2024-2025 / HIST0267-1

History and social sciences

Duration

45h Th

Number of credits

 Master in history, research focus5 crédits 
 Master in history, teaching focus5 crédits 
 Master in history, professional focus in digital mediation of historical knowledge (Pas organisé en 2024-2025)5 crédits 
 Master in history (60 ECTS)5 crédits 
 Advanced Master in Philosophy and Political Theories5 crédits 

Lecturer

Eric Geerkens

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

All year long, with partial in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

In the context of the professionalization of the historical discipline at the end of the 19th century, the individual was placed at the heart of the historical processes to be explained, and this primacy of the individual is not unrelated to the fact that the training of historians has long included an introduction to psychology, likely to shed light on the motives behind human action. In the historical sciences, the link between the individual and the group has long been thought of in terms of the individual, just as the group has long been thought of in terms of aggregation, society being no more than the sum of the individuals that make it up.

The title History and the Social Sciences reflects the desire to draw on the social sciences to think historically about the relationship between the individual and the group, the formation of social groups and even social classes, and the way in which the group can impose itself on the individual. While the historical sciences often implicitly give precedence to the role of individuals, mobilizing a methodologically very individualistic theory of action, the aim here is to see how history can think about the social (the social fact, social groups, the influence of groups on individuals). More broadly, the aim is to show how the human sciences, particularly sociology, can nourish historical thinking.

The starting point of the course is the first half of the 20th century, when economic and social history was forged by relying on Durkheimian sociology in opposition to certain presuppositions of the Methodist school.

As a direct extension of this introductory section, the course then addresses the question of the categories and scales of analysis in social history, of how to structure people in society in a way other than as a collection of isolated individualities, from the approach in terms of social classes studied in a local framework to the various forms of biographical tracking, from comparatism on a national basis to transnational approaches.

The presentation of the key concepts of the main theories selected is illustrated by articles by historians who have used these concepts in their research. In this way, the course is not a duplication of the Elements of Sociology seen in B1, but a concrete and illustrated invitation to draw on the toolbox of the social sciences for questions, hypotheses and approaches likely to enrich a properly historian's approach.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

By the end of the course, students will be able to feed their personal work (including the TFE) with conceptual contributions from the social sciences.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

On-site teaching.

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Face-to-face course


Additional information:

/

Course materials and recommended or required readings

Platform(s) used for course materials:
- MyULiège


Further information:

Via MyULiège, the students will receive articles to be read and copies of Powerpoint slides shown in class.

Exam(s) in session

January exam session

- In-person

written exam

May-June exam session

- In-person

oral exam

August-September exam session

- In-person

oral exam


Additional information:

The January written examination covers the first part of the course (the genesis of quantitative social history); it dispenses with the study of this part of the course if the mark obtained is equal to or higher than 10/20. The January exam counts for 25% of the final mark. If the mark is less than 10/20, it does not count towards the final mark.

During the oral exams in May-June and August-September, students draw lots for a set of three questions; they are given written preparation time for each question; however, while the preparation time for the main question is about 15 minutes, this is not the case for the other two questions, for which the preparation time is shorter and given after the answer to the first question.

Work placement(s)

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

Contacts

Eric Geerkens, professor Histoire économique et sociale quai Roosevelt, 1B (Bât. A4) 4000 Liège Belgium
Tel. ULg : +32 4 366 53 59 Fax ULg : +32 4 366 58 38 Mail : e.geerkens@uliege.be 

Association of one or more MOOCs