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
16.
Given the passage's argument, which ███ ██ ███ █████████ █████████ ████ █████████ █████████ ███ ████ ██████████
a
Only if they ██████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ████████████ ████████ ████ ███ █████████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ██████████ ███ ██████████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████████████
This doesn’t fit, because Abrams’ fourfold structure isn’t presented as something required in order to conclude that events are influenced by individuals.
b
Only if they ██████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██████ █████████ ████ ██████████ ████████████ ██ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ████████████ ██████████ ████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██████████ ███████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ███████
This doesn’t fit, because the passage never suggests that there is a standard sociological assumption that “there is very little connection between history and individual agency.” Abrams also doesn’t present the fourfold structure as a requirement for something else.
c
Unless they can █████ ██ ██████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██████ █████████ ██████████ ████████████ ████ ██████ █████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ███████████ ███ ██████████ ████████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████████
This doesn’t fit, because nothing in the passage suggests Abrams is concerned with how historical sociology is treated as a discipline in comparison to history and sociology. Abrams also doesn’t present the fourfold structure as a requirement for something else.
d
By adhering to ████ ██████████ ██████ █████████ ██████████ ████████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ██████ ████ ███████████ ████████████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ █████ █████████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ██████████
This doesn’t fit, because Abrams never suggests that sociologists have “chosen to ignore” any particular issues. Although sociologists often focus only on individuals or only on society, this doesn’t imply that they have chosen to ignore certain issues.
e
By adhering to ████ ██████████ ██████ █████████ ██████████ ████████████ ████ ██ ████ ██ ██████ ███████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ███████ █████ ██████ ███ ████████
This best completes the passage, becauase Abrams’ fourfold structure is a way to do better historical sociology. Abrams recommends the fourfold structure as a way to “capture the various facets” of the mutual interaction between individuals and wider social forces.