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A Second Look

“The Agenda for ‘Social Science History’”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

William W. Beach*
Affiliation:
University of Missouri

Extract

Three years ago in this journal, J. Morgan Kousser( 1977) offered a stunning challenge to historians—a program for significantly improving the quantitative competence of historians and for expanding the number and range of quantitative studies. Faithful readers of Social Science History, however, will have noted that no response has been made to Professor Kousser's “Agenda for ‘Social Science History'“; indeed, not so much as passing notice of Kousser's argument has appeared in this medium. Were it not for the often spectacular, informal debates that have surrounded Kousser's agenda and similar proposals, the absence of response in these pages might well be taken for consensus on what once was the tenderest of issues among historians, quantitative analysis. Nevertheless, the debate is very much alive, and the issue, though less tender now than even a few years ago, continues to possess great importance to historians actively engaged in many areas of historical research.

Type
Comment and Debate
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 1980

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References

Fogel, R. and Engerman, S. (1974) Time on the Cross: The Economics of American Negro Slavery. 2 Vols. New York: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Kousser, J. M. (1977) “The Agenda for ‘Social Science History’.” Social Science History 1 (Spring) 382391.Google Scholar