(Peter Burke, Chapter 3 Key Concepts)
preliminary
- Discussing the conceptual tools of creation in social theorists
- Some are commonly used in historical analysis, and some are still not
- Still, few have been adopted by historians
- Historian: the concept is just an incomprehensible “jargon.”
- Burke: these concepts are helpful, though still not enough
The Historian’s Reason for Objection
- Language problems so that it can ignore certain aspects of social life.
- New modern term
- Models to complete
- People in his day did not have a perfect understanding of his society
- Historian accused of stealing theory
- The danger of theorizing is reductionism (The tendency to view the world is only a reflection of the theory)
Social Concepts
- Concepts influenced by culture (culture-bound)
- Applied to social behavior that is also influenced by culture
- Need adjustment
- Not necessarily universal
- Example:
1. The theory of marginal utility is irrelevant for farmers. The land is still cultivated (even if its value is reduced) as long as the need is not met (Alexander Chayanov)
2.Kul (1962) the law of supply and demand did not apply to 17th-century Polish aristocratic farms due to aristocratic mental factors
Concepts discussed
- Social role
- Sex and Gender
- Family and Kinship
- Community and Identity
- Class and Status
- Social mobility
- Consumption and exchange
- Social and Cultural Capital
- Patronage, Clients, and Corruption
- Power and Political Culture
- Civil Society and Public Space
- Center and Periphery
- Hegemony and Resistance
- Social movement and social protest
- Mentality, ideology, and discourse
- Communication and reception
- Postcolonial and Cultural Hybridity
- Orality and Textuality
- Myths and Memories