This document summarizes several schools of history, including the Marxist School, the School of "Annales", and American schools like the Progressive, Consensus, and New Left schools. It also briefly discusses the historians Plutarch and Hegel. The Marxist School emphasized economic structures and class struggle as drivers of historical change. The School of "Annales" promoted a multidisciplinary "total history" approach. In America, the Progressive and New Left schools saw conflict as central to history, while the Consensus School argued for more agreement.

1. SCHOOLS OF HISTORY

2. Marxist School
School of “Annales”
American Schools of History
Progressive School
Consensus School
The “New Left” School
School of Social History
Plutarch
Hegel

3. Marxist School
Max Weber (1864-1920), Professor of
Economics at Freiburg in the 1890s.
Stages of history: antique, feudal and
modern bourgeois.
Emphasized on economic structure and
economic conditions in each stage.
The change and development is driven by
class struggle within the society.

4. Marxist School
“The history of all hitherto existing
society is the history of class struggle”.
The result of the class struggle is ‘social
revolution’.
E.g. there was a ‘social revolution’ when
feudalism was replaced by capitalism.
The influence of Marxism on the
development of the discipline of history
was not great.

5. Marxist School
However, Marxism made important
contributions in drawing attentions to:
The importance of economic, of social
classes, of technology, of work and
workplace.
The possible relationships between art,
literature, ideas, and politics and
economics.

6. School of “Annales”
“Annales”, a journal founded in France in
1929.
Marc Bloc, Lucien Febvre and Fernand
Braudel.
Promoted the history of society, of all
society “total society”.
The used method – ‘inter-displinary’,
bringing together history, geography,
economics, psychology and anthropology.

7. School of “Annales”
Also beyond the restrictions of
periodization and geographical boundaries.
Rejected the narrative history of states,
of politics and of events.
Nevertheless, it was intensely French –
served people interested in French identity
and French social history.
“Annales” have a strong influence in France
– received government backing.

8. School of “Annales”
Although the “Annales” is against
limitations, it mainly deals with early
modern history and to some extent
medieval history.
Very little on the 19th
century and nothing
on the 20th
century.
Also left the history of Germany and
United States well alone.

9. American Schools of History
Progressive School
Consensus School
The “New Left” School
School of Social History

10. Progressive School
Dominated professional thought and
writing during the first half of the
20th
century.
“The past as conflict between various
groups”.
Influenced by the reform movement
which began in the 19th
century.

11. Progressive School
Interpreted the past as a history of
conflict but were optimistic about the
future.

12. Consensus School
Emerged after World War II.
Sometimes known as “neo-conservative”.
Disagreed with the progressive school – did
not see American history as a story of
conflict.
Class conflict or other major divisions did
not exist.
The areas of agreement in the American
past were much more significant than the
areas of disagreement.

13. The “New Left School”
Emerged in the 1960s.
Study the past with an emphasis on
finding conflict in American history.
They disagreed with the consensus
school – found struggle/conflict in
the American past.
Took pessimistic view of the future.

14. School of Social History
The most recent school of history.
“history from the bottom up”.
Believed that we has relied too long
on studying the actions and ideas of
the elite.
So, now it is the time to study about
ordinary Americans.

15. School of Social History
Unfortunately, ordinary citizens did
not leave abundant records like the
elites.
Social historians gave important new
information.
Criticisms – making obscure people
representative of larger society
without convincing evidence.

16. Plutarch
Mestrius Plutarchus (46-127 A.D) - a
Greek historian and biographer.
He was not concerned writing
histories, as such, but in exploring
the influence of character – good or
bad – on the lives and destinies of
famous men.

17. Plutarch
His thesis is that “the very character
of men changes history’.
Major works; ‘Parallel Lives’ (a series
of biographies of famous Greeks and
Romans).
‘Life of Alexander’, ‘Moralia ’.

18. Plutarch
His writings had enormous influence
on English and French literature, and
also on the interpretation of history.

19. Plutarch

20. Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
(1770-1831) – a German philosopher.
The founder of “Hegelianism” – a new
form of thinking and logic.
Had a rationalistic view of human
society and history.

21. Hegel
He explained that change happens in
history as a result of “the clash of
opposing ideas / forces” - (Dialectic
theory).
Hegel was also known as a
cultural/intellectual historian.

22. Hegel
His attempts to explain world history
using concepts like “mind’, “spirit”,
“culture” and the idea of “freedom”.

23. Hegel