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The History of Political and Social Concepts: A Critical Introduction
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| List Price: | £38.95 |
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Product Description
This book outlines and illustrates a new approach to intellectual history - the history of "concepts". In distinction to the study of more traditional units of analysis, (authors, texts, traditions, discourses) conceptual history systematically combines the history of ideas and language with social history in such a way as to illustrate how changes in language both registered and shaped great transformations of government, society, economy, and mentality. With its origin in German social thought, and now gaining popularity in the US, this approach has affinities with some British intellectual history (Pocock, Skinner) and French discourse analysis, yet Richter carefully demonstrates how conceptual history makes important advances over each by focusing on the range of a terms's meaning, its changes, and its continuities, while avoiding pitfalls of deconstruction. This volume will be indispensable for historians of political and social thought, political and social philosophers, and those interested in the history of ideas.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #799667 in Books
- Published on: 1995-11-09
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 224 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Closely related to the history of ideas and of culture, Begriffsgeschichte (the history of concepts) is distinctive in focusing on how specific terms change their meaning over time. Richter introduces English-speaking readers to different approaches to this subject that have developed, especially in Germany, in recent decades."--Choice
"Lucidly written and judicious in its evaluations, this book will reach beyond German Studies, drawing the attention of non-German specialists to important theoretical developments in the Federal Republic."--German Politics and Society
"Richter's contribution is both persuasive and welcome."--Times Literatry Supplement
"Richter's book is admirably perceptive, precise, balanced, lucid and concise"--History of European Ideas
"Lucidly written and judicious in its evaluations, this book will reach beyond German Studies, drawing the attention of non-German specialists to imprtant theoretical developments in the Federal Republic."--German Politics and Society
