6 - Power in Narrative and Narratives of Power in Historical Sociology

Summary

Sociologists often construct historical narratives to support their arguments. But how do they utilize history? The most common approach is to draw on facts from the past to develop and test causal hypotheses. Sociologists employ their theoretical knowledge and historical research to determine the power that drives the narrative forward. This is usually a structural variable: class, culture, social identity groups, state institutions, geopolitics, or a combination thereof. However, the continuing diffusion of power in society has strained this method to the limit. One alternative is to substitute scholarly conceptions of power for the way social actors practically understand and exercise power. After all, power is nothing but relational. Historical sociologists can weave together these everyday narratives of power to reveal how rather than why people behave the way they do. This requires cultivating an empathetic sensibility to understand other people’s experiences, and a literary skill to vividly re-enact their situations. The chapter traces the lineage of this method from Clausewitz and Tocqueville to contemporary sociologists, such as Andrew Abbot, Pierre Bourdieu, and Robert Nisbet. It encourages a scholarly disposition that embraces social complexity rather than settle for the simplification of overarching processes and structural factors.