; Mezhdunarodnoe rabochee dvlzhenie. Voprosy istoril I teorli [The International Working-class Movement: Questions of History and Theory], Vols. 1-4, Moscow, 1976-80; Istoriya SSSR s drevneîshikh vremen do nashikh dnei [History of the U S S R from the Origins to the Present], Vol. 11, Moscow, 1980.

• Strany i narody mira [Countries and Peoples of the World], Vols. 1-7, Moscow, 1978-80, 20 vols.

7 Istoriya gorodov i sel Ukrainskoî SSR [History of Towns and Villages of the Ukrainian S S R ] , Kiev, 1974-81, 26 vols.

8 I. I. Mints, Istoriya Velikogo Oktyabrya [History of the Great October], 2nd ed., Moscow, 1977-79, 3 vols.

' Velikil Oktyabr' irevolyutsiya40-khgodov vstranakh Tsentral'noi i Yugo-Vostochnoi Evropy [The Great October and the Revolutions of the 1940s in Central and South-eastern Europe], M o s c o w , 1977.

10 Ot kapitalizma k sotsializmu. Osnoxnye problemy istorri perekhodnogo perioda v SSSR 1917-1937 gg. [From Capitalism to Socialism: Main Problems of the History of the Transitional Period of 1917-1937 in the U S S R ] , Moscow, 1981, 2 vols.

n S. M . Trapeznikov, Leninizm i agrarno-krest'-yanskiï vopros [Leninism and the Problem of the Peasants], 2nd enlarged ed., Moscow, 1976, 2 vols.

12 Kul'turnaya zhizn'v SSSR. Khronika. 1917-1965 [Cultural Life in the U S S R : A Chronicle for 1917-1965], Vols. 1-4, Moscow, 1975-79.

13 A . M . Samsonov, Krakhfashistskolagressil. 1939-1945 [The Failure of the Fascist Aggression: 1939-1945], 2nd ed., Moscow, 1980.

14 Sovetskil Soyuz na mezhdunarodnykh konferent-siyakh perioda Velikoi Otechestvennol Voíny 1941-1945 gg. Sbornikl dolumentov [The Soviet Union at the International Conferences Held during the Great Fatherland W a r Period of 1941-1945: Collected Documents], Moscow, 1978-79, 6 vols.; Sovetskil Soyuz v bor'be za razoruzhenie. Sbornik dokumentov [The Soviet Union in the Disarmament Campaign: Collected Documents], Moscow, 1977; Dokumenty po istorll myunkhenskogo sgovora 1937-1939 [Documents on the His-


Notes {continued)

tory of the Munich Pact of 1937-1939], Moscow, 1979..

16 Sovetsko-germanskle otnoshenlya 1922-1925 gg. Dokumenty i materialy [Soviet-German R e lations 1922-1925: Documents and Materials], M o s c o w , 1977,2 vols.; Ekonomicheskie svyazi mezhdu Rossiei i Shvetsleï v XVII veke. Dokumenty iz sovetsklkh arkhivov [Economic Relations between Russia and Sweden in the Seventeenth Century: Documents from Soviet Archives], Moscow, 1978; Rossiya i SShA: stanovlenie otnoshenii 1765-1816 gg [Russia and the United States of America: The Establishment of Relations from 1765 to 1816], Moscow, 1980.

16 I. M . Druzhinin, Russkaya derevnya na perelome. 1861-1880 g [Rural Russia at the Turning-Point: 1861-1880], M o s c o w , 1979.

17 A . V . Artsikhovskil and V . I. Yanin, Novgorodskie gramoty na bereste [Novgorod Bark Inscriptions], Moscow, 1978; V . N . Lazarev, Vizantuskoe i drevnerusskoe iskusstvo [Art of Byzantium and Ancient Russia], Moscow, 1978. .

l s . L . V . Cherepnin, Zemskie sobory v Rossii XVI-XVII, vv [Rural Councils in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-century Russia], Moscow, 1978.

19 B . A . Rybakov, Yazychestvo drevnikh slavyan [Paganism of the Ancien Slavs], Moscow,

.! 1981. 20 Dokumenty i materialy po istorii sovetsko-pol'skikh

otnoshenii [Documents and Materials on the History of Soviet-Polish Relations], Vols. 1-10, Moscow, .1963-80; Sovetskobolgarskle otnosheniya i svyazi [Soviet-Bulgarian R e lations and Ties], Vol. 1, M o s c o w , 1976; Dokumenty i materialy po istorii sovetsko-chekhoslovatsklkh otnoshenii [Documents

' L and Materials on the History of. Soviet-Czechoslovak Relations], Vols. 1-3, Moscow, 1973-78.

2 1 Sotsial'nye sdvigi v.nezavlsimykh stranakh Afriki [Social Change in the Independent Countries of Africa], Moscow, 1977; Klassoobrazovanie na sovremennom Vostoke: problemy i tendentsil [Formation of Classes in the Modern Orient: Problems and Trends], Moscow, 1978; Issie-dovanle sotslologicheskikh problem razvlvayush-chikhsya stran (Teoriya sotsial'noi struktury) [Study of Sociological Problems in the Developing Countries (Theory of Social Structure)], Moscow, 1978; A . I. Levkovskiï, Sotsial'naya struktura razvivayuschchikhsya stran (problema mnogoukladnogo perekhodnogo obsh-chestva) [The Social Structure of the Devel

oping Countries (The Problem of the Pluralist Transitional Society)], M o s c o w , 1978; Obsh-china v Afrike: problemy tipologii [The Social Group in Africa: Problems of Typology], M o s c o w , 1978.

22 Rabochee dvizhenie v razvivayushchikhsya stranakh [The Working-class Movement in the Developing Countries], M o s c o w , 1977; Agramye struktury stran Vostoka: genezis, evolyutsiya, sotsial'nye preobrazovaniya [Agrarian Structures in Oriental Countries: Origins, Evolution and Social Changes], M o s c o w , 1977.

23 Istoriya natlonal'no-osvobodltel'noï bor'by narodov Afriki v novoe vremya [History of the National Liberation Struggle of the Peoples of Africa in Modern Times], M o s c o w , 1976. .

21 Islam i ego rol'v sovremennoï ideïno-politicheskoï bor'be razvivayushchikhsya stran [Islam and its Role in the Modern Ideological and Political Struggle of the Developing Countries], M o s c o w , 1980.

25 SSSR istrany Afriki [The U S S R and the Countries of Africa], Moscow, 1977; Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya na Dal'nem Vostoke [International Relations in the Far East], Vol. 2: 1958-1976, M o s c o w , 1978.

29 E . M . Primakov; Anatomlya bllzhnevostochnogo konflikta [Anatomy . of :the Middle East Conflict], Moscow, 1978.

27 Velikaya Oktyabr'skaya sotsialisticheskaya revo-lyutslya i strany Zapadnoï Evropy [The

• Great October Socialist,Revolution and the Countries of Western Europe], Moscow, 1978; Mezhdunarodnaya solldarnost' trud-yashchikhsya. 1917-1923 [International Solidarity among the Working People: 1917— 1923], Kiev, 1978; Dvizhenie mezhdunarodnoi solldarnostl trudyashchlkhsya. 1924-1932 [The International Working-class Solidarity M o v e ment: 1924-1932], Kiev, 1980.

28 Istoriya fashizma v Zapadnoï Evrope fThe History of Fascism in Western Europe], Moscow, 1978; Evropa v mezhdunarodnykh otnoshenl-yakh. 1917-1939 [Europe in International R e lations: 1917-1939], M o s c o w , 1979; I. R . Gri-gulevich, Papstvo, Vek XX [The Papacy in the Twentieh Century], M o s c o w , 1978.

2* Teatr v natstonal'noï kul'ture stran Tsentral'noï i Yugo-Vostochnoï Evropy XVIII-XIX vv [The Theatre in National Cultures in Central and South-eastern Europe of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries], M o s c o w , 1976; Formi-rovanlye natslonal'nykh kul'tur v stranakh Tsentral'noï i Yugo-Vostochnoï Evropy [The Formation of National Cultures in Central

666 Valéry Tishkov

Notes {continued)

and South-eastern Europe], Moscow, 1979; Osvoboditel'noye dvizhenie narodov Avstriiskoï imperii ( Vozniknovenie i razvitie. KonetsXVIII v—1849 g) [The Liberation Movements of the Peoples of the Austrian Empire (Origins and Development: Late Eighteenth Century to 1849)], M o s c o w , 1980.

30 A . D . Lyublinskaya, Frantsuzskoe krest'yanstvo v XVI-XVII vv [The French Peasantry in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries], M o s cow, 1978; SotsiaVnaya priroda sredneveko-vogo byurgerstva XIII-XVII vv [The Social

< Characteristics of Medieval Burghers in the Thirteenth to Seventeenth Centuries], M o s c o w , 1979; and others.

31 V . I. Rutenburg, Istoki Risordzhimento. Italiya v XV1I-XVIII vekakh [Sources of the Risor-gimento: Italy in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries], Leningrad, 1980; Iz istoii kuVtury srednikh vekov i Vozrozhdeniya [Episodes from the Cultural History of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance], M o s c o w , 1976; Tipologiya i perlodizatsiya kul'tury Vozrozhdeniya [Typology and Periodization of Renaissance Culture], Moscow, 1978; Iskusstvo Zapadnoi Evropy i Vizantiya [The Art of Western Europe and Byzantium], M o s c o w , 1978.

32 M . A . Korostovtsev, Religiya drevnego Egipta [The Religion of Ancient Egypt], Moscow, 1976; G . M . Bongard-Levin, Drevneindiiskaya tsivilizatsiya. FUosofiya, nauka, religiya [Ancient Indian Civilization: Philosophy, Science and Religion], M o s c o w , 1980; M . A . Danda-mayev and V . G . Lukonin, Kal'tura i ekono-mika drevnego Irana [The Culture and Econo m y of Ancient Iran], M o s c o w , 1980.

33 Problemy tipologil v etnografii [Problems of Typology in Ethnography], Moscow, 1979; Etnograficheskie aspekty izucheniya sovremen-nosti [Ethnographic Aspects of the Study of the Modern World], Moscow, 1980; Y . V . Bromlei, Sovremennye problemy etno

grafii [Contemporary Problems in Ethnography], Moscow, 1981.

34 Sovremennye etnicheskie protsessy v SSSJR [Contemporary Ethnic Processes in the U S S R ] , 2nd enlarged ed., M o s c o w , 1977; Etnicheskie i kuVturno-bytovye protsessy na Kavkaze [Ethnical, Cultural and Life-style Processes in the Caucasus], M o s c o w , 1978; KaVturno-bytovye protsessy na yuge Ukrainy [Cultural and Lifestyle Processes in the Southern Ukraine], M o s c o w , 1979; Ethnicheskie protsessy y nat-sional'nykh grupp Srednei Azii i Kazakhstana [Ethnic Processes in National Groups of Central Asia and Kazakhstan], Moscow, 1980; Opyt etnosotsiologicheskogo issledova-niya sovetskogo obraza zhizni (po materialam Moldavskoi SSR) [Experimental Ethno-sociological Research into the Soviet W a y of Life (Study of Materials from the Moldavian SSR)], M o s c o w , 1980.

35 Russkiï narodnyi svadebniï obryad [The Russian Folk Rite of Marriage], Leningrad, 1978; Sem'ya i semeinye obryady u narodov srednei Azii i Kazakhstana [The Family and Family Rites among Peoples of Central Asia and Kazakhstan], M o s c o w , 1978; Semeinaya obryadnost' narodov Sibiri [The Family Rites of Siberian Peoples], M o s c o w , 1980; Kostyum narodov Srednei Azii i Kazakhstana [Folk Costumes in Central Asia and Kazakhstan], M o s c o w , 1980; Kalendarnye obychai i obryady v stranakh Zarubezhnoi Evropy [Calendric Customs and Rites in Non-Russian Europe], Issues 1-3, M o s c o w , 1976-78; Tipologiya zhilishcha sel'skogo naseleniya Yuzhnoi i Yugo-Vostochnoï Azii [Typology of Rural Dwellings in South and South-East Asia], Moscow, 1980.

38 Vozniknovenie chelovecheskogo obshchestva. Paleo-lit Afriki [The Emergence of H u m a n Society: The African Palaeolithic], Leningrad, 1977; Paleolit Blizhnego i Srednego Vostoka [The Palaeolithic Era in the Near and Middle East], Leningrad, 1980.

Historical scholarship in the East African context

N . Gatheru Wanjohi

Historical information might be conceived as a mass of facts, records and k n o w ledge related to the total activities of man's past. It is not the same thing as history, which m a y be viewed as a subjective organization and interpretation of man's past activities, undertaken with a view to lend them rationality. In the words of Barraclough, 'The history w e read, though based on facts, is strictly speaking not factual at all, but a series of accepted judgements' (Carr, 1961, p. 13).

O n e cannot, however, ignore the fact that it is the historian w h o has undertaken the exclusive task of re-collecting, organizing and interpreting the material about man's past. E . J. H o b s b a w m noted that history occupies 'the frontiers of knowledge, where the most interesting developments take place', and observed h o w it overlaps all other disciplines. But this by n o means amounts to a verdict favouring history over the other social science disciplines in its use of the material concerning man's past. O n the contrary, it might imply a call on other disciplines to broach the subject of the past, the better to understand and explain the nature of m a n and, one hopes, to expand their capacity for more reliable prediction of future trends. The purpose of this article is to raise some of the issues related to the uses of knowledge, facts and records about man's past by social scientists, particularly in East Africa. :

' Pieter Geyl's contribution to the understanding of the 'use and abuse of history' is of great importance in appreciating the way East African historical information has been used and will continue to be used for various competing and sometimes complementary purposes. H e has argued that history has been a means by which everybody could k n o w his rights; it has a great conserving power as it provides support to the status quo; it has served as a weapon in party strife as it has been ransacked for material that might support the case of one side or discredit the past actions or leaders of the other; it has provided préfigurations and symbols of contemporary events or personalities; and it has been a source of wisdom associated with morals and statecraft (Geyl, 1970, pp. 8-14). Looking at

N. Gatheru Wanjohi is at the Department of Government, University of Nairobi, P.O. Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya.


668 N. Gatheru Wanjohi

the East African case, one is first and foremost struck by the enormous efforts which have been m a d e to use the art of historical interpretation of the past in a bid to distort the rights of Africans in terms of past, present and future development. This has been mainly the work of those with vested interests in the colonial and imperialist domination of the African peoples. Thus, for example, E . Huxley's White Man's Country (1968) or Sir Philip Mitchell's African Afterthoughts (1954) had virtually no objective but to stress what they claimed was the natural logic of Europeans in colonizing and dominating the Kenyans. These were attempts at self-justification on the part of some of the strongest pillars of colonial rule in Kenya , and champions of the perpetual imperialist 'civilizing mission', which still continues to affect the country. Thus, although Captain Lugard (1893) and Joseph T h o m p s o n (1968) had in the late nineteenth century encountered well-organized and productive Kikuyu, Masai, Ndorobo and Nandi people in the Kenya Highlands, both the colonial settler administration and scholars found it necessary to cover up or suppress such vivid historical evidence in a bid to justify land alienation and occupation by European settlers at the expense of the African owners.

This was a deliberate effort to construct the kind of history that would justify colonization and its perpetuation in the region. Fortunately, such agents of distortion were carefully watched by the victims of alienation as well as by those Europeans w h o disapproved either of alienation or of the means used to achieve it T h e controversy that evolved was recorded by such people as N o r m a n Leys (1924) and McGregor Ross (1927), both of w h o m were able to demonstrate the total lack of legality of colonization and of the subsequent deprivation, oppression and exploitation of Kenyan peoples and land by the European colonizers. The Africans also recorded their version of history, not only in the form of publications —newspapers and books—but also in the form of oral traditions, by which their history and culture were passed from generation to generation by word of mouth. Such written and oral materials have n o w become a source of inspiration and information in reasserting the rights of the Kenyan masses against imperialist domination.

Hence, a scholar such as Walter Rodney (1974) has been able to demonstrate the tremendous development that the African peoples were undergoing in terms of trade, mining and cottage industry, agriculture and urban constructions, particularly at the coast, before they were colonized. Similarly, Ngugi w a Thiong'o (1965, 1977), demonstrated that pre-colonial Africa was developing before the advent of colonial exploitation and oppression. Such authors also seek to show that past achievements should be examples of the potential capacity of Africans to progress independently and become a source of inspiration for modern development, free of colonial and imperialist exploitation. They no doubt regard pre-colonial and post-independence historical information as a vital basis for African consciousness and self-realization in the struggle against colonial and neo-colonial forms of imperialism. It becomes a basis for re-interpretation of a

Historical scholarship in the'East African context 669

people's past for a people's ends; it provides strong evidence that no country was naturally poor and underdeveloped, but that the direct cause of these evils can be found in colonial and neo-colonial imperialism.

It is therefore clear that the historical information to be used for the good or the evil of East African societies is to be found in the oral traditions of African peoples up to the present day; in records of foreign merchants and governments which have had contacts with the region—Arabs, Indians, Chinese and Europeans; in private reports, notebooks and letters; in books, pamphlets, magazines and newspapers; and, of course, in archaeological findings. Several problems will be encountered in the use of these data sources, for whatever purpose, by social scientists. In the first place, one must bear in mind that the data could be distorted at the time they were first recorded or transmitted, orally or otherwise, and that their unquestioned use can be as dangerous as their omission. Second, the data could have been tampered with at any stage of transmission, as the agents of its preservation and perpetuation could have had vested interests in the kind of message they wanted to see communicated to future generations. Third, one should be on one's guard against the use of too little information, in terms either of the time-span covered or of the details involved. Fourth, the user should be conscious of his theoretical and objective stance in relation to the kind of materials at hand and, more importantly, to his position in production and social relations. This last problem is of special interest because it governs the other three, and will therefore need a little elaboration.

'. -, In social science an author is consciously or unconsciously a victim of his socialization, and unless he has deliberately m a d e a conscious m o v e in another direction he also becomes the victim of the ideological and theoretical assumptions behind that socialization. Taking the example of one author, Donald Rothchild, one is impressed by the selective usage of extensive historical information in his bid to vindicate the imperialist view that the struggle for independence in Africa was merely racial and was therefore not aimed at all at severing the exploitative and oppressive socio-economic links with imperialism. Hence the title of his book, Racial Bargaining in Independent Kenya (Rothchild, 1973). Apart from wide dependence on literature written by colonial agents, he also relies heavily on materials that were deliberately manipulated by authors w h o were themselves part and parcel of the imperialist system. Little meaning seems to be drawn from this bulk of materials in terms of African needs. Hence the book ends up being yet another item of imperialist literature. diverting Kenyans from self-consciousness.

For a long time n o w , scholars have m a d e use of knowledge and adopted analytical,tools developed by the past thinkers; this they have done with varying degrees of selectivity and remodelling. Thus, not only did Karl M a r x m a k e use of past facts and records to articulate his philosophical view of the G e r m a n social system as well as the trends in capitalist development, but he also used

670 N. Gatheru Wanjohi.

terminologies and ideas, invented in the past by philosophers and economists w h o lived several centuries or generations before him.

O n e such example is his usage of the term 'ideology', which had been invented and used before by de Tracy in 1796. The same could be said of the term 'class', a creation of past social analysts. M a r x did not invent these words or ideas but rediscovered them and gave them significant rating in his analysis of the social, economic and political set-up of the capitalist society. In other words, M a r x dug into past writings and analyses in a bid to discern not only the pattern of historical development of m a n , but also to develop existing ideas to a level of contemporary social relevance. In East Africa the use of this form of historical material has been left mainly to the area of literature that is heavily dependent on oral traditions as a source of knowledge about traditional African wisdom and history. Historians such as G . Muriuki (1975), G . Were (1967) and B . A . Ogot (1967) have also relied on oral traditions to write some of their works. So have the economists Peter Marris and A . Somerset (1971), writing on African businessmen in Kenya, and sociologists and political scientists in search of data to enable them to reconstruct and record the social, economic, political and cultural way of life of the pre-colonial and colonial periods in Kenya. Indeed, most of the dissertations in social science in East African universities contain a large amount of material preserved through oral tradition and collected partly by detailed interviewing of elderly m e n and w o m e n w h o can recall what past h u m a n activities were like.

The use of written records is limited by the fact that most of these were compiled by agents of colonial rule in East Africa. Only a few books were written by Africans in Kenya before independence, and these included J o m o Kenyatta's Facing Mount Kenya (1938), which depended on the author's wide knowledge of the past economic, historical, social and political activities a m o n g the Kikuyu of central Kenya, as well as on his views about h o w life should be n o w that the country was faced with colonial land alienation and cultural, social or political domination by the West. The book has in turn become a source of historical materials, widely.used today by several social science disciplines dealing with the peoples of central Kenya.

The shortage of books written by local people means that social scientists in East Africa have tended to rely on works by non-African or non-East African authors. The apparent Fanonian influence on people like Nyerere is notable (Fanon, 1974). So is that of the writings of René D u m o n t (1968), the French agronomist and reformist, or of Leopold Senghor (1962), the former President of Senegal. They too seem to have influenced m a n y African authors and scholars. Otherwise.literary sources of historical materials in East Africa have been and continue to be dominated by authors of European and American origin. This m a y be m u c h less so in areas where African authorship has been on the increase over the past two decades or so.

The issue, however, is not one of indigenization of historical research, but


rather of enlarging local scholarship with a view to checking some of the wilder misrepresentations that are bound to characterize the work produced by an overconcentration of foreign input to the exclusion of local intellectual, social and cultural considerations. O n e notes the role foreign researchers play in scholarship, particularly their significant contribution to the comparative application of different methodologies and theories in the analysis of various societies and the w a y they relate to regional and global social systems over a period of time. This is not inconsistent with the search for some form of theoretical and methodological universality. But a preponderance of what is largely foreign, especially imperialistic interpretations of East African social systems, seems to carry with it a very dangerous element of bias, associated, explicitly or implicitly, with the theoretical, ideological, cultural and economic interests of the West. Thus it is no longer strange to find that a large proportion of the books, journals and research papers produced in East Africa, especially by foreigners, have deliberately aimed at influencing the theoretical, and hence ideological, cultural, political and economic outlook of the African readership in various sectors of the region's societies. The disciplines most affected in this regard are political science, history, economics and sociology, which have been taken over by liberal scholars and shaped to serve the interests of Western powers in the region. Foreign, especially Western, scholarship is largely responsible for this state of affairs though some local African scholars seem to have deliberately collaborated with foreign scholars in the domination of the region.

This amounts to a very dangerous social and scholarly situation in that the published materials which have become a significant source of information for national planners, as well as for m a n y researchers, are not tools for raising the self-consciousness required for total liberation and independence but vehicles manufactured for the primary purpose of entrenching and perpetuating foreign domination in all areas of the society's life. .

Perhaps one w a y out of this dilemma is for African scholars w h o are committed to bringing to light rights and consciousness of the people to go back to the original data and draw from it such facts and records that might help them to present a more objective analysis from the African point of view. B y this, w e do not m e a n to condemn the idea of objectivity in the social sciences. W e are merely calling for objectivity in the form of an honest declaration of the researcher's theoretical basis and upon which his work can be evaluated. The African scholar should dig through the oral narratives of old people,.private and official files and other records. These sources m a y themselves have been shaped to reflect the ideological or value systems of the originators; but if the researcher's theoretical frame is related to people's mobilization and liberation, these sources can provide some of the most vital and relevant data on the nature of colonial and neo-colonial domination. F r o m an analysis of such data, one is able to arrive at some acceptable degree of predictability in terms of h o w such domination can be terminated,

/ 672 N. Gatheru Wanjohi

as a prerequisite for free social, economic, cultural and political development. In calling for a vigorous re-examination of historical information in East

Africa, one cannot forget the importance of archaeology, which, though said to be out of the realm of social sciences, has always dealt with past h u m a n activities. It, too, has in the past been influenced by the individual researcher's ideological and value system. It is true that archaeology has been mainly used by historians and anthropologists. But it affects the research of other social scientists w h o have increasingly tended to use its findings, which, like history and anthropology, are based on evidential inference that is not altogether free of the ideological or value system of the archaeologist himself. Consequently, archaeological findings should not only be subjected to the test of technical accuracy of the reasoning upon which inferences are based, but should also be questioned in respect of whether these inferences are the only ones to be reasonably drawn from the available facts, and if not, what influenced the selection that omitted other possible inferences.

The use of any historical information by social scientists therefore calls for a higher degree of patience and discipline than is found in normal day-to-day research work related to current h u m a n activities. It requires tolerance of things one would not want to believe ever took place, as well as a profound capacity to question the authenticity of. data sources. There should be a thorough search for all available materials that could be used to cross-check findings, particularly with respect to selection of facts as well as to the drawing of certain conclusions rather than others.

Conclusion

Historical information is a set of records, documents or facts that go beyond the normal history of any society. While history is a processed, interpreted and subjective presentation of the h u m a n past, historical information is not. It is a mass of complex and unsortèd materials on h u m a n life from which social scientists can select their data and give it an interpretation of one sort or another depending on their social background, socialization or some deliberately assumed awareness. Given that liberation from total colonial and neo-colonial domination and exploitation is a goal of East African societies in general, and also given that social and economic improvement is vital for them; social scientists have the duty to delve into the past and reconstruct it on the basis of conscious African needs as a w a y of drawing from it the wisdom and motivation that can give n e w inspiration for social, political, economic, cultural and technological development in the region.

In order to enable social scientists in East Africa to carry out this role the following courses of action might be considered: East African societies need to redefine themselves more clearly in terms of their


relations with the international community and hence form a basis for autonomous development of knowledge for scholarship and for daily use.

M o r e effort should be m a d e to improve the organization of national archives and libraries in order to enable social scientists to obtain information from records or documents with ease; and more effort should be put into the collection and preservation of oral information about the East African past.

Regional co-operation in the use of archives and libraries should be strengthened. Regional and national information about these institutions and the material

contained in them should be published from time to time for the benefit of social scientists and the interested public.

International co-operation should be promoted particularly in the repatriation of vital regional historical information that m a y be located in other countries. International communication on research methodology should be promoted as knowledge about the treatment of historical materials expands from time to time.

Encouragement of social science research should be stepped up in terms of financial assistance, workshops and conferences as well as publications oriented to the development of analysis and reanalysis of past information in various social science disciplines.

All these matters depend on the availability of capital and technical resources to support the work of social scientists in the search for a more objectivei redefinition of the East African past in order to understand the present and, it is hoped, inspire more rational adaptability in the future.

References

C A R R , E . H . 1961. What is History. N e w York, Vintage Books.

D U M O N T , R . 1968. False Start in Africa. London, Sphere Books Ltd.

D U V E R G E S , M . 1964. Introduction to Social Sciences. London, George Allen & Unwin Ltd.

F A N O N , F. 1974. The Wretched of the Earth. Har-mondsworth, Penguin Books.

G E Y L , P . 1970. Use and Abuse of History. Anchor Books.

H U X L E Y , E . 1968. White Man's Country: LordDelamere and the Making of Kenya. London, Praeger.

K E N Y A T T A , Jomo. 1938. Facing Mount Kenya. London, Seeker & Warburg.

L E Y S , Norman, 1924. Kenya. London, Frank Cass. L U G A R D , F. D . 1893. The Rise of our East African

Empire. London. M A R R I S , P . ; S O M E R S E T , A . 1971. African Businessmen.

Nairobi, E . A . P . H . M I T C H E L L , Sir Philip. 1954. African Afterthoughts.

London, Hutchinson.

M U R I U K I , G . 1975. The History of Kikuyu. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

N G U G I W A T H I O N G ' O . 1965. The River Between. London, Heinemann.

. 1977. The Petals of Blood. London, Heinemann. O G O T , B . A . 1967. History of the Southern Luo.

Nairobi, E . A . P . H . R O D N E Y , Walter. 1974. How Europe Underdeveloped

Africa. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Publishing House.

Ross, W . McGregor. 1927. Kenya From Within. London, Frank Cass.

R O T H C H I L D , D . 1973. Racial Bargaining in Kenya. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

S E N G H O R , L . S. 1962. Nationhood and the Road to Socialism. Paris, Présence Africaine.

T H O M P S O N , Joseph. 1885; 3rd ed. 1968. Through Masai Land. London, Frank Cass.

W E R E , G . 1967. A History of the Abaluhla of Western Kenya. Nairobi, E . A . P . H .

674 N¿ Gatheru Wanjohi

Bibliography

C L A R K , G . Kitson. The Critical Historian. N e w York, to the Sociology of Knowledge. London, Basic Books, Inc., Publishers, 1967. ' Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1936.

J A C K S O N , Sir Frederick. Early Days in East Africa. N Y E R E R E , J. K . Vjamaa: Essays on Socialism. Dar es London, Dawsons of Pall Mall, 1930, Salaam, Oxford University Press, 1971. reprinted 1969. . Freedom and Socialism, Dar es Salaam, Oxford

M A N N H E I M , Karl. Ideology and Utopia: an Introduction University Press, 1974.

Socio-economic data bases: situations

and assessments

National primary socio-economic data structures. X : Israel*

Moshe Sicron**

Introduction

T h e role played by government in Israel required a large set of data for planning, policy formulation and follow-up. In the first months after the establishment of the state, the statistical system was already created and organized in a centralized way , data collection and dissemination being entrusted to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Because of this central position, and the independent character of the statistical system, it was located within the Prime Minister's Office.

The C B S began operating within the framework of the legal provisions of the Statistics Ordinance enacted in 1947 by the British M a n d a tory Government of Palestine, before the state of Israel was established. T h e law was amended and expanded by the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament) in 1978, but the main provisions remained those of the 1947 Ordinance.

According to this law the C B S is the agency responsible for the collection, processing and publication of statistics relating to the population and their activities in social, health and economic fields and to the economy and its various branches. It must co-ordinate statistical activities by preparing, in consultation with the Public Advisory Council for Statistics (see below), long-term plans for the statistical activities of state institutions, by determining statistical standard classifications and by collecting and publishing information concerning statistical activities planned or performed by the C B S or other state institutions. Moreover, statistical activities performed by or for any state institution by collecting data from the public can be performed after consultation with the C B S .

Persons have to answer, to the best of their knowledge, all questions asked by the Government Statistician or his representatives in censuses and

surveys. In addition, the records and documents of state institutions are open to the C B S for compiling statistical information. (This power is limited in very rare cases.)

N o information on an individual that reaches the C B S , irrespective of its source, is to be disclosed to any other person or agency, or published in whatever form. Strict confidentiality of all individual data is assured.

T h e C B S , is headed by the Government Statistician, w h o is appointed by the Government of Israel on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. T h e law specifies that the Government

* This is the last study in our series. The previous ones concerned Australia (Vol. X X I X , N o . 4 , 1977), Tunisia (Vol. X X X , N o . 1, 1978), Norway (Vol. X X X , N o . 3, 1978), Ivory Coast (Vol. X X X I , N o . 1, 1979), Greece (Vol. X X X I I , N o . 2, 1980), Sri Lanka (Vol.XXXII,No.3,1980),Peru (Vol. X X X I I , N o . 4, 1980), Hungary (Vol. X X X i n , N o . 1, 1981) and Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad

. and Tobago (Vol. XXXIII , N o . 2, 1981). ** Government Statistician and Scientific Director

of the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Israel. The full survey was prepared with the help of some members of the Central Bureau of Statistics. M r I. Hershkowits prepared drafts of parts of the fourth and sixth sections, the list of publications and the organizational chart of the C B S ; Professor G a d Nathan prepared the draft of part of the fifth section; M r S. Weiss, drafts on the legal aspects,of C B S work; M r W . Stern, data on the distribution of the C B S budget and on some cost estimates. The full first draft was read by M r I. Hershkowits, Professor G . Nathan and M r N . Goldsmith, w h o contributed substantive as well as editorial comments.

Int. Soc. Sei. J„ Vol. XXXIII, N o . 4, 1981

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Statistician must perform his duties according to •' scientific considerations. This legal provision stresses the independent scientific approach of the C B S .

T h e centralization of primary data collection, processing and publication within an independent unit was accepted by the Israeli Government as a basic principle. Moreover, this central unit (the C B S ) was entrusted with the co-ordination of the limited statistical activities carried out in other agencies, which have some bearing on the general statistics of the country.

T h e preference given to the centralized system was to assure: Objectivity of the data collected and published,

assuring impartiality by separating the functions of measuring (by the C B S ) from the functions of actual execution, and implementation of a policy by various ministries.

Better co-ordination and integration of data obtained from various sources. The C B S can have a comprehensive view of the uses of data received from one agency for the information needs of other users. Thus, the integrated systems of macro-economic accounts (national accounts, input-output tables, balance of payments) prepared within the C B S provide a very efficient framework for co-ordination of the various data required.

Higher quality of statistics, by utilization of the limited available professional staff specializing in various fields of statistics (sampling, analysis, field-work, etc.) concentrated in one central agency for various surveys and censuses. The development of specialized tools and improvement of their quality can be better accomplished within one agency.

Lower cost of statistical collection, by using the same statistical apparatus (especially interviewers) for data collection in various fields.

T h e major disadvantage of this centralization was the separation of policy-makers from close contact with the type of data to becollected, their scope, etc. In practice, a liaison function was established in most ministries and agencies with the C B S . This function is carried out in various agencies by such units as research departments, planning units, advisory units, etc.

Historical development of the statistical system

Origins (1948-54)

O n e of the first agencies to begin operating after the establishment of the State of Israel in M a y 1948 was the C B S . 1 Plans for the functions to be carried out by the C B S were already prepared by the Jewish organizations by the end of 1947, and the bureau began its operations accordingly. Professor R . Bachi was appointed in August 1948 as the Government Statistician and Director-General of the C B S , which started operations by trying to continue the work which the Department of Statistics of the Government of Palestine (under the British Mandate) carried out, by recruiting some professional staff of that department. The C B S also absorbed functions, material and personnel from the Statistical Department of the Jewish Agency.2

T h e centralization of statistical units in the C B S took a few years: in 1951 the unit dealing with the national accounts, which was part of the Economic Planning Authority, was absorbed by the C B S (and for a few years the bureau was renamed 'Central Bureau of Statistics and Economic Research'); in 1952 foreign trade statistics were transferred to the C B S from the Ministry of Finance; in 1955 employment and unemployment statistics were transferred from the Ministry of Labour; in 1956 the Balance of Payments Unit was transferred from the Ministry of Finance; and in 1968 the input-output tables preparation was transferred from the B a n k of Israel. O n the other hand, the unit in the C B S dealing with automatic processing, serving also various government agencies, was transferred in 1954 to the Ministry of Finance as an independent unit, the Office Mechanization Centre.

In the first phase of the organization of the C B S major efforts were devoted to: Organizing the use of administrative records for

statistical purposes—i.e. vital statistics, based on registration of births and deaths; migration statistics, based on frontier control registration; criminal statistics, based on judicial records; construction statistics, based on permits issued by the Planning Committees of local authorities, etc.

Conducting censuses. The first was the Population

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Census, carried out in November 1948, the second the Agricultural Census, for 1948/49, the third the Census of Industry of 1952. These censuses, which were interconnected with administrative uses, suffered from very short planning periods, and their outcomes were of low quality.

Issuing the first statistical publications. Conducting several special surveys—i.e. the F a m

ily Expenditure Survey of 1950/51, which was used for updating weights for the Consumer Price Index.

The modernization period (1955-62)

D e m a n d for more data, especially in the economic fields, which could be more detailed and of higher quality, put strong pressure on the C B S to reorganize and expand. Technical help received through the United Nations Technical Assistance and United States aid (especially experts from the United States Bureau of the Census) contributed significantly to changes. These included: Introduction of sample surveys (based on sophis

ticated sampling designs), a m o n g them: (a) Labour Force Survey (from 1954), a general household survey stressing employment and unemployment questions, but also providing data on other household characteristics, which later became a current quarterly household survey; (b) Industry and Crafts Survey (from 1955), a survey of establishments in the manufacturing branch on the main economic variables (output, wages, investment, employment, etc.), which became a current annual survey; (c) Family Expenditure Survey (1956/57), a large-scale sophisticated survey over a full year, investigating panels of families for one month (on current expenditures) and for a year (on important purchases, housing expenditures, etc.)—this served radically to revise and update the Consumer Price Index, which was expanded and whose methodology was totally redesigned; (d) Employment and Wages of Employees (from 1961), based on a sample of reports of establishments to the National Insurance Institute for monthly wages and employment data.

Conducting a modern Census of Population (1961). This was carried out in two stages: a full coverage with a short questionnaire, and a 20 per cent sample of households investigated with a detailed questionnaire (on demographic, education, employment, etc., variables).

Change in the organization of the C B S , by establishing a Survey Division (responsible for all field-work and performing all interviewing of the bureau), and a Methods Division (responsible for sampling, statistical procedures, etc.).

Establishing the national accounts and balance of payments on new bases and methods. This was done with the co-operation, in the first stages, of the Falk Institute for Economic Research and the B a n k of Israel.

Introduction of the use of computers for the processing of some surveys and censuses.

Stabilizing and expanding services (1963-72)

A gradual increase in the quantity of data supplied and an improvement in the quality of the surveys occurred at a time when government planning (in economic, social and welfare fields, etc.) expanded. Furthermore, wider use of data brought about a larger demand for new data in n e w fields, requiring better balance and co-ordination. Efforts were m a d e to increase users'participation in defining the priorities of the programme of work, etc. A Public Advisory Council for Statistics was appointed by the Prime Minister in order to advise on development plans for statistics and for co-ordination. A number of public advisory c o m mittees in various fields were also created. Surveys and indices which were established in the previous period were expanded, revised and became current features. In addition, n e w surveys were introduced (especially in transportation, higher education, etc.), fields where strong interest in data was shown by users, especially planners and decision-makers.

Three censuses were carried out in this period: the Census of Population of 1972 (based on a design similar to that of the 1961 census) and the first modern censuses of industry and crafts (1965) and of agriculture (1971).

National accounts became a very important

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planning tool and from 1964 they were computed quarterly. Moreover, input-output tables which were prepared by the B a n k of Israel Research Department for the years 1958 and 1965 were transferred to the C B S and the first table was prepared by the C B S for 1968/69.

Most economic series began to be published after de-seasonalizing, especially by using, with s o m e modifications, the programmes developed in the United States Bureau of the Census. Family expenditure surveys and saving surveys were also carried out in this period.

Another tool of co-ordination was the dissemination of current information on publications containing statistical data and up-to-date current information on the planning and execution of current statistical projects and activities by the C B S and other government and public agencies, a quarterly publication being issued by the C B S from 1969, under the title New Statistical Projects and Publications.

Developments since 1973

T h e declared government policy since 1974 has been an overall reduction in government programmes , including across-the-board budget and personnel cuts, which has had some effects on the C B S . It coincided with difficult economic problems over part of the period (especially very high rates of inflation, increased unemployment, relatively low rates of growth), which brought greater pressure on the C B S to provide detailed, timely and accurate data. A s budgets and personnel were cut, the C B S had difficulties in responding to such requests.

But the widespread use of computers by the main government agencies, and the introduction of data bases and automatic files (on tapes, discs, etc.), permitted the wider use of these files for statistical purposes. T h e C B S devoted resources for the increased use of such files, which could provide detailed data on a full coverage basis, inexpensively in most cases.

A m o n g the new activities developed w e can mention: Building a framework for energy statistics and

issuing an annual publication on energy (which includes energy balance sheets).

Starting w o r k on 'Social Indicators', which resulted in the publication of two volumes

entitled Society in Israel (1976 and 1980).

S o m e n e w surveys in the fields of health (use of health services by the population in 1977), victimization (Victimization Survey, 1979), cultural activities (reading habits, library use, visits to m u s e u m s and theatres, radio listening and television viewing, etc.), and the development of scientific research and higher education statistics.

The use of advanced statistical analysis of data by econometric methods, factor analysis, etc.

Scope of social and economic data

Most of the social and economic data are collected, processed and published by the C B S , though in m a n y cases financed by ministries. S o m e data are collected in joint projects of the C B S and other agencies, usually when intended for statistical as well as for administrative purposes. In m a n y cases, administrative files or records prepared by ministries for their current operations are used by the C B S for extracting statistical data (e.g. foreign trade data of the Customs, National Insurance data on employment and wages). In a few cases, administrative agencies summarize and process the records assembled in connection with the running of their current programmes, to extract statistical tables for their o w n and also for general use.

For example, data on financial institutions and on foreign currency transactions are prepared and published by the Central Bank, based on the balance sheets and other reports required for the routine control of the bank operation.

Data on incomes and expenditures and on other activities of local authorities are collected directly by some municipalities and published by them. T h e Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality also carries out a series of local surveys which supplement the national data of the C B S . The Ministry of the Interior collects budget and expenditure reports from all local authorities on a standard form for its current control functions, which are summarized, in co-operation with the C B S , to provide statistical data in these fields.

Data on registered unemployed are derived from records of the number of persons applying to the Labour Exchanges, of the Ministry of Labour and Welfare Affairs.


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The National Insurance Institute prepares a large body of data on the number and characteristics of those receiving various types of allowances, grants, pensions, etc., from the institute.

Ministries and other government agencies occasionally commission special surveys from various institutions and private companies on specialized topics, or in fields with which the C B S does not deal.

The data prepared can be grouped into two types, primary and secondary.

Primary data are received either by collecting information on individuals (persons, households, enterprises) directly in a sample survey or census or by processing administrative records which were assembled by some agency for its o w n administrative use.

Secondary data consist of estimates, aggregates, etc., based on primary data. In the statistical system, current estimates of total population and some of its characteristics are prepared on the basis of a population census, and updated by data on characteristics of current population changes. National accounts, input-output tables and balance of payments are estimates of the activities of the whole economy based on primary data in m a n y areas. Projections and forecasts of the total population and its structure, of the future supply and demand of the labour force according to its characteristics, and projections of short- and medium-term changes of the main economic aggregates are also prepared.

Population and households

Estimates on the size of the population and some of its characteristics are prepared monthly and annually; each month the size of the population is estimated; once a year, the distribution of the population by age, sex, marital status, country of birth and geographical region. These estimates are based on current accounting of the population flows and their characteristics, which are added to the census counts. The census also provides detailed data on population and its characteristics for detailed geographical areas.

Data on population changes are prepared currently, based mostly on registration of births and deaths by the Ministry of the Interior, and on marriages and divorces by the Ministry of R e ligious Affairs. Data on births and deaths are

given monthly. Detailed breakdown of deaths by cause, age, sex, etc., and of births by parents' characteristics, weight, etc., are prepared annually.

Special surveys on the fertility of the p o p u lation were carried out on a few occasions, s o m e directly by the C B S . A few one-time surveys were conducted by academic institutions and by the Israeli Institute for Applied Social Research, e.g. on family planning, birth control, etc. 1 Marriages and divorces are registered by religious courts and the data are processed yearly by characteristics of bride and groom. D a t a o n immigrants entering the country and on residents and tourists entering and leaving the country are prepared on the base of records of frontier control authorities.

A s immigration is one of the important subjects of interest in Israel, a special follow-up survey on immigrants' absorption is carried out by the C B S .

Strong interest in future developments in Israel's population is shown by demographers and by economic and social researchers and planners. T o fill this need, projections of population are prepared by the C B S every few years (by age, sex, country of birth—including forecasts of households). These projections are based o n various assumptions relating to future immigration and changes in fertility, mortality, etc.

Social, economic and cultural conditions of households

Detailed data on the level of and changes in the social and economic conditions of households are compiled currently, based on the censuses of population, the current labour force survey, special surveys on groups of the population, and o n administrative data.

The level of education of the population is measured annually by years of schooling, as well as by level of last school visited. These series are extracted every year from the current Labour Force Survey, in addition to the detailed d e m o graphic data from the population census. Very detailed data on the academic population and others with post-secondary education are compiled from a special post-census survey, in which employment and educational characteristics of this p o p u lation are surveyed.

T h e structure of the educational system is

682

surveyed on'a current basis; the number of schools, classes, teachers and students are collected annually. Occasional surveys are conducted on the characteristics of teachers in various institutions (i.e. years of training, level of education, sex, age, etc.), on the characteristics of students and on school buildings and facilities. These surveys are financed by the Ministry of Education and Culture. T h e active role of the Council for Higher E d u cation, in the last decade, has resulted in increased demand for data on university education.

Data on cultural and entertainment habits of the population are received from current surveys carried out every year or two and from the records of some of the institutions concerned.

Data on the health situation of the total population are not available. A survey covering the use of medical services was conducted in 1977, including limited data on certain chronic diseases. Data are available on causes of death and on hospitalization by cause, department, etc.

Data on criminal offences and victimization of the population are extracted from a special survey of victimization of the population. In addition, police and court records serve to compile data on offences by type, offenders, recidivists, etc., and by their characteristics.

T h e economic level of persons and households is covered by a series of surveys:

T h e level of income of households as well as individuals is investigated currently (as part of the current Labour Force Survey). .The c o m p o sition of the budget of the whole population is surveyed in the Family Expenditure Survey (carried out every three to five years), where detailed expenditures on various commodities and services are recorded, and savings in financial and other assets are summarized, in addition to incomes of households. Levels of nutrition of the population are analysed yearly in the food balance sheet, and in detail from data of food quantities reported within the Household Expenditure Survey.

Housing conditions, the ownership of cars and other main durables are surveyed, occasionally, as special inquiries added to the Labour Force Survey.

T h e employment and unemployment conditions of the population are studied quarterly in the Labour Force Survey. Labour force characteristics, occupational structure, distribution by branch of the economy, etc., are surveyed along

4tfc with the various social and economic characteristics of individuals and households. Occasionally, detailed data on labour mobility, employment potential, etc.,. are added as special inquiries to the Labour Force Survey.

Data on unemployed persons are also compiled by the . Employment Service of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, in cooperation with the C B S . These are monthly detailed figures on the 'clients' of the Labour Exchanges.

Data on aggregate and average wages for each branch of the economy are prepared; but there are very limited data on the wage components and on wages by occupations.

Data on welfare services provided to the population, on characteristics of households and persons receiving various types of welfare payments are summarized and published by the National Insurance Institute. This institute prepares research and analysis of data on the low-level income households, poverty, old age pensions, rehabilitation, children in families, etc.

Thé structure and activities of the various economic branches

Such data cover series on outputs (values and quantities), on various inputs (in particular data on employment—persons, man-days, and wages), on means of production of establishments, on investments in the branch, on prices of inputs and outputs, and o n research and development expenditures and personnel.

Agriculture. This is a very organized branch in Israel (within the frame of a limited number of marketing boards, organizations of villages, etc.), which has m a d e possible a developed statistical system. Annual data on total production and yields of the various agricultural products (based mostly on quantities marketed) are compiled. Special intensive surveys of various agricultural branches, on their inputs and outputs, means of production, etc., by a very detailed accounting system, are carried out by the Institute for F a r m Income Research in co-operation with the C B S . T h e censuses of agriculture, carried out in 1948/49 and 1971, provided detailed data on distribution of all farms by size, in each region, including data on cultivated areas of the various crops, on the

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means of production, employment, etc; A third census of agriculture is being carried out in 1981.

Manufacturing, crafts and energy. Data on changes in production, sales, employment, wages, etc., for the whole branch and by detailed sub-branches, are prepared and presented monthly in index form. These are based on a survey of a representative sample of industrial establishments reporting to the C B S monthly. A n annual Survey of Industry and Crafts provides detailed data on sales, employment, wages, investments, changes in inventories, and inputs. Every few years detailed data are requested on breakdown of sales by c o m modities sold, and on materials purchased, by detailed groups; a special addition to the annual survey is carried out to investigate such topics. A Census of Industry and Crafts was carried out in 1965, giving detailed geographical data on the industrial establishments by branch, and some of their activities.

Data on energy from various sources, energy balance sheets (sources and uses), are prepared currently.

Construction. Data on the total area of construction, begun and completed, by type of building and by other characteristics, serve as the basic information on the activities in this branch. These are compiled on a quarterly basis and are based on reports received from construction licensing authorities and large construction companies, and on statistical reports of the Ministry of Construction and Housing. The reports are checked for coverage, and data for unauthorized buildings are added from other sources. Data on public works (road construction, water-pipe laying, etc.) are also collected. In addition, special surveys are carried out on costs per square metre of residential building, on n e w dwellings completed sold and unsold, on prices of dwellings sold and on employment and wages in the branch.

Transport and communication. Data on activities (in physical quantities and in financial terms) are received from the administrations of the communi cation branches (telephone, telegraph, mail, etc.), and on railways. In aviation and sea transport, very few companies operate, so that data are received from reports obtained from each.

Data on road traffic and transport are received from a series of surveys carried out by

the C B S . These cover current road traffic counts of vehicle kilométrage travelled, by occasional surveys of the trucking industry, by ¡surveys of the travelling habits of the population, and on kilométrage travelled, while data from the few bus companies operating in Israel cover the passenger services. Data on cars, drivers, etc., are received by processing the administrative files of the licensing authorities. Sections of the taxi and small truck branch are not covered satisfactorily by data.

Commerce, hotel and personal services. Data on these branches are incomplete; they cover only a limited number of activities. Infrequent surveys of commerce have been carried out. Wholesale trade is covered by a monthly survey of sales, by groups of commodities. Retail trade sales data are collected only from the large establishments. These are surveyed monthly, serving as a weak indicator of changes in activities and of total consumption. The hotel industry is covered by a number of current detailed surveys, while other services are only covered casually.

Banking and insurance. T h e activities of banks of various kinds (reflecting also monetary and financial trends in the country) are summarized and published by the Examiner of Banks, from reports which the banks submit weekly, monthly and yearly to the B a n k of Israel for control purposes. Balance sheets of banks and other reports serve also as sources for data on this branch.

Insurance companies are also controlled; each company has to present annual balance sheets to the Commissioner of Insurance, Ministry of Finance, which are summarized by the C B S in co-operation with the commissioner.

Provident Funds constitute a very important financial branch, through which are channelled pension funds, provident funds, severance pay, etc. A special yearly survey is carried out by the C B S on their assets and liabilities.

Government and local authorities. Incomes and expenditures of the central government are collected from the accounts of the Accountant G e n eral and the State Revenue Administration in the Ministry of Finance. Local authorities' incomes and expenditures are reported annually to the Ministry of the Interior. A special organization was set up to computerize the budgets and accounts of local authorities, and it prepares, in a

standard form, summaries of all local authorities' accounts. The statistical presentation of the accounts is carried out in co-operation with the C B S , which publishes the data.

In addition, a survey of someof the physical activities of local authorities is carried out annually by the C B S (schools and kindergartens, roads, lighting, businesses in the local authorities, etc.).

Macro-economic data

National accounts. These summarize estimates of the overall economic activities of the country—total production of the economy, its sources and uses, private and public consumption, investment, etc.; the national expenditure on health and education, with its various components, etc. The national accounts estimates are prepared quarterly, and in greater detail annually, in current and constant prices. T o arrive at these estimates, a large body of primary economic data is used (on consumption from expenditure surveys, on production of the various branches on the economy, on government and local authorities' accounts, imports and exports, etc.). In addition, some data are collected or estimated in those fields where the needed statistics are deficient; some guesses and assumptions have to be m a d e in order to arrive at the estimates for the whole economy. The preparation of the national accounts by the C B S enables the location of areas where data are lacking, and the integration of the various components of the economic statistics within an organized framework, pointing to inconsistencies existing between various parts of the statistical system, etc. The national accounts have been prepared since 1949, but the basic revisions in the methods and statistical sources were incorporated in 1953 and also in later years. They have been published quarterly from 1964.

Input-output tables. These economic tables, showing the interrelationships between the various branches of the economy, are used in Israel to a large extent for forecasting economic developments, needed for various economic development plans. T h e tables are prepared every few years, and require a very detailed body of primary data. They rely again on primary data collected by the C B S and estimates of national accounts, but, in addition, a number of special surveys must be carried out covering fields where data are lacking.

Balance of payments. This balance sheet, showing the international transactions of Israel, is prepared quarterly and annually, and serves as one of the most important economic indicators of the country. Prepared by the C B S , it requires a large body of primary data on imports and exports of goods and various financial transactions (collected from the Foreign Currency Division of the Bank of Israel, from the main shipping and aviation companies, etc.).

Price statistics

A s Israel has experienced high rates of inflation, and as a machinery was established for indexing various portions of the economy (wages and salaries, government bonds, building contracts, subsidies, etc.), the need for a variety of detailed, accurate prices and price indexes became increasingly acute. The Consumer Price Index is the most frequently used index, published monthly with a detailed breakdown of price indexes by c o m modity groups, economic branch, etc..Prices of a list of standard commodities and services are also published. Occasionally, the consumer price is calculated for sub-groups of the population.

A series of input and output price indexes are compiled monthly (some quarterly), principally of inputs in residential buildings; of road construction input and output prices in the agricultural sector; of industrial output for the domestic market, with a separate price index for industrial exports; of inputs in the hotel industry and in buses; of prices of stocks and bonds (daily, weekly and monthly) and import and export prices.

Users' influence on data priorities

The centralization of data collection in the C B S has brought with it a separation between producers and users of statistics. Since data collected are to serve the needs of different categories of users, an appropriate machinery was established to give them appropriate influence on what information is to be collected, the coverage to be developed, and priorities in the work of the C B S , on condition that the 'influence' of users did not interfere with the scientific principles and methods of collecting and publishing statistics. The C B S is free to determine the form and content of results to be

\

National primary socio-economic data structures. 685 X: Israel

published, and the methods of collecting, processing and analysing the data. In addition, the m a chinery should enable the balanced, co-ordinated and integrated growth of the system of statistics in the C B S and in other state institutions.

Users exercise influence through the financing of specific projects, through the Public Advisory Council for Statistics, through participation in interdepartmental advisory committees and through a 'steering team' of high officials, which discusses the C B S annual programme, priorities and budget.

At an early stage the Budget Department (responsible for the preparation of budget proposals) agreed on a policy of financing the C B S , according to which it was to receive directly a central budget for the collection of the 'basic' statistics, while the specific needs of ministries or agencies would have to be financed by them.

This policy enabled users to decide which projects they needed and what their priorities were. Budgets were channelled to the C B S from various agencies, enabling expansion of data collection in n e w areas, with more detail, better quality, etc. O f the total working budget of the C B S over 50 per cent is n o w financed from various sources, the balance being allocated directly through the central budget. The evolution since 1949 is shown in Table I.

T A B L E 1. Percentage of the budget of the C B S contributed by other agencies

1949

0

1950

9

1960

23

1965

30

1970

52

1975

58

1979

43

1980

51

T h o u g h these allocations stimulated quick growth in the work of the C B S , expansion was very uneven over the various fields. In areas where active agencies operated and started planning, strong pressure accompanied by additional budgets was put on the C B S to develop new surveys and new data series. This proved very beneficial to statistical development and gave users the opportunity to exert their influence, but it carried the danger of unbalanced and uncoordinated growth and, in some cases, gave users the option of

stopping current projects financed by them. Such disadvantages were to be counterbalanced by other organs, set up in the past decade.

T h e Public Advisory Council for Statistics was established in 1963 with the intention of bringing together the main producers and users. After operating for fifteen years by virtue of nomination by the Prime Minister, the council received a formal legal basis w h e n the revised statistical law was passed by Parliament in 1978.

T h e council's authority and functions were defined by law as: advising the Prime Minister and ministries in matters relating to the statistical activities of state institutions; advising the Government Statistician on statistical activities of the C B S ; receiving from state institutions their programmes to carry out statistical operations; stating views on co-ordination of statistics between various agencies; presenting proposals for the development of statistical operations and for increasing their efficiency.

T h e council is composed of representatives of the various ministries, local authorities, universities, trades unions, manufacturing associations, s o m e voluntary organizations, some research institutes, some independent experts, and representatives of the C B S . It has set u p several sub-committees and has dealt with such subjects as development plans for various branches of statistics, decennial censuses, classifications, confidentiality of C B S work, the statistical law, data bank and the publications policy of the C B S .

T h e council takes a broad view of the entire statistical system and of the place of various censuses and surveys therein, including long-range perspectives of integration and balance, taking into account the needs of the various users in the government and in the academic community, as well as the relevant international recommendations.

A number of interdepartmental advisory committees in various statistical fields have been set up in various fields, in addition to those operated by the council, to solicit comments and advice from users and academic researchers. A m o n g them are the Public Advisory Committee on the Consumer Price Index and the C o m mittees on Balance of Payments, on Labour Statistics (especially on the Labour Force Survey), on Prices of Inputs in Construction and on Transport Statistics. These committees operated for a limited period in order to discuss specific questions, or

686

îtt Government Statistician . and Scientific Director ''

Deputy Scientific Director

Population and Housing Censuses Department'

Subject-matter units

Level I

Departments Social-Demographic Department / . ' : :

Economic Conditions of. Household s Department '

Economic Branches Department

Macro-economic • Accounts • Department, •

Level 2

Divisions

Population, Vital*//', / ' Statistics;'; -Migration',;-,; Absorption -and Health' '. Division;-;.';..';

Social, • • '

Education end Judicial Division •- •;

Employment-Unemployment and Wages Division,.,

Income, ' . Consumption, Housing ' -Conditions and Finance Unit ;

Agriculture Division, .

Industry, Internal Trade, -Services and Enterprises Statistics ; Division' .,•

Nations! Accounts, • Division/

Construction' and Local Authorities -, Unit

Foreign , Trade, ' ' " ' Balance of Payments and Energy Division,', '

Social. ;.', Indicators ;

Input- • Output Division

Prices Division-

Subject-matter sections

Level 3

Sections

F I G . 1. T h e current structure of the Central Bureau of Statistics.


687

Statistic

1 In charge of- . research a n d ; d e v e l o p m e n t , •

i

al . Methods . Division '

- ' ' : ' " • - '

(./• •

Statistic

Deputy-- ' ' . . ' . Director f

al ' Analysis • . a n d Data Base Division

Survey Division-, •'

, " l

1 Field W o r k •• '•

Section

Functio

Project,

na! units

Planning and Analysis . a n d '•• •'•" :}•'•;

Publications • Division

Geograp hical -Division -' ''••':••

1 Coding and M a n u a l " Processing' Section'

Public'

A u t o m

Administra

ïtic .

Data , . - . - • • . Processing Unit ' •';- -

• '

Relations, . ','-• Information' ; . 1

a n d In-service Training ; ,;;

Personnel ' Division -

i

tive unit ;

Administrative- ¡J Division' - ... } (supplies; -. ' t housing^ etc.). • ¡

"::'v- vj

i

B u d g e t ' - ' '.,.•,••

and Cost • . Accountings - ;.

Jerusalem • and Southern " District ;

Tel Aviv and Central ••' District .••

Haifa a n d Northern District •

ill

688

met w h e n changes were introduced or when special problems arose.

T o achieve a balanced development prog r a m m e a Steering Committee was set up in 1976 to discuss the C B S annual programmes.and budget proposals. It consists of a team of senior officials which reviews proposals to be carried out in the next budget year, taking into account the general needs of domestic users, within the framework of an overall view of the Israeli society and economy. The proposals are then ordered according to national priorities, the committee's recommendations being referred to the Budget Department and, in most cases, accepted and incorporated into the annual budget proposals.

T h e machinery of communication described above, and the m a n y formal and informal connections between ministries and other public agencies, the academic and research community and the general public, seem to give users a wide range of opportunities to influence the fields and subjects on which the C B S should collect data. But experience has shown that in m a n y cases users were biased in their requests in favour of the more currently pressing needs for data for policymaking, background data for short- and m e d i u m -range planning, the follow-up to current developments and for data needed for fund allocation, indexation, etc.

Major long-term censuses and surveys, updating the benchmark data, building an integrated and balanced statistical set-up, the needs of basic research, etc., were not accorded high priority from most users. Such matters, requiring long-term development, were initiated mostly by the C B S ; they were discussed by the Public Advisory Council of Statistics and in most cases allocations from the central government budget were received.

Organization of the Central Bureau of Statistics

The overall organization of the units in the bureau

T h e form of organization of the C B S and its units was determined by the following considerations: (a) the diversified fields of statistics for which the data have to be provided (demographic, cultural, macro-economic, prices, industrial, agri

cultural, etc.); (b) the various specialized skills needed in conducting censuses and surveys (specialists on demography, economics, sociology, mathematical statistics, interviewing, questionnaire design, mapping, computer programming, etc.); (c) the small size of the country and, consequently, the limited number of professionals available in each specialization; and (d) the centralized character of the statistical system in Israel, requiring effective co-ordination of the official statistical activities.

The units of the C B S can be classified into the following types:

Subject-matter units. These units deal with each field or subject of statistics, are responsible for the general preparation of data and are in charge of surveys, censuses and other collection operations in their field. They maintain contact with users, find out their needs and provide them with the data collected and processed. They initiate new projects, define the overall design, and choose the topics to be investigated, the target population, the appropriate classifications and the tabulations required and they prepare the results for publication.

Functional units. These perform specific specialized services for the subject-matter units (sampling, methodology, interviewing, mapping, computer programming and processing, statistical analysis, publishing).

Administrative units. Deal with personnel, budgets, etc.

This division of labour on a project a m o n g various units requires team work and a machinery of co-ordination between the various units. This is accomplished by establishing small working groups, composed of persons dealing with the survey in the various units, which meet regularly, exchanging documents and information. The overall responsibility for carrying out the survey rests with the Subject-matter Unit, which has to examine the links of the operations performed by the various units, is responsible for the agreed timetable for carrying out the survey, deals with discrepancies and changes from the original plan, solves conflicts arising between various units and approves expenditures.

The C B S has some 650 employees, mostly


689

in permanent positions, though some—especially the interviewers—are hired temporarily (over 10,000 persons at periods of peak activity). In 1980, 37 per cent of the staff held a first academic degree and more than a third of these held higher degrees..Some students (especially in the social sciences) work part-time in various semi-professional jobs and, on graduation, some are already occupying professional positions.

O f a total of 130,000 man-days worked by an average of 650 employees in the C B S in 1980 (full-time and part-time), 45 per cent were in subject-matter units, 43 per cent in functional units, and 12 per cent in administrative units. The man-days worked in the subject-matter units were distributed as follows: Social and Demographic Statistics, 20 per cent; Economic Conditions of Households, 12per cent;Branches of theEconomy, 33 per cent; and Macro-economic statistics, 35 per cent. Within the functional units the highest proportion of man-days (60 per cent) was spent in the Surveys Unit.

The execution of statistical surveys and censuses and the use of administrative records in a scientific and efficient w a y benefited from the use of certain general tools and methods developed by the bureau. A m o n g these w e can mention:

Frameworks for sampling. Samples have to be selected currently for various surveys. For this purpose, searches for suitable and efficient frames were carried out. Frames for sampling households and persons included the Population Register (and the Electoral Register by voting area, which is based on the Population Register). This frame was supplemented later by 'area sampling'. W h e n these frames were found deficient, municipal files of apartments were used. For businesses, administrative files of employers reporting to the National Insurance Institute (and the changes in these files) constituted frames for selection of samples of establishments.

Sample design. Sample designs for various types of samples were considered. Criteria for stratification were developed for increasing efficiency, and clusters served a variety of surveys to reduce costs. Methods of sample selection by automated means, estimation procedures, computation and presentation of sampling errors in tables and graphs have been put into routine operation.

Data collection tools. Interviewing techniques and tools were developed (manuals for interviewers, uniform training methods, questionnaire design format, etc.). Interviewers' selection tools, evaluation of enumerators' work , quality control and editing methods are used in the various surveys. Interviewing by mail and telephone were also introduced.

Computer processing. Computer facilities for processing were hired by the C B S from other installations. Since 1980 the C B S has had its! o w n mini-computer ( I B M 4331), but still uses other computers for the processing of large-scale surveys' data. Programming is carried out by the staff of the Computer Programming Unit of the bureau. Standard packages (SPSS; T P L ; B M D P ; SIR, etc.) are also utilized for programming. Increased use of 'on-line' possibilities for editing and data entry enhanced direct access through terminals to the computer by subject-matter and methodology specialists.

Statistical analysis programmes. Standard packages for deseasonalization and trend analysis in the various current series of the C B S (like the X - l 1 programme) are used. Multivariate regression methods, factor analysis, survival analysis and log-linear models have been applied to the analysis of the bureau's data (for detection of factors, for developing synthetic measures and parameters, for research into relationships between variables, for forecasting, etc.).

Maps. M a p s of regions of the country and of smaller areas (blocks, statistical areas, etc.) were collected and arranged to serve the needs of canvassing in censuses, for area sampling and for data analysis on a geographical basis.

Standard classifications. T h e use of standard classifications and definitions has been recognized as an important factor for the usefulness of the data collected by the statistical system and as a tool for co-ordination and integration of statistics. The C B S has developed standard classifications and definitions both for its o w n use and for the use of government and other public or professional agencies. These were based, whenever possible, on international standards, taking into account the special conditions and needs of the Israeli economy.

îfc A series of geographical classifications was

also developed and used routinely: natural regions of the country, statistical areas within urban localities, etc. A list of all localities of the country, with codes of various classifications, is published annually.

Standards for the preparation of publications. A set of instructions and guides have been prepared in order to ensure uniformity of the publications of the bureau. These include rules for the structure of publications, for editing and presentation of text and tables, for terminology, etc.

The dissemination of statistical data

A central function of the C B S is to disseminate the data it collects and processes. This is accomplished by using a variety of channels to bring the data to users quickly and in m a n y different forms.

Press releases are issued whenever data, which seem of interest to the general public, are prepared. In practice, such arelease is issued almost every day (some 250 press releases were issued in 1980). S o m e are issued at fixed dates eachmonth; others appear occasionally w h e n data become available. T h e media, in most cases, quote the text as prepared by the C B S in whole or in part; in other cases, comments and analysis are added. Personnel of the C B S appear at press conferences or are interviewed by the media for further details.

Special short reports, directed to major users, include internal m e m o r a n d a , tables, etc., distributed in each field to a special mailing list of interested people. They are released promptly to bring them to the attention of policy-makers and economic advisers in government, and even if provisional they usually contain m o r e detail than the press releases.

T h e dissemination of statistical data to the international community is obtained through the large n u m b e r of statistical publications issued by the United Nations and its Specialized Agencies. T h e C B S devotes m u c h time-and-effort to filling out monthly and yearly questionnaires circulated by these international organizations, to check the published data and adjust data to international definitions and standards.

Data are also communicated by telephone, by letter or in person to those w h o apply at one of the four regional offices of the C B S . These offices

sell publications, provide data from the bureau's publications, or transfer queries of the public to the C B S head office. They also maintain an automatic telephone answering service, which provides a recorded message of the latest monthly price indexes twenty-four hours a day. The main statistical publications of the C B S are listed in the Appendix.

T h e need for detailed data for research brought the C B S to consider the release of individual unidentified tapes. It was accepted that such a file is required for some in-depth statistical analysis, research of factors, variables, model building, etc. The files were released to researchers, after due care had been taken to suppress any data which could identify an individual directly or indirectly. The files are given to researchers under certain conditions. The user of such a tape has to define his data needs from the tape, and would have to co-ordinate the results from the file with those data released by the C B S before the publication of data from the files. The findings are the sole responsibility of the researcher. The user must pay the expenses incurred for producing tapes and some additional overhead fee. S o m e computer outputs are also released on microfiche.

T o improve the use of the statistical data accumulated by the bureau, a data bank of aggregated time series was established in 1975. It contains the major aggregative series (especially the national accounts data, employment data, etc.). Special programmes are used to extract specific data and compute different variables and to disseminate the series to interested users, in the original or processed form.

The response to statistical inquiries

The quality of data depends very largely on the quality of the information provided by respondents, and on the degree of co-operation attained. Although a legal obligation exists in Israel to reply to questionnaires of the C B S , this does not in itself ensure full co-operation nor that data supplied will be free of response-bias. Here, the extent of the response will be described, as well as its influence on the quality of the results.

T h e legal obligation of households to reply, as set out in letters to respondents and on questionnaires, is not enforced by bringing to court


691

those persons w h o refuse to comply; However, for businesses the provisions of the law are enforced by prosecution, the refusers being forewarned of their legal obligation to reply (such extreme cases are very rare).

Although the surveys and censuses are based on the provisions of the law, various other methods are used to improve the response rate; A letter is sent to the persons in a sample before the visit of the interviewer. It describes the purpose and uses of the inquiry, the method of selecting the sample, the confidentiality of the information supplied, the agency sponsoring the survey, the respondent being asked to help. For larger surveys, the C B S also sends respondents a special pamphlet describing in text, graphs and figures the objectives and uses of the survey and guaranteeing the confidentiality of all individual information. Selected results of previous surveys are also shown. This is done for censuses (where m a n y other means of public relations are used) and for certain large surveys. In exceptional cases special prizes are given to households which complete the questionnaire. Advertisements in the press and on television are used to bring information on a n e w survey to the attention of the public. For business surveys, letters from the professional organization of the appropriate branch are solicited and copies sent to respondents. These letters recommend the survey, and point out its importance to the branch.

The extent of response or refusal to reply to surveys in Israel was found to depend on a variety of factors, including: The method of collecting data (by enumerators, by

mail, or by telephone). The type of respondent (individuals or business

establishments; the type of population replying—a group affected by the results of the survey, their level of education, etc.).

The sensitivity of the information sought (general characteristics, attitudes, income or other financial data, personal behaviour, etc.).

The burden put on the respondent (length of the interview, the number of interviews, the need to use or process documents and records in replying).

Whether it is a full census or a sample survey. The total response rate is affected also by the proportion of the sample cases not contacted (because of an inaccurate address, absence, failure to locate them, etc.). It is also a function

of the enumerators to locate the respondents. A n impression of the extent of response can

be obtained from experience with a number of different surveys.

T h e Industry and Crafts Survey is an annual survey covering a sample of manufacturing establishments with five or more employees. A questionnaire is sent by mail to s o m e 2,000 establishments. Questions include: employment and labour costs, sales, purchases, exports, investments, changes in inventories, etc. Twenty-five per cent of the establishments return the questionnaire by mail, partially or fully completed. Those not replying by mail are then visited by enumerators, called by telephone, etc., to elicit answers. T h e information is received from the accountant of the establishments, the owner or s o m e other authorized employee. In m a n y cases, data are extracted from the balance sheets or from other files and documents. If the firm refuses to reply, the case is referred to the crew leader, w h o tries to convince it to co-operate. A few cases of complete refusal are referred to the legal adviser of the C B S , to start proceedings for prosecution. Practically all cases handled in this manner achieved a response. In the 1977 Industry and Crafts Survey, only ten establishments (0.5 per cent) refused to reply. About 94 per cent of the establishments returned completed questionnaires.

T h e Labour Force Survey is a current household survey giving data on employment, unemployment and other characteristics of the household for each quarter of the year. Each household in the survey is interviewed on four occasions (for two consecutive quarters and twice a year subsequently). In all cases an interviewer visits the households for the first and fourth visit (after a letter with a small pamphlet is sent to the household explaining the survey's purposes, type of sample, etc.). For households with a telephone (some 60 per cent), the second and third interviews are conducted by telephone, if the household agrees. Though replying to the survey is compulsory, legal steps are not taken against refusing households. In practice, only 3 per cent of households refuse to co-operate. In addition, no response is obtained when people are not at h o m e for a number of visits of the enumerator (8 per cent of the sample cases to be interviewed) or for some other reason (3 per cent). Consequently, the response rate was about 85 per cent. Response is

692

different for various age-groups, areas, levels of education and sizes of family. In weighting the results from the sample, s o m e of these differentials are taken into account (by inflating sample variables to independent population estimates).

In the fourth visit to the household, questions o n income are added as a special supplement (these questions are k n o w n to be of a sensitive nature a n d are therefore asked in the last interview). It w a s found that refusal is higher in this survey, approaching 10 per cent (compared to 3 per cent in the regular Labour Force Survey)—so that the total non-response in the income survey w a s about 2 0 per cent (taking into account all other reasons for non-interview).

T h e Survey of E m p l o y m e n t and E d u cation of University Graduates can illustrate the response to a mail inquiry. It covered all those with post-secondary education, the frame consisting of everyone w h o answered in the 1972 Census of Population that they h a d h a d a post-secondary education. A sample questionnaire (with a few questions o n the academic degree, the field of study, current employment and employment m o bility) w a s sent by mail to 45,000 persons. A few days after the first mailing, a reminder was sent to those not replying, and additional reminders were sent later. A n interviewer w a s sent to a sample of those w h o did not reply. Eighteen per cent of the questionnaires were received after the first mailing and before the dispatch of the first reminder, 15 per cent after the first and before the second reminder, a n d 8 per cent after the second reminder. T h e third reminder was sent with an additional questionnaire and 11 per cent m o r e answers were received. T h e fourth and last reminder brought only 3 per cent m o r e , thus bringing the total response b y mail to 56 per cent. A sample of those not replying w a s selected for a personal visit by an interviewer (or a phone call) to complete the questionnaire.

In another mail survey of students w h o received a n academic degree in 1976/77, 55 per cent responded by mail (after three reminders).

Appendix: M a i n publications

Central Bureau of Statistics

Publications appear in various series (most of them in Hebrew and English, either entirely or the main part).

1. Catalogue of Publications of the Bureau

Annual, in Hebrew only, arranged according to subject and including information on the major publications in each subject, together with explanations of the type of data, date of appearance and price.

2 . Current publications

Annual: Statistical Abstract of Israel (from 1950), summarizing annual statistics in various fields; Foreign Trade Statistics—Imports and Exports, by commodity and country, 2 vols., annual.

Monthly or quarterly: General: Monthly Bulletin of Statistics, with a

monthly supplement summarizing the main results of the most recent surveys carried out by the bureau; Price Statistics Monthly (Hebrew only).

Special quarterlies: Foreign Trade Statistics; Agricultural Statistics (with a monthly pamphlet); Statistics of Tourism and Hotels Services; Transport Statistics; Administered Territories Statistics; New Statistical Projects and Publications in Israel.

3. Subject publications ('Special series')

These contain detailed results of surveys in specific fields: (a) appearing annually [A]—lists below give relevant last year of appearance; (b) irregular publications appearing once every few years, or m o n o graphic publications [I]; (c) historical publications [H], summarizing multi-year series.

4 . Census publications

Population and housing; agriculture; industry and crafts (see below by subject).

5. Society in Israel

Statistical highlights (social indicators); first issue 1976; second issue 1980.

6. Technical publications [T]

Methodological publications or aids to current statistical activities (classifications, lists of localities, keys, etc.).

POPULATION Census of Population and Housing, 1961 (42 publi

cations). Census of Population and Housing, 1972 (17 publi

cations).

National primary socio-economic dala structures. X: Israel

693

Census of Population and Housing, 1967, in the Administered Territories and East Jerusalem (7 publications).

Demographic Characteristics of the Population in Israel, 1977, 1978 [I].

The Families in Israel, 1975-1977 [H]. Projection of Population and Households in Israel up

to 1995 11]. Projection of Population up to 2000 [I]. List of Localities, their Population and Codes,

31.XII.1979 m -

VITAL STATISTICS Vital Statistics, 1977 [I]. Causes of Death, 1977 [I]. Suicides and Attempted Suicides in Israel, 1972-1976

[H]. Cancer Mortality in Israel, 1958-1961 [H]. Marriages among Jews in Israel, 1947-1962 [H]. Stillbirths and Infant Deaths, 1950-1972 [H]. Multiplicity Study of Births and Deaths in Judaea,

Samaria and Gaza Strip and North Sinai, 1977 U ] .

MIGRATION Statistics of Tourism and Hotel Services, quarterly. Tourism, 1978 [A]. Seasonality and Trends in Israel Tourism [T]. Internal Migration of Jews in Israel, 1969-1971 [H].

IMMIGRATION AND ABSORPTION Immigration to Israel, 1948-1972, 2 vols. [H]. Immigration to Israel, 1979 [A]. Survey on Absorption of Immigrants Arrived in

1972/73-1974175, One Year after Immigration [I]. Immigrants Arrived in 1972/73-1973/74^-The First,

Three Years in Israel [I]. Survey of Absorption of Students from Abroad,

1969/70 tf]. Immigrants from the U.S.A. and Canada, Arrived

between 1969/70-1973/74 [H]. Immigrants from Latin America, Arrived between

1969/70-1973/74 [H].

NATIONAL INCOME AND EXPENDITURE Israel's National Income and Expenditure, 1950-

1968 [H]. National Income Originating in Israel's Agriculture,

1952-1963 [H]. Gross Domestic Capital Formation In Israel, 1950-

1978 [H]. Private Consumption Expenditure on Industrial Goods,

1964-1973 [H]. General Government Accounts, by Economic Category

and Purpose, 1969/70-1972/73 [I].

National Accounts for Judaea and Samaria, the Gaza Strip and North Sinai, 1968-1977 [H].

Input-Output Tables, 1975/76 [I].

BALANCE OF PAYMENTS Israel's Balance of Payments, 1966-1976 [H].

FOREIGN TRADE Foreign Trade Statistics, quarterly. Foreign Trade Statistics—Imports and Exports, 2 vols.

(detailed data by commodity and country) [A]. Israel's Foreign Trade—General Summary, 1974 [I]. Import Destinations Survey, 1977/78 [I]. Classification of Export Commodities \T].

FINANCE Index of Securities, 1963 [T]. Yields of Debentures, 1968 fT].

PRICES Price Statistics Monthly (Hebrew only, 2 summary

tables and diagrams also in English). Consumer Price Index Methodology, 1968 [T]. Agricultural Input and Output Price Indexes, 1961 [T]. The Wholesale Price Index of Industrial Output for the

Domestic Market, 1965 [T], Index of Input Prices in Residential Building, 1964 [T] • Price Index of Inputs In Road Construction, 1966 [T].

LIVING CONDITIONS Surveys of Income, 1979 [I]. Young Couples Survey, 1977 [I]. Surveys of Employees' Families, 1975-1977 [I]. Family Expenditure Survey, 1975/76 (Part I: General

Summary; Part II: Family Income) [I]. Saving Survey, 1964/65 [I]. Income Elasticities of Demand, 1975/76 [I]. Income of Households Whose Family Heads Did Not

Work, 1971-1975 [H]. Family Expenditure in the Administered Territories,

1973/74 [I]. Housing Conditions Survey, 1978 [I]. Survey of Owners and Tenants In Protected Premises,

1973 [I]. Survey of Housing in Qibbuzlm, 1969 [I], Vacation Trips Survey, 1973 [I]. Classification of the Family Budget, 1969 fT].

LABOUR AND WAGES Labour Force Surveys, 1979 [A]. Labour Force in the Public and Community Services,

1978 (Hebrew only) [I].

694

Young People Aged 14-17—Work and Studies, Selected Years (Hebrew only) [I].

Employment and Wages (1972-1976), Based on Employees' Reports to the National Insurance Institute [H].

Labour Mobility Survey, 1974 [I].

AGRICULTURE Agricultural Statistics, quarterly and monthly p a m

phlet. Census of Agriculture, 1971 (7 publications). Agriculture in Israel, 1948/49-1968/69, 2 vols. [H]. The Citrus Groves in Israel, 1969 P ] . Agricultural Statistics in Israel—Methods of Compi

lation, 1964, 2 vols. [T]. Citrus Crop Forecast in Israel—Methodology [T].

INDUSTRY Census of Industry and Crafts, 1965, 13 vols. Industry and Crafts Survey, 1977 [A]. Survey on R & D in Industry, 1972, 1974, 1975 [I]. Professional labour Force in Industry, 1970 [I]. Survey of Fixed Capital Stock in Industry, 1968 [I]. Survey of Labour Cost in Industry, 1966 [I]. Survey of Employment and Equipment in the Diamond

Industry, 1961 [I]. Industrial Production and Employment Indexes, 1960

ENERGY AND WATER Energy in Israel, 1970-1979 [H] .

CONSTRUCTION Construction in Israel, 1977-1979 [H] . Survey of Post-primary School Buildings, 1967/68 [I], Survey of Primary School Buildings, 1964/65 p ] .

COMMERCE AND HOTELS Statistics of Tourism and Hotel Services, quarterly. Trade Survey, 1976/77 [I]. Survey on Hotels' Expenditure, 1977/78, and Principles

of the Index of Input Prices in Hotels [I], [J]. Census of Eating and Drinking Facilities, 1967/68 [I].

TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION Transport Statistics, quarterly. Motor Vehicles, 31.XII.1979 [A]. Road Accidents with Casualties,, 1980, 2 vols. [A]. Survey of Trucks, 1977 P ] . . Patterns of Commuting to Work, 1977 [I]. Survey of Travelling Habits, 1972/73, 3 vols. [I].

îrî Transport in Israel; Input-Output Operational Data,

1972 0 ] ; • Traffic on Non-urban Roads, 1963-1972 [H].

BANKING AND INSURANCE Insurance in Israel, 1979 [A]. Fires and Fire Extinguishing Services, 1979 [A], Social Insurance Funds in Israel, 1971, 1972 [I].

GOVERNMENT AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES Results of the Elections to the Ninth Knesset, 1977 [I]. Local Authorities, 1978/79, 2 vols, (physical and

financial data) [A].

JUDICIARY Judicial Statistics, 1979 [A]. Criminal Statistics, 1975 [TJ. Juvénile Delinquency, 1970 ill-Victimization Survey, 1979 fl]. ' Duration of Proceedings in Civil Matters Decided in

Courts, 1970 [I].

EDUCATION AND CULTURE Level of Education of the Population in Israel, Selected

Years, 1965 [I]. Pupils in Kindergartens and Schools, by Demographic

and Other Characteristics, 1972/73 [I]. Demographic Characteristics of Pupils in Primary and

Intermediate Schools in Local Authorities, 1972/73

M- ; Schools and Kindergartens, 1978/79 [A]. Kindergartens and Schools in Local Authorities,

1977/78 [A]. Kindergartens and Schools in the Administered Terri

tories, November 1971 P ] . Education and Pedagogic Training of Teachers and

Guides in the Education System, 1974/75 ffí. Services to Pupils in Primary Schools in Local Auth

orities, 1975/76 [I]. Post-Secondary and High Education Institutions

(excluding Universities), 1978/79 P ] . Staff in Universities, January 1977 [I]. Students in Academic Institutions, 1971/72-1978/79

[H]. Recipients of Degrees from Academic Institutions,

1970/71-1976/77 [H]. Persons with Academic and Post-secondary Education,

1974 P ] . Education, and Employment in 1979 of Graduates of

Israeli Universities in 1976/77 P ] . Survey of Absorption of Students from Abroad,

1969/70 [I]. Reading and Entertainment Habits of the Jewish

Population Aged 14+, 1969-1979 [H].


695

Participation in R & D Activities of Persons with Academic and Post-secondary Education, 1974 [I].

Inputs in R & D in Academic Institutions, 1970/71 flj.

Surveys on Family Budgets in Special Populations, 1968169 [I].

Survey on Budgets of Supported Families, 1963/64 [I].

HEALTH Survey on Use of Health Services, October-

December 1977 [I]. Statistical Analysis of the Demographic Charac

teristics of Persons Insured in the Sick Funds, 1976 m, m.

Causes of Death, 1978 [A]. Diagnostic Statistics of Hospitalized Patients, 1974 [I]. Statistical Tables on Selected Infectious Diseases,

1971-1975 [H]. Stillbirths and Infant Deaths, 1950-1972 [H].

WELFARE Family Expenditure Survey, 1968/69, Part III: Family

Budgets in Special Populations [TJ.

Statistical publications of other agencies

Statistics of the Banking System. Jerusalem, B a n k of Israel—Examiner of Banks, monthly and annual.

Annual Statistical Abstract, 1979 and Quarterly Statistics. Jerusalem, National Insurance Institute—Bureau of Research and Planning.

Employment Service in Figures, 1979, Statistical Report. Jerusalem, Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare—Employment Service, monthly and annual.

Statistical Year Book, 1979. Tel Aviv-Yafo, Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, Center for Economic and Social Research.

Notes

1 A detailed description of the creation and functions of the C B S can be found in C B S , Official Statistics in Israel, Jerusalem, 1963.

2 A summary of the data compiled by this department

and its history appears in Gurevich and Gertz (eds.), Statistical Handbook of Jewish Palestine, 1947, Jerusalem, Department of Statistics, the Jewish Agency for Palestine, 1947.

OD Professional

and documentary services

Approaching international conferences1

1982

Florence International Institute of Anthropology: World Congress (Italy) IIA,1 place d'Iéna, 75116 Paris (France)

10-15 February Havana

27-28 February VArbesle (France)

World Federation of Trade Unions: Tenth World Congress WFTU, P. Gensous, Seer. Gen., Namestl Curieovych 1, 11688 Prague 1 (Czechoslovakia) Centre Thomas More: Eighth Session—Man, Nature, Development Centre Thomas More, La Tourette, B.P. 105, 69210 VArbesle (France)

20-21 March VArbesle Centre Thomas More: Twelfth Session—Ecology, Rurality, Religion (France) Centre Thomas More, La Tourette, B.P. 105, 69210 VArbesle (France)

20-21 March VArbesle Centre Thomas More: Eleventh Session—Ethnicity, Tribalism and the (France) State in Africa

Centre Thomas More, La Tourette, B.P. 105,69210 VArbesle (France)

5-7 April

29 April-1 M a y

Belgium

San Diego (California)

Van Clé Foundation: International Congress on Leisure Time and Quality of Life Van Clé Foundation, Grote Markt 9, 2000 Antwerp (Belgium) Population Association of America: Meeting PAA, P.O. Box 14182, Benjamin Franklin Station, Washington, D C 20044 (United States)

May

8-9 M a y

22-23 M a y

Tokyo

VArbesle (France)

VArbesle (France)

Japanese Organization for International Co-operation in Family Planning: Meeting with Multilateral Organizations to Promote Cooperation in Family Planning with Asian Countries JOICFP, Hoken Kaikan Bekkan, 1~1 Sadohara-cho, Ichigaya, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162 (Japan) Centre Thomas More: Symposium (Theme: H u m a n rights in Occident—the various m o d e m and civil traditions of human rights and the position of the churches) Centre Thomas More, La Tourette, P.B. 105, 69210 VArbesle (France) Centre Thomas More: Fifteenth Session—Politics and Religion in the Twentieth Century—The Case of Islam Centre Thomas More, La Tourette, B.P. 105, 69210 VArbesle (France)

1. N o further details concerning these meetings can be obtained through this Journal.

lot. Soc. Sei. J., Vol. X X X m , N o . 4, 1981

700

27-30 M a y Pittsburgh

24-28 M a y Copenhagen

International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations: Eleventh Annual Meeting Prof. T. Kaori Kitao, Dept of Art, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA 19081 (United States) International Association of Workers for Maladjusted Children: Tenth International Congress AlEJI, 66 Chaussée d"Antin, 75009 Paris (France)

7-11 June Oslo

14-18 June Jerusalem

20-24 June Tel Aviv

International Federation for Housing and Planning: Thirty-sixth World Congress IFHP, 43 Wassenaarseweg, The Hague (Netherlands) The Israel Statistical Association: International Meeting on Analysis Sample Survey Data and Sequential Analysis / . Yahav, Dept of Statistics, Hebrew University, Jerusalem (Israel) International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide (Theme: Towards understanding, intervention and prevention of genocide) Internal. Conf. on Holocaust and Genocide, P.O. Box 16271, Tel Aviv (Israel)

July Dublin International Association for Child Psychiatry and Allied Professions: Tenth International Congress Prof. Colette Chiland, Centre Alfred Binet, 76 Av. Edison, 75013 Paris (France)

11-16 July Oxford Oxford Centre for Management Studies: Seventh Biennial Leadership Symposium Oxford Centre for Management Studies, Kenning ton, Oxford OX1 5NY (United Kingdom)

August Rio de Janeiro

August Warsaw

2-7 August Amsterdam

8-13 August Montreal

16-21 August Mexico City

21-27 August Brighton

29 August-4 September

Tokyo

International Political Science Association: Twelfth World Congress IPSA Secretariat, c\o University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario KIN 6N5 (Canada) Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs: Thirty-second Pugwash Conference . Pugwash Conf. on Science and World Affairs, 9 Great Russell Mansions, 60 Great Russell Str., London WC1B 3BE (United Kingdom) International Association of Youth Magistrates: Eleventh Congress (Theme: Justice for youth and family in their social context) AI JE, Tribunal pour Enfants, Palais de Justice, 75055 Paris (France) International Association for Mathematics and Computers in Simulation: Nineteenth World Congress S. Sankar, Tenth IMACS Congress, Dept of Mechanical Engineering, H929-12 Concordia University, 1455 Maisonneuve Bvd West, Montreal Que HG3 IMI (Canada) International Sociological Association: World Congress ISA Secretariat, Marcel Rafié, P.O. Box 719 'A', Montreal, P . W . H3C 2V2 (Canada) International: Council on Social Welfare: Twenty-first Conference (Theme: Action for social progress: the responsibilities of governmental and voluntary organizations) Roy Manley, Natl. Council of Voluntary Organisations, 26 Bedford Sq., London WC1B 3HU (UnitedKingdom) Thirteenth International Congress of Linguistics 1CL Office, Gakushin University, Meijiro 1-5-1, Toshima-ku, Tokyo (Japan)

Approaching international conferences 701

A u t u m n Rio ele Janeiro

A u t u m n Tokyo

22-30 September Vienna

26 September- Petralona-1 October Khalkidiki,

(Greece)

International Federation of Catholic Universities: Symposium (Theme: A comparative study on demographic policies) Franco Biffi, University of Latran, 4 Piazza S. Giovanni in Latrano, 00184 Rome (Italy) International Institute of Administrative Sciences: Round Table HAS, Rue de la Charité 25, 1040 Brussels (Belgium) International Congress on the Emerging W o m a n p o w e r Samir K. Ghosh, 114 Sri Aurobindo Rd Konnagar, West Bengal 712235, near Calcutta (India) Anthropological Association of Greece: European Anthropological Congress Anthropological Assoc, of Greece, Zoe Tsioli, 5 Dafnomili Str., Athens 706 (Greece)

October Tangiers

7-9 October Boston

International Council on Alcohol and Addictions: Thirty-third International Congress on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence ICCA, A . Tongue, C.P. 140, 1001 Lausanne (Switzerland) Association of Mental Health Administrators: Annual Meeting A M H A , 425 13th Str. N W , Suite 1230, Washington, D C 20004 (United States)

1983

Lisbon International Federation for Housing and Planning: International Congress IFHP, 43 Wassenaarseweg, 2596 CG The Hague (Netherlands)

14-16 April Pittsburgh

August Western Europe

14-25 August Quebec City

and Vancouver

Population Association of America: Meeting PAA, P.O. Box 14182, Benjamin Franklin Station, Washington, D C 20044 (United States) International Economic Association: Seventh World Congress (Theme: Structural change, economic interdependence and world development) IEA, 4 rue de Chevreuse, 75006 Paris (France) International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences: Eleventh International Congress IUAES, A . Braxton, Dept of Anthropology and Sociology, 6303 N . W . Marine Drive, University of British Columbia Campus, Vancouver, B.C. (Canada)

September Paris Information Processing Congress M . Hermien, 6 place de Valois, 75001 Paris (France)

A Handy Manual Covering All the Rules Applicable to the.International Civil Service • United Nations • European Communities. • Specialized Agencies • Intergovernmental Agencies

—Including Court Decisions

THE INTERNATIONAL CIVIL SERVICE:

LAW AND MANAGEMENT By ALAIN G . P L A N T E Y , Doctor of Law, University of Paris, and Councillor at the French Council of State For the first time, all the rules applicable to the international civil service are brought together in one volume. These rules stem from treaties, statutes and regulations in force, court decisions, and administrative practices. A comprehensive index and a valuable bibliography will show you exactly where to find the information you want.

What Is the International Civtl Service? The International Civil Service covers 200 organizations, in 140 countries and manages monies running into the hundreds of millions. At present, it has s o m e 100,000 employees of 100 different nationalities. This explains the importance and the difficulties involved in staff management in all legal, administrative and financial sectors.

W h y Purchase This Manual? T H E INTERNATIONAL CIVIL S E R V I C E : L a w and Management is the first manual to describe-the c o m m o n law of the International and European organizations. Easy to use, ¡t should be of the greatest benefit to all those who have to deal with legal, administrative and financial problems in national and international administration.

• Published June 1981 • 468 pages • $59.50 ISBN 0-89352-103-5 * L C 80-82069

PARTIAL CONTENTS PART I DEFINITION AND CONCEPTS

NATURE AND SCOPE OF THE INTERNATIONAL CIVIL SERVICE

• Development • International Staff, • Coordination

L A W O F T H E INTERNATIONAL CIVIL S E R V I C E • Main Features • Sources and Order of Priority of Legal Rules • The Applicable Texts

T H E S E R V I C E RELATIONSHIP • Nature of the Service Relationship • Acquired Rights

P A R T II POLITICAL P R O B L E M S NATIONALITY

• Nationality and Distribution of Posts • The International Service • International Independence

PUBLIC FREEDOMS , • Principle of Equality

• Individual Freedoms • Collective Rights '

PART III LEGAL POSITIONS . ENGAGEMENT AND APPOINTMENT

• The Competent Authority • Conditions of Appointment • The Various Categories of Appointment • The Effects ol Appointment

POSITIONS • Active Employment • Secondment • Special Leave

• Leave on Personal Grounds • Leave lor Military Service

• Non-Aclive Status TERMINATION OF. SERVICE

• Death • Age Limit • Resignation • Dismissal • Expiration of Term of Appointment • Terminalion • • The Effects of Separation (rom Servies

PART IV PROFESSIONAL OBLIGATIONS AND DISCIPLINE

OBLIGATIONS OF THE STAFF • Obligation to Provide Service , • Obedience to Superiors • Rules of Professional Ethics

DISCIPLINE • Disciplinary Offenses • The Disciplinary Authority • The Disciplinary Procedure • Disciplinary Measures

PART V MANAGEMENT MANAGEMENT BODIES AND AUTHORITIES

• The Holders of Authority • • Discretionary Power

, • Administrative Consultation , RECRUITMENT

• The Needs of the Administration • The Training of Officials • Selection

CAREER STRUCTURE • Careers • Reports

PART VI FINANCIAL AND SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS

REMUNERATION • The Basis of Remuneration • Salary • Allowances

PROVIDENT SCHEMES • Capital Grants • Retirement Pensions

OCCUPATIONAL AND SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS

• Leave and Authorized Absence • Social Security Benefits • Financial Facilities

PART VII LEGAL SAFEGUARDS AND LEGAL DECISIONS

SAFEGUARDS • The Personal Filo • Civil Liability • Privileges and Immunities • Administrativo Appeals

. APPEALS TO TRIBUNALS • The Tribunals • Complainants • Procedure • Judgment

CONCLUSION REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS BIBUOGRAPHY ALPHABETICAL INDEX

MASSON Publishing U S A , Inc. 133 EAST 58th STREET NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10022

Books received

General

C A N A D A . MINISTÈRE DES AFFAIRES C U L T U R E L L E S . BIBLIOTHÈQUE N A T I O N A L E D U Q U É B E C . Les

idéologies au Québec: Bibliographie. 3rd éd. Montréal, Bibliotbèque Nationale du Québec, 1980. 175 pp.

C O N F E D E R A C I Ó N UNIVERSITARIA C E N T R O A M E R I C A N A . Documentación socioeconómica centroamericana, Nos. 2, 3, 4 . Ciudad Universitaria, Costa Rica, Centro de Documentación Económica y Social de Centroamerica, 1979 and 1980. v pp.

N O R W E G I A N A G E N C Y F O R INTERNATIONAL D E V E L O P M E N T . Norwegian Development Research Catalogue, 1981, ed. by Cecilie A . Butensch0n. Fantoft, The Chr. Michelsen Institute, Dept of Social Science Development, 1981. 332 pp. Nkr . 40.

Philosophy, psychology

C L O U S E , Robert G . (ed.). War: Four Christian Views. .Downers Grove, Inter Varsity Press, 1981. 210 pp., bibliogr. $5.95.

R E A , N o r m a n . Sexuality and Handicapped People. Provost, University of York [1981]. 63 pp. , tables.

Social sciences

B A R T H O L O M E W , David J. Mathematical Methods in Social Sciences. Chichester/New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1981. 153 pp., figs., index. (Handbook of Applicable Mathematics.)

B R A A M , Geert P . A . Influence of Business Firms on the Government: An Investigation of the Distribution of Influence in Society. The Hague/ N e w York/Paris, Mouton Publishers, 1981. 320 pp., tables, figs., index. D M 5 8 . (New Babylon: Studies in the Social Sciences, 34.)

R O S N O W , Ralph L . Paradigms in Transition: The Methodology of Social Inquiry. N e w York/ Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1981. 170 pp. , index. £10.50.

Sociology

A B D E L - M A L E K , Anouar. Civilisations and Social Theory. Albany, State University of N e w York Press, 1981. 214 pp . , index. Paperback $9.95; cloth $29. (Social Dialectics, Vol. 1.)

B E R N A R D , R . ; B U I S S O N , M . ; C A M Y , J. et al. Éducation,

fête et culture. Lyon, Presses Universitaires, 1981. 184 pp., illus.

B E R T I N G , J.; M I L L S , S . C ; W I N T E R S B E R G E R , H . (eds.). The Socio-economic Impact of Microelectronics. Oxford, Pergamon Press for the European Coordination Centre for Research and Documentation in. Social Sciences, 1980. 267 pp. , figs., bibliogr.

C H E V A L D O N N É , François. La communication inégale: l'accès aux media dans les campagnes algériennes. Paris, Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1981. 222 pp . , maps, graphs, bibliogr. 90F.

C O E L H O , George V . ; A H M E D , Paul I. (eds.). Uprooting and Development: Dilemmas of Coping with Modernization. N e w York/London, Plenum Press, 1980. 538 pp. , index. $27.50.

C O O K , Bruce L . Understanding Pictures in Papua New Guinea. Elgin, 111., David C Cook Foundation, 1981. 113 pp. , illus., bibliog.

D U R A N D - D R O U H I N , J.-L.; S Z W E N G R U B , L . - M . ; M I H A I L E S C U , I. (eds.). Rural Community Studies in Europe: Trends, Selected and Annotated Bibliographies, Analysis, Vol. 1. Oxford, Pergamon Press for the European Coordination Centre for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences, 1981. 332 pp . , graphs, maps. '

F O S T E R , Lawrence. Religion and Sexuality: Three American Communal Experiments of the


704

Nineteenth Century. N e w York/Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1981. 363 pp., index. £12.

K E N D I N G , Hal. Buying and Renting: Household Moves in Adelaide. Canberra City, Australian Institute of Urban Studies, 1981. 183 pp., tables, figs., illus., maps. (AIUS Publication, 91.)

K O Z A K I E W I C Z , Mikolaj. Sex Education and Adolescence in Europe. London, International Planned Parenthood Federation, 1981.118p„ tables, graphs, bibliog.

M A N D E R S O N , Lenore. Women, Politics, and Change: The Kaum Ibu U M N O , Malaysia, 1945-1972. Kuala Lumpur/Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1981. 294 pp., tables, figs., m a p , bibliog., index.

M I C H A L O S , Alex C . North American Social Report: A Comparative Study of the Quality of Life in Canada and the USA from 1964 to 1974, Vol. 3: Science, Education, and Recreation. Dordrecht/Boston/London, D . Reidel Publishing Company, 1981. 219 pp., tables, charts, index. $29.50.

T H E N E T H E R L A N D S . SOCIAL A N D C U L T U R A L P L A N N I N G O F F I C E . Social and Cultural Report, 1980. Rijswijk, Social and Cultural Planning Office, 1981. 418 pp., tables.

R U B I N G T O N , Earl; W E I N B E R G , Martin S. The Study of Social Problems: Five Perspectives. 3rd ed. N e w York/Oxford, Oxford University Press, M a y 1981. 243 pp., bibliog. £5.95.

W E I N B E R G , Martin S.; R U B I N G T O N , Earl; H A M M E R S M I T H , Sue Kiefer, (eds.). The Solution of Social Problems: Five Perspectives. 2nd ed. N e w York/Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1981. 226 pp., bibliog. £3.95.

Demography

F R A N C E . INSTITUT N A T I O N A L D E L A STATISTIQUE E T D E S É T U D E S É C O N O M I Q U E S . Cartographie statistique—population française. Paris, INSEE, 1980. v pp., maps.

K I R K , Maurice (ed.). Demographic and Social Change in Europe, 1975-2000. Liverpool, Liverpool University Press in association with the Council of Europe, 1981. 167 pp., tables, index, bibliog.

Political science

A B D E L - M A L E K , Anouar. Nation and Revolution. Albany, State University of N e w York Press, 1981. 222 pp., index. (Social Dialectics, Vol. 2.)

CX3 Economics

H I M M E L S T R A N D , Ulf; A H R N E , Göran; L U N D B E R G , Leif; L U N D B E R G , Lars. Beyond Welfare Capitalism: Issues, Actors and Forces in Societal Change. London, Heinemann, 1981. 370 pp., tables, figs., index. £19.50.

I S H I K A W A , Shigeru. Essays on Technology, Employment and Institutions in Economic Development: Comparative Asian Experience. Tokyo, Kinokuniya C o . Ltd, 1981. 466 pp., tables, charts, index. 6,000 yen. (Economic Research Series, 19, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.)

P E A R S E , A . ; STIEFEL, M . Debaters' Comments on Inquiry into Participation: A Research Approach. Geneva, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, October 1980. 130 pp. (Participation: Occasional Paper.)

R A U S C H , Wilhelm; L O T T E R A N E R , M a x . Aufbruch in eine bessere Zeit: Die Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Oberösterreich, 1920-1980.

; Linz, K a m m e r für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Oberösterreich, 1981. 255 pp., tables, illus.

S A L V A T O R E , Dominick. Internal Migration and Economic Development: A Theoretical and Empirical Study. Washington, University Press of America, 1981. 68 pp., tables, bibliog. Cloth $15.75; paperback $6.75.

S T Ö H R , Walter B . ; T A Y L O R , Fraser (fias.)..Development from Above or Below? The Dialectics of Regional Planning in Developing Countries. Chichester/New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1981. 485 pp., tables, figs., maps, index.

U N I T E D N A T I O N S D E V E L O P M E N T P R O G R A M M E . Conference of African Governmental Experts on Technical Co-operation among African Countries, Nairobi, 12-20 May 1980: Rural Development in Africa. N e w York, U N D P , [1980]. ( T C D C / A F / 5 . )

•. Conference of African Governmental Experts on Technical Co-operation among African Countries, Nairobi, 12-20 May 1980: Food Production, Processing and Marketing in Africa. N e w York, U N D P , [1980], 67 pp., tables. (TCDC/AF/6 . )

•. Conference of African Governmental Experts on Technical Co-operation among African Countries, Nairobi, 12-20 May 1980: Application of Science and Technology to Development in Africa. N e w York, U N D P , [1980], 73 pp. ( T C D C / A F / 7 . )

-. Conference of African Governmental Experts on Technical Co-operation among African Countries, Nairobi, 12-20 May 1980: Compendium of Bilateral and Multilateral Technical

Books received 705

Co-operation and Economic Agreements, Treaties and Conventions among African Countries. N e w York, U N D P , [1980], 81 pp. ( T C D C / A F / 9 . )

Criminology

F E R M E R , Marie-Claire. Enfants de justice. Paris, François Maspero, 1981. 379 pp.

Public administration

C A R D E W , Richard. Government Regulation of Industrial Property Development. Canberra City, Australian Institute of Urban Studies, 1981. 99 pp. , tables, figs. (AIUS Publication, 92.)

INSTITUT I N T E R N A T I O N A L D E P O L I C E . Séminaire d'enseignement supérieur organisé par l'Institut International de Police sous l'égide de V Unesco, S, Paris, 17-27 mars 1981: Synthèses des conférences. Paris, Institut International de Police, 1981. 71 pp.

Social welfare

A M A N N , Anton (ed.). Open Care for the Elderly in Seven European Countries: A Pilot Study in the Possibilities and Limits of Care. Oxford, Pergamon Press for the European C o ordination Centre for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences, 1980.225 pp. , tables.

I N T E R N A T I O N A L S O C I A L S E C U R I T Y A S S O C I A T I O N . Social Security and Disability: Issues in Policy Research. Geneva, ISSA, 1981. 164 pp. , tables, figs.

Education

O L A I T A N , Samson O . ; A G U S I O B A , Obiora N . Principles of Practice Teaching. Chichester/New York , John Wiley & Sons, 1981. 165 pp. , tables, index. $12.20; £4.25.

Applied sciences

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME. UNDP and Energy: Exploration, Conservation, Innovation. N e w York, U N D P , M a y 1981.52 p p . , tables, bibliog. (Evaluation Study, 5.)

Physical planning

A G A N B E G Y A N , A . G . (ed.). Regional Studies for Planning and Projecting: The Siberian Experience. The Hague/Paris/New York, Mouton Publishers, 1981. 312 pp. , tables, figs. D M 8 8 . (United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, Regional Planning, Vol. 7.)

D ' A R C Y , F . ; B I A R E Z , S.; G I L B E R T , C . et al. Territoires en mutation. Grenoble, Presses Universitaires de Grenoble, 1981.127 pp. , bibliog. (Cahier 6, L'aménagement du territoire.)

B A R L O W , I. M . Spatial Dimensions of Urban Government. Chichester/New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1981.199 pp. , tables, maps , index.

B E N A T I A , Farouk. Alger: agrégat ou cité—l'intégration citadine de 1919 à 1979, Preface by J. Berque. Reghaia, Complexe Graphique S N E D , 1980. 408 pp . , tables, illus., maps , gloss.

Is AI A, Henri. X a protection de l'environnement en Chine. Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1981. 124 pp. , m a p . (Collection travaux et recherches de l'Institut du Droit de la Paix et du Développement de l'Université de Nice.)

Recent Unesco publications* (including publications assisted by Unesco)

Analysing and Projecting School Enrolment in Devel-• oping Countries: A Manual of Methodology, prep, by Tore Thonstad. Paris, Unesco, 1981. 112 p p . , tables, figs., index. 16 F . (Statistical Reports and Studies, 24.)

Approaches to Communication Planning, ed. by John Middleton. Paris, Unesco, 1980. 300 p p . , tables, figs. 62 F . (Monographs on C o m m u n i cation Planning, 1.)

Arkysist Feasibility Study: Final Report. Paris, Unesco, 1981. 65 p p . , tables, figs. 12 F . (Reports and Papers in the Social Sciences, 45.)

The Book To-day in Africa, by S. I. A . Kotei. Paris, Unesco, 1981. 210 p p . , tables. 32 F .

Building the Future: Unesco and the Solidarity of Nations, by Amadou-Mahtar M ' B o w . Paris, Unesco, 1981. 258 pp . 18 F .

Can Equity be Organized? by Bernard Schaffer and Geoff Lamb. Paris, Unesco, Farnborough, Grover, 1981. 166 pp., bibliog., index. 45 F .

Community Communications: The Role of Community Media in Development, by Frances J. Berri-gan. Paris, Unesco, 1981. 10 F. (Reports and Papers in Mass Communication, 90.)

The Concept of International Organization, ed. by Georges Abi-Saab. Paris, Unesco, 1981. 245 pp . , tables, figs. 42 F .

Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, Madrid, 1980: Unesco's Contribution to the Development in the Europe Region and to the Implementation of the Relevant Provisions of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (Helsinki)—Report. Paris, Unesco, [1981], 58 pp.

The Economic Future of the Architect, by Ricardo Verges-Escuin. Paris, Unesco, 1980. 141 p p . , tables, figs. ( H u m a n Settlements and Socio-cultural Environment, 16.)

Evaluation Research and Social Change, by Alexander Weilenmenn. Paris, Unesco, 1980. 104 p p . , figs. 30 F .

Importation of Films for Cinema and Television in Egypt, by Gehan Rachty and Khalil Sabat.

Paris, Unesco, 1981. 78 p p . (Communication and Society, 7.)

Interconcept Report: A New Paradigm for Solving the Terminology Problems of the Social Sciences, by Fred W . Riggs. Paris, Unesco, 1981. 49 p p . 10 F . (Report and Papers in the Social Sciences, 47.)

Intergovernmental Conference on Communication Policies in Africa, Yaounde (Cameroon), 22-31 July 1980: Final Report. Paris, Unesco, 1981. 81 pp .

International Bibliography of the Social Sciences: Economics)'Bibliographie internationale des sciences sociales: science économique, Vol. 27, 1978. L o n d o n / N e w York , Tavistock Publications, 1980. 526 pp . £30; 270 F .

International Bibliography of the Social Sciences: Political SciencejBibliographie internationale des sciences sociales: science politique, Vol. 28, 1979. L o n d o n / N e w Y o r k , Tavistock Publications, 1981. 415 p p . £32; 279 F .

International Bibliography of the Social Sciences: SociologyIBibliographie internationale des sciences sociales: sociologie, Vol. 28, 1978. London/Chicago, Tavistock Publications/ Beresford Book Service, 1980. 463 pp . £30; 270 F .

New Approaches to Rural Youth and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Paris, Unesco, 1981.103 pp . 25 F . (Regional Youth Meetings, 4.)

* How to obtain these publications: (a) Priced Unesco publications can be obtained from the Office of the Unesco Press, Commercial Services ( P U B / C ) , 7 place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris, or from national booksellers (see list at the end of this issue); (b) unpriced Unesco publications can be obtained free from Unesco, Documents Division ( C O L / D ) ; (c) publications not put out directly or in co-publication by Unesco can be obtained through normal retail channels.


708

Planning Methods and the Human Environment; by Gilberto C . Gallopin, Paris, Unesco, 1981. 67 pp . , tables, figs. 20 F . (Socio-economic Studies, 4.)

The Protection of the Rights of Disabled Persons Afforded under Various International Instruments: Extracts, by Maurice Torrelli. Paris, Unesco, 1981. 21 pp .

Reporting Southern Africa: Western News Agencies Reporting from Southern Africa, by Phil Harris. Paris, Unesco, 1981. 168 pp. , tables, bibliog. 28 F .

Rural Journalism In Africa, by Paul Ansah et al. Paris, Unesco, 1981. 35 p p . 10 F .

Selective Inventory of Information Services, 19811Inventaire sélectif des services d'information!Inventoria selectivo de servicios de Información. Paris, Unesco, 1981. 140 pp . 30 F . (World Social Science Information Services, 3/Servi-ces mondiaux d'information en sciences sociales, 3/Servicios mundiales de información sobre ciencies sociales, 3.)

The Social Implications of the Scientific and Technological Revolution: A Unesco Symposium. Paris, Unesco, 1981. 392 pp . , tables, figs. 80 F .

Social Sciences In Asia, IV: Australia, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka. Paris, Unesco, 1980. 98 pp. , tables. 12 F . (Reports and Papers in the Social Sciences, 42.)

Socio-economic and Communication Indicators in Development Planning: A Case Study of Iran, by Majid Tehranian. Paris, Unesco, 1981. 126 pp. , tables. (Communication and Society, 5.)

Socio-economic Indicators for Planning: Method

ological Aspects and Selected Examples. Paris, Unesco, 1981. 122 pp. , tables. 20 F . (Socio-

- economic Studies, 2.) The Training of Cultural Animators. Paris, Unesco,

1980. 139 pp. (Cultural Development Documentary Dossier, 18-19.)

Unesco Handbook for the Teaching of Social Studies, ed. by Howard D . Mehlinger. London, Croom Helm/Paris, Unesco, 1981. 409 pp., figs., illus., index. 90 F .

Violence and Its Causes, by Jean-Marie Domenach, Henri Laborit, Alain Joxe et al. Paris, Unesco, 1981. 296 pp. 38 F . (Insight, 4.)

Women and Development: Indicators of their Changing Role. Paris, Unesco, 1981. 112 pp. , figs. 20 F . (Socio-economic Studies, 3.)

World Congress on Disarmament Education, Unesco, 9-13 June 1980: Disarmament Education—Report and Final Document. Paris, Unesco, 1981. 50 pp.

World Directory of Peace Research Institutions. 4th rev. ed. Paris, Unesco, 1981. 213 pp. 26 F . (Reports and Papers in the Social Sciences, 49.)

World List of Social Science Periodicals, 1980/Llste mondiale des périodiques spécialisés dans les sciences sociales/Lista mundial de revistas especializadas en ciencias sociales, 5th rev. ed. Paris, Unesco, 1980.447 pp. 72 F . (World Social Science Information Services, 1/Servi-ces Mondiaux d'Information en Sciences Sociales, I/Servicios Mundiales de Información sobre Ciencias Sociales, 1.)

World Problems in the Classroom. Paris, Unesco, 1981. 61 pp. 12 F . (Educational Studies and Documents, 41.)

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Past topics1

F r o m 1949 to the end of 1958, this Journal appeared under the n a m e of International Social Science Bulletin, not all issues of which were devoted to a main topic.

Microfilms and microcards are available from University Microfilms Inc., 300 N . Zeeb R o a d , A n n Arbor, M I 48106 (United States of America). Reprint series are available from Kraus Reprint Corporation, 16 East 46th Street, N e w Y o r k , N Y 10017 (United States of America).

Vol. XI, 1959 N o . 1. Social aspects of mental health* N o . 2. Teaching of the social sciences in

the U S S R * N o . 3. The study and practice of planning* N o . 4 . Nomads and nomadism in the arid

zone*

Vol. XII, 1960 N o . 1. Citizen participation in political life* N o . 2 . The social sciences and peaceful

co-operation* N o . 3. Technical change and political

decision* N o . 4 . Sociological aspects of leisure*

Vol. XIII, 1961 N o . 1. Post-war democratization in Japan* N o . 2. Recent research on racial relations N o . 3. The Yugoslav commune No. 4. The parliamentary profession

Vol. XIV, 1962 N o . 1. Images of w o m e n in society* N o . 2 . Communication and information N o . 3. Changes in the family* N o . 4 . Economics of education*

Vol. XV, 1963 N o . 1. Opinion surveys in developing

countries N o . 2. Compromise and conflict resolution N o . 3. Old age N o . 4 . Sociology of development in Latin

America

Vol. XVI, 1964 N o . 1. Data in comparative research* N o . 2 . Leadership and economic growth N o . 3. Social aspects of African resource

development

N o . 4. Problems of surveying the social sciences and humanities

Vol. XVII, 1965 N o . 1. M a x Weber today/Biological aspects

of race* N o . 2. Population studies N o . 3. Peace research* N o . 4. History and social science

Vol. XVIII, 1966 N o . 1. H u m a n rights in perspective* N o . 2. Modern methods in criminology* N o . 3. Science and technology as

development factors* N o . 4. Social science in physical planning*

Vol. XIX, 1967 N o . 1. Linguistics and communication* N o . 2. The social science press N o . 3. Social functions of education* N o . 4. Sociology of literary creativity*

Vol. XX, 1968 N o . 1. Theory, training and practice in

management* N o . 2. Multi-disciplinary problem-focused

research* N o . 3. Motivational patterns for

modernization N o . 4. The arts in society*

Vol. XXI, 1969 N o . 1. Innovation in public administration* N o . 2. Approaches to rural problems* N o . 3. Social science in the Third World* N o . 4. Futurology*

Vol. XXII, 1970 N o . 1. Sociology of science* N o . 2. Towards a policy for social research

1. The asterisk denotes issues out of print.

N o . 3. Trends in legal learning N o . 4. Controlling the human environment

Vol. XXIII, 1971

N o . 1. Understanding aggression N o . 2. Computers and documentation in

the social sciences N o . 3. Regional variations in nation-building N o . 4. Dimensions of the racial situation

Vol. XXIV, 1972

N o . 1. Development studies N o . 2. Youth: a social force? N o . 3. The protection of privacy N o . 4. Ethics and institutionalization in

social science

Vol. XXV, 1973

N o . 1/2. Autobiographical portraits N o . 3. The social assessment of technology N o . 4. Psychology and psychiatry at the

cross-roads

Vol. XXVI, 1974

N o . 1. Challenged paradigms in international relations

N o . 2. Contributions to population policy N o . 3. Communicating and diffusing social

science N o . 4. The sciences of life and of society

Vol. XXVII, 1975

N o . 1. Socio-economic indicators: theories and applications

N o . 2. The uses of geography N o . 3. Quantified analyses of social

phenomena N o . 4. Professionalism in flux

Vol. XXVIII, 1976

N o . 1. Science in policy and policy for science*

Back numbers m a y be purchased, from current single-copy rates.

N o . 2. The infernal cycle of armament N o . 3. Economics of information and

information for economists N o . 4. Towards a new international

economic and social order

Vol. XXIX, 1977

N o . 1. Approaches to the study of international organizations

N o . 2. Social dimensions of religion N o . 3. The health of nations N o . 4. Facets of interdisciplinarity

Vol. XXX, 1978

N o . 1. The politics of territoriality N o . 2. Exploring global interdependence N o . 3. H u m a n habitats: from tradition to

modernism N o . 4. Violence

Vol. XXXI, 1979

N o . 1. Pedagogics of social science: some experiences

N o . 2. Rural-urban articulations N o . 3. Patterns of child socialization N o . 4. In search of rational organization

Vol. XXXII, 1980

N o . 1. The anatomy of tourism N o . 2. Dilemmas of communication:

technology versus communities? N o . 3. W o r k N o . 4. O n the state

Vol. XXXIII, 1981

N o . 1. Socio-economic information: systems, uses and needs

N o . 2. At the frontiers of sociology N o . 3. Technology and cultural values

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Revue Internationale des Sciences Sociales -...

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