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Early American Historiography and Social Science History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Daniel Scott Smith
Daniel Scott Smith*
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Chicago Circle
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Extract

Despite the emergence of social science history, the profession remains organized around the study of periods in the history of societies. Departments of history still structure their curricula mainly along national and temporal lines, and the same principle of socialization thereby defines most academic positions (Darnton, 1980). To judge by the sessions of the annual meetings of the Social Science History Association (SSHA), those sympathetic with that orientation focus on topics, approaches, and methodologies. Only one association network, that for the study of Asia, mentions a locale in its title, and none specifies a particular time period. This article will examine the findings and implications of social science history for one well-established national/period field, that of early American history.

Type
Research Article
Information
Social Science History , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , Summer 1982 , pp. 267 - 291
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 1982 

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Footnotes

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Author's Note: The author is grateful to members of the Newberry Library Chicago-area Early American History Colloquium, and to Kenneth Lockridge and Carole Shammas for comments on an earlier draft of this article.

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