Understanding comprehensive school reforms: Insights from comparative-historical sociology and power resources theory

Comparative & Historical Sociology Newsletter Summer 1998

Interpretation is a critical dimension of historical research. Though we can never really know how historical subjects understood their situation, their actions, or the actions of others, we continually strive to do so. The work is difficult and complex. It demands careful attention to detail and an immersion in large quantities of primary source material. It is also the part of our work which ...

Causal Mechanisms in Comparative Historical Sociology

Spring 2002 Newsletter, Comparative & Historical Sociology

This issue features a critique by Stephen P. Turner of an important paper by Robert Marsh on Weber’s analysis of the Chinese legal system. Turner’s critique is followed by a response from Robert Marsh. Then we have an article by a young scholar, François Dépelteau, about the sociological imagination. We have also listed all of the books submitted for the Barrington Moore Award since they consti...

Spring 2003 Newsletter, Comparative & Historical Sociology

The Section of comparative and historical sociology continues to strengthen its roots and to branch out. This progress has only been possible through the dedicated efforts of its many members and especially the officers who made it all happen. On behalf of all the members, I want to thank Anne Kane (University of Texas, Austin) for her tireless and efficient service as Secretary-Treasurer for t...

Comparative Historical Sociology and the State: Problems of Method

In this article, I take issue with the conceptual apparatus and methodological prescriptions of comparative historical sociology. I will suggest that its problematic features are longstanding. In consequence, a dominant tendency of the field – that of returning to the ‘classics’ as a means of overcoming deficiencies found in more recent contributions – has the effect of reinforcing what is prob...