Overview
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.
Full Product Details
Author: Willibald Steinmetz
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Imprint: Berghahn Books
Volume: 11
ISBN: 9781789203356
ISBN 10: 178920335
Pages: 354
Publication Date: 01 September 2019
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
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. - Jurgen 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
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.&rdqou; - Jurgen 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
Author 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.
