Macrohistory

{{use mdy dates |date=July 2016}}Macrohistory seeks out large, long-term trends in world history in search of ultimate patterns by a comparison of proximate details.{{Cite book|title=The Making of the Modern Chinese State: 1600–1950|last=Li|first=Huaiyin|date=2019|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781138362444|location=Oxon}} It favors a comparative or world-historical perspective to determine the roots of changes as well as the developmental paths of society or a historical process.

A macrohistorical study might examine Japanese feudalism and European feudalism to decide whether feudal structures are an inevitable outcome because of certain conditions. Macrohistorical studies often "assume that macro-historical processes repeat themselves in explainable and understandable ways."Matthew C. Wells, Ph.D., [https://web.archive.org/web/20110824015142/http://parallelism.org/13949-WELL-layout2.pdf Parallelism: A Handbook of Social Analysis]. Archived August 24, 2011. The approach can identify stages in the development of humanity as a whole such as the large-scale direction towards greater rationality, greater liberty or the development of productive forces and communist society, among others.{{Cite book|title=Politics from Anarchy to Democracy: Rational Choice in Political Science|last1=Morris|first1=Irwin|last2=Oppenheimer|first2=Joe|last3=Soltan|first3=Karol|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=2004|isbn=0804745838|location=Stanford, CA|pages=224}}

Description

Macrohistory is distinguished from microhistory, which involves the rigorous and in-depth study of a single event in history.{{Cite book|title=Exploring Big Historical Data: The Historian's Macroscope|last1=Graham|first1=Shawn|last2=Milligan|first2=Ian|last3=Weingart|first3=Scott|publisher=Imperial College Press|year=2015|isbn=9781783266081|location=London|pages=2}} However, these two can be combined such as the case of studying the larger trends of post-slavery societies, which include the examination of individual cases and smaller groups.{{Cite book|title=Reparations for Slavery and the Slave Trade: A Transnational and Comparative History|last=Araujo|first=Ana Lucia|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|year=2017|isbn=9781350010598|location=London|pages=7}} Macrohistory is also distinguished from metahistory with the way the latter recognizes historical works as "a verbal structure in the form of a narrative prose discourse."{{Cite book|title=Metafiction and Metahistory in Contemporary Women's Writing|url=https://archive.org/details/metafictionmetah00heil|url-access=limited|last1=Heilmann|first1=MarkAnn|last2=Llewellyn|first2=Mark|date=2007|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9781349281855|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/metafictionmetah00heil/page/n14 2]}} According to Garry Trompf, macrohistory encompasses but is not limited by metahistory by taking in broad prospectus of change, including those that are imaginal or speculative.{{Cite book|title=Sufism in the Secret History of Persia|last=Milani|first=Milad|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781844656776|location=Oxon|pages=8}}

Macrohistory has four "idea frames" – that past events can show: 1) we are progressing; 2) affairs have worsened; 3) everything is repetitive; and, 4) nothing can be understood without an eschaton (end time) or apocatastasis (restoration of all things, or reconstitution).{{Cite book|title=Handbook of the Theosophical Current|date=2013|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9789004235960|location=Leiden|pages=375}}

Examples

Examples of macrohistorical analysis include Oswald Spengler's assertion that the lifespan of civilizations is limited and ultimately they decay. There is also Arnold J. Toynbee's historical synthesis in explaining the rise and fall of civilizations, which also included those by other historians (e.g. William H. McNeill's The Rise of the West) inspired by his works.{{Cite book|title=Recent Themes in World History and the History of the West: Historians in Conversation|last=Yerxa|first=Donald A.|date=2009|publisher=University of South Carolina Press|isbn=978-1-57003-831-0|pages=3}} The Battle of Ain Jalut and the early Mongol conquests are considered by many historians to be of great macrohistorical importance.{{Cite book|title=Foods of Association: Biocultural Perspectives on Foods and Beverages that Mediate Sociability|last=Etkin|first=Nina Lilian|date=2009|publisher=University of Arizona Press|isbn=978-0-8165-2777-9|location=Tucson, AZ|pages=53}} The former marked the high water point of Mongol conquests, and the first time they had ever been decisively defeated.{{Citation needed|date=November 2018}} The early conquests, on the other hand, were pursued for the purpose of long-distance trade but disrupted trade networks until the emergence of the so-called Pax Mongolica when trade relations in Eurasia stabilized.

Reception

According to economists Robert Solow,{{cite book|first1=Robert|last1=Solow|title=Endorsements|date=May 2011|url=https://press.princeton.edu/titles/9477.html|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9780691130026}} Brian Snowdon,{{Cite journal|last=Snowdon|first=Brian|date=June 2008|title=Towards a Unified Theory of Economic Growth. Oded Galor on the transition from Malthusian stagnation to modern economic growth. An interview with introduction by Brian Snowdon|journal=World Economics|volume=2|issue=9|citeseerx=10.1.1.724.3924}} Jason Collins,{{Cite web|url=https://jasoncollins.blog/2013/09/04/galors-unified-growth-theory/|title=Galor's Unified Growth Theory|last=Collins|first=Jason|date=2013|website=Jason Collins Blog}} and to an article in the "Break Through & Mind Changing Idea" section of Wired (Japan),{{Cite magazine|last=Ishikawa|first=Yoshiko|date=2018|title=The root of economic disparity is attributed to East Africa ten thousands of years ago: Professor Oded Galor's 'Unified Growth Theory'|url=https://wired.jp/2018/12/16/professor-galor-unified-growth-theory/|magazine=Wired|volume=31}}{{Cite web|url=https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=https://wired.jp/2018/12/16/professor-galor-unified-growth-theory/&prev=search|title=English Translation of Yoshiko Ishikawa, 'The root of economic disparity is attributed to East Africa ten thousands of years ago: Professor Oded Galor's Unified Growth Theory'|date=2018}} Oded Galor's unified growth theory is a macro-historical analysis that has significantly contributed to the understanding of process of development over the entire course of human history and the role of deep-rooted factors in the transition from stagnation to growth and in the emergence of the vast inequality across the globe.{{Cite book|title=Unified Growth Theory|last=Galor|first=Oded|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2011|isbn=9781400838868|location=Princeton}} Wired (Japan) has described Galor's theory as a global theory comparable to Newton's "law of gravitation", Darwin's "evolution theory" or Einstein's "general relativity".

Macrohistorical publications

{{cite book |last=Creasy |first=Edward Shepherd |author-link=Edward Shepherd Creasy |title=The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World|year=1851|title-link=The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World }}
{{cite book |last=Spengler |first=Oswald |author-link=Oswald Spengler |year=1918 |title=The Decline of the West|title-link=The Decline of the West }}
{{cite book |last=Quigley |first=Carroll |author-link=Carroll Quigley |year=1961 |title=The Evolution of Civilizations|title-link=The Evolution of Civilizations }}
{{cite book |last=McNeill |first=William H. | title=Plagues and People |year=1976}}
{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=J. M. |author-link=J. M. Roberts |title=History of the World |year=1976}} (2013 edition co-authored by Odd Arne Westad)
{{cite book |last=Rindos |first=David | title=Origins of Agriculture: an Evolutionary Perspective |year=1984}}
{{cite book |last=Diamond |first=Jared |author-link=Jared Diamond |title=Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies|year=1997|title-link=Guns, Germs, and Steel }}
{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Neil | title=The Holocene: An Environmental History |year=1998}}
{{cite book |last1=McNeill|first1=J.R.|last2=McNeill|first2=William H.|title=The Human Web: A Bird's-Eye View of World History|url=https://archive.org/details/humanwebbirdseye00jrmc|url-access=registration|year=2003|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=9780393051797}}
{{cite journal|last1=Christian|first1=David G.|date=2005|title=Macrohistory: The Play of Scales|url=https://www.sociostudies.org/journal/files/seh/2005_1/macrohistory_the_play_of_scales.pdf|journal=Social Evolution & History|volume=4|issue=1|pages=22–59}}
{{cite book |last=Galor |first=Oded |author-link=Oded Galor| title=Unified Growth Theory |year=2011}}
{{cite book |last=Harari |first=Yuval Noah |author-link=Yuval Noah Harari |title=Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind|year=2014|title-link=Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind }}

References

External links

[https://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/History_n2/a.html HyperHistory] - a visual overview of many history timelines
[http://www.fsmitha.com/index.html Macrohistory] - a comprehensive timeline of historical events
[http://geacron.com/home-en/?sid=GeaCron10421 GeaCron] - an interactive world history atlas

Category:World history

Category:Fields of history