From Theory to Practice: Main Historiographical Subjects

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Barcelona, 1st and 2nd February 2024

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Last year, dozens of young historians met at the University of Girona to share research and discuss sources and methodologies. During this enriching experience, we were able to see that our profession is extremely cooperative. There are numerous synergies that can be created between fields of study, historical periods and apparently distant theoretical and methodological approaches. It is with this in mind that the 2nd Congress of Young Researchers in Social and Economic History was born. Our aim is to create a space for reflection among historians, which is essential in the initial stages of our scientific careers. It is from the criticisms, observations, proposals and debates that arise in these spaces that we build knowledge.

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The conference will be held at the Faculty of Geography and History of the University of Barcelona on the 1st and 2nd of February 2024 and will be organised into different thematic round tables. Our aim is to bring together as many participants as possible from different periods and perspectives, which will give rise to fruitful debates that go beyond the usual boundaries in our discipline. Likewise, if the previous edition focused on discussing the possibilities offered by the various archival sources and methodological perspectives for research in economic and social history, this edition aims to share the theoretical-historiographical approaches underlying our research. In this way, it is hoped that the different papers will help us to address the main debates, hypotheses and research agendas which, in order to respond to different themes and periods, we often develop in isolation. This is why we propose an open congress, structured around the following thematic axes, designed in a broad and cross-cutting manner:

 

• The labour market and its agents

Throughout history, labour markets have been mediated by all kinds of actors. From guilds to trade unions, including the State and employers, various institutional actors have shaped aspects such as hiring systems, labour hierarchies, control over access to work, the transmission of knowledge and remuneration. In this way, the changes and continuities that these agents have undergone in different historical periods have been decisive in the configuration and regulation of labour markets in all types of economic sectors. In this thematic area, we invite young historians to present papers that address issues related to the role of institutional agents in the labour market at different times and from very different perspectives. This should allow us to foster a dialogue that will help us to take a broader look at many of these aspects, which we often only attend to from the respective historical periods.

 

• Welfare provision: family, state, market and community

All historical societies have had to ensure their own social reproduction, establishing diverse strategies to provide for their members in everyday life, during childhood and old age, as well as in periods of illness, accidents and misfortune. This complex set of strategies is often grouped under the concept of welfare and has given rise, in different political, social, economic and cultural contexts, to a complex interaction between families, states (or public institutions), markets and communities. In this thematic line, we look forward to proposals that help to conceive how different historical societies have ensured the provision of welfare, from guilds and friendly societies to public health and social security systems. Proposals that relate these welfare provision systems to family livelihood strategies are also welcome.

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• Living standards, social mobility and inequalities

Interest in the living standards of the population goes back a long way in history. Since the concern of many contemporaries about the misery that spread in industrial cities in the 19th century, studies on living standards have multiplied in different historical contexts. At the same time, for decades there has been a growing interest in social mobility, especially in the processes of socio-economic ascent or descent of groups such as peasants, artisans and traders, among many others. On a broader scale, analyses of the evolution of socio-economic inequality in different contexts and societies have multiplied. From this thematic axis, we are committed to the need for fluid communication between researchers of these three aspects, which are central to the social and economic history of very different periods. We invite papers that reflect the enormous variety of perspectives that exist to explore these issues: from micro-historical studies focusing on individual, family or group cases to macro analyses covering large social groups or allowing the creation of long-term historical series on real wages, consumption levels or inequality, among others. Approaches that analyse non-pecuniary aspects such as health, hygiene or other qualitative aspects of living conditions are also welcome.

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• Politics and economic development

Understanding why some societies are richer than others has been, and continues to be one of the central questions of economic history. Many explanatory factors have been proposed to explain these differences, from geography and the endowment of productive factors to consumption patterns, scientific-technical capacity or human capital. One of the explanatory dimensions of economic development that has received particular attention is institutions. Understood as the "rules of the game", a broad definition that ranges from the economic policy implemented by states to the development of property rights and legal security, institutions are one of the central pieces in deciphering economic development. However, the implications of this concept for the study of economic history are far from being fully exploited. In this line of thought, all proposals that analyse the impact of institutions, understood from this broad perspective, on economic development in the long term are welcome. Papers that approach this concept from a critical perspective, that problematise it and/or develop it from original perspectives, will be particularly welcome.

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• Political power and social control

One of the classic themes of social and economic historiography has been the division of societies. Several axes of research and debate can be derived from this. On the one hand, the study of hegemonic discourses, resources and mechanisms of social control and their effects on different individuals and groups. On the other hand, organised responses to power and repression. The aim is to shed light on the exercise of political power over society, identifying its mechanisms and responses, as well as its ideologues and discourses, and the causes and consequences that derive from it. In short, we welcome proposals that address practices of political control across a broad chronological range, especially those that explore aspects of change and continuity in the above-mentioned areas.

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We call for proposals for papers that raise any element related to the above topics. The call is open to master's students, PhD students and those PhD students who are still in the arduous process of consolidating their academic career.

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Proposals, with a maximum length of 500 words, may be written in Catalan, Spanish, English or French and should be sent together with a brief CV of the candidate to the following e-mail address: congresjihse@gmail.com. The deadline for receipt is 30 October 2023. The proposals received will be reviewed by the scientific committee and their acceptance or rejection will be communicated before 30 November 2023. The scientific committee is formed by Rosa Congost (UdG), Mònica Borrell (UB), Rosa Lluch (UB), Gabriel Ramon (UdL), Yolanda Blasco (UB) and Andoni Artola (EHU-UPV).

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