Macrohistory

Origin: Lat. grandis historĭa

The diachronic and nomothetic study of the histories of social and world systems, along separate trajectories in search of patterns, stages, general principles, regularities, and change. It is diachronic because is about the trajectory of a unit through time, and it is nomothetic because is the study of noncontiguous points, neighborhoods, and contexts. Most macrohistorians attempt to create new categories of the social, universal, and transcendental, rooted also in the particular and the mundane, which are able to create new discourses. In terms of making sense of time and its directionality, macrohistory considers time as being mostly cyclical and linear but also spiraled. Interested in a long time, la longue durée, macrohistory always implies the future. In foresight studies, macrohistory could be used to make sense of (mega)trends, the condition of the world system, and to recover futures that have been hidden by the dominant view of the future.

Spanish: Macrohistoria

Sources and references

David, C. (2005). Macrohistory: The Play of Scales. Social Evolution & History, 4 (1), 22–59view
Galtung, J., & Inayatullah, S. (Eds.) (1997). Macrohistory and Macrohistorians: Perspectives on Individual, Social, and Civilizational Change. Westport, Connecticut and London: Praegerview
Kennedy, P. (1987). The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000. New York: Vintage Books, A Division of Random Houseview
McNeill, J. R., & McNeill, W. H. (2003). The Human Web: A Bird’s-Eye View of World History. New York and London: W. W. Norton & Companyview
McNeill, W. H. (1991). The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community. With a Retrospective Essay. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Pressview
Pomeranz, K. (2000). The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy. The Princeton Economic History of the Western World. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Pressview

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Sources and references

David, C. (2005). Macrohistory: The Play of Scales. Social Evolution & History, 4 (1), 22–59view

Galtung, J., & Inayatullah, S. (Eds.) (1997). Macrohistory and Macrohistorians: Perspectives on Individual, Social, and Civilizational Change. Westport, Connecticut and London: Praegerview

Kennedy, P. (1987). The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000. New York: Vintage Books, A Division of Random Houseview

McNeill, J. R., & McNeill, W. H. (2003). The Human Web: A Bird’s-Eye View of World History. New York and London: W. W. Norton & Companyview

McNeill, W. H. (1991). The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community. With a Retrospective Essay. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Pressview

Pomeranz, K. (2000). The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy. The Princeton Economic History of the Western World. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Pressview