Self-study
P1
In explaining the foundations of the discipline known as historical sociology—the examination of history using the methods of sociology—historical sociologist Philip Abrams argues that, while people are made by society as much as society is made by people, sociologists' approach to the subject is usually to focus on only one of these forms of influence to the exclusion of the other. ██████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ███ ████████████ ██ ████ ██████ █████ █████████ ██████████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ██ ██ ██████ ███████████ ██ ███████████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███████████ ██ █████ ████████ ██████ ██████ ██ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ██████████████
Abrams' perspective ·
Structuring
Sociologists should view society as made by individuals who are also made by society -- this process is called structuring. Typically sociologists take a one-sided approach -- they focus exclusively on either the individuals' impact on society, or on society's impact on individuals.
P2
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Expansion of structuring ·
There's also historical structuring
People make history, but this making is informed by historical conditions from the past, and by our own identities and abilities. These conditions, identities, and abilities are called "contingencies."
P3
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Abrams' view of proper historical sociology ·
Must analyze and interpret important events in history
During these events, individuals take actions but also show us how social conditions allowed their actions to come about.
Elaborating on Abrams' view ·
Four-part structure of historical sociology
First, describe event. Second, discuss social context. Third, summarize life of individual agents in event. Fourth, analyze consequences on history and on the individuals.
Passage Style
Single position
15.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ████████
a
Abrams argues that ██████████ █████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ████████████ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ████████████ ███████ ██ ███████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ████████████ ███████ ███████████ ███ ████████
The passage doesn’t mention any sociologists who think that structuring can’t be applied to interaction between individuals and history. Although we do know that some sociologists usually focus on only individuals or only society, this doesn’t imply that these sociologists think structuring cannot apply to interactions between individuals and history.
b
Abrams argues that ██████████ █████████ ███████ █████ ███████ ███ █████ ██ ████████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███████ ██████████ ███ ██████ █████████████ ████ ██████ ████████████
The passage doesn’t mention any sociologists who believe that history cannot influence the social contingencies that affect individuals. Although we do know that some sociologists usually focus on only individuals or only society, this doesn’t imply that these sociologists think history can’t influence social contingencies. So the phrase “views of sociologists to the contrary” is unsupported here.
c
Abrams argues that ██████████ █████████ ████████████ █████ ███████ ███ █████ ██ ████████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████ ██████████ ████ █████████ ███ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ████████
The passage doesn’t mention any sociologists who believe social structures are do not both influence and are influenced by the events of history. Although we do know that some sociologists usually focus on only individuals or only society, this doesn’t imply that these sociologists think social structures can’t both influence and be influenced by history. So the phrase “views of sociologists to the contrary” is unsupported here.
d
Abrams describes historical █████████ ██ █ ██████████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████████ █████ ██ ████████████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ █████████ ███ ███████ ███ █████████ ████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████████
This best captures the main point. It’s the only answer that accurately describes Abrams’ “historical structuring” approach.
e
Abrams describes historical █████████ ██ ██ ███████ ██ ██████████ ███ ███ ████████████ ██ ███████████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ██ ██████████
Abrams does not describe historical sociology as an attempt to compensate for the shortcomings of traditional historical methods.