Historical Sociology and the Study of Social Change

A study of historical sociology in its relations with history and general or 'systematic' sociology. Historical sociology is defined as 'the study of historical fact with the aim of making sociological generalizations.' Whereas the historian is concerned chiefly with the temporary sequence of events, the historical sociologist is more interested in comparing events with each other and testing theories by reference to events. On the other hand, while the sociologist studies social change from observations and analysis of contemporary facts, the historical sociologist choses his field of inquiry out of a concern for events which he sees as crucially signif for world history. Historical sociology has been criticized by R. K. Merton because it draws general conclusions from a limited number of documents. The justice of this criticism is admitted; but the example of the falling birth rate in the Western world is selected to illustrate the usefulness of historical sociology. Usually, this is explained by a list of 'factors' and general speculations about them. Historical sociology pins down generalizations to definite situations and values, which it analyzes. I. Langnas.