The Force of Comparison: A New Perspective on Modern European History and the Contemporary World

Willibald Steinmetz

Published by Berghahn Books 2019

The Force of Comparison

A New Perspective on Modern European History and the Contemporary World

Willibald Steinmetz

Volume 11 in the series New German Historical Perspectives

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781789203363

Overview
Contents

About this book

In an era defined by daily polls, institutional rankings, and other forms of social quantification, it can be easy to forget that comparison has a long historical lineage. Presenting a range of multidisciplinary perspectives, this volume investigates the concepts and practices of comparison from the early modern period to the present. Each chapter demonstrates how comparison has helped to drive the seemingly irresistible dynamism of the modern world, exploring how comparatively minded assessors determine their units of analysis, the criteria they select or ignore, and just who it is that makes use of these comparisons—and to what ends.

Author / Editor information

Willibald Steinmetz is Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Bielefeld University. He has published widely on the history of concepts and political communication and is co-editor of the book series European Conceptual History with Berghahn Books.

Reviews

“The volume is well edited, wonderfully informative, and supplies a fairly helpful index… Scholars in many fields will discover valuable insights in every chapter.” • Journal of Modern History

“The chapters in this volume are all outstanding examples of the power of comparative history and thus underline the claim made in the introduction that comparative history will enrich our understanding of the past in years to come…Overall the volume is a treasure trove for anyone interested in comparative history and a compelling call to pursue comparative investigations in historical writing.” • German History

“By studying practices of comparison both in historical reality and in the study of history, this book offers fresh and surprising insights into a much-discussed subject. The contributions are empirically rich, well-documented, and of great interest for many areas in history and other fields.” • Jürgen Kocka, WZB Berlin Social Science Center

“This is an excellent collection of essays. Its scholarship is of a high standard, it demonstrates a degree of conceptual unity that is unusual for edited volumes, and it does a splendid job of vindicating the argument for the ubiquitous importance of comparison in modern life and thought.” • Luke O’Sullivan, National University of Singapore

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Figures and Tables Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction: Concepts and Practices of Comparison in Modern History Willibald Steinmetz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1 Outlines of a Historical Epistemology of Comparison: From Descartes to the Early Nineteenth Century Michael Eggers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
2 Comparative Practices and Their Implications: The Case of Comparative Viewing Johannes Grave Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
3 Above/Below, Better/Worse or Simply Different? Metamorphoses of Social Comparison, 1600–1900 Willibald Steinmetz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	80
4 Empowering Comparisons? The Making of Republics in the Early Modern Period Lars Behrisch Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
5 Comparing Europe and the Americas: The Dispute of the New World between the Sixteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Angelika Epple Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	137
6 European Colonial Empires and Victorian Imperial Exceptionalism Alex Middleton Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	164
7 Comparison and the Welfare State in Modern Europe, c. 1880–1945 Julia Moses Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
8 Comparison, Rivalry and Competition under Neoliberalism and State Socialism David Priestland Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	214
9 Comparing Economic Activities on a Global Level in the 1920s and 1930s Motives and Consequences Martin Bemmann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	242
10 In Search of a Global Centre of Calculation: The Washington Statistical Conferences of 1947 Daniel Speich Chassé Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	266
11 Formalized Comparisons: Rankings and Status in Higher Education Wendy Espeland Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	288
12 Good – Better – Best: Comparisons and the Power of Ranking Orders Bettina Heintz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	306
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	333

Language: English
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 354
Keywords: Europe; Age of Comparison; Contested Method; History of Comparison; Results of Comparison

eBook

Published: September 1, 2019
ISBN: 9781789203363