Reading Comprehension

PT114 · S3 · P3 · Q15 Abrams and Historical Sociology

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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.

Topic

The approach of historical sociologist Philip Abrams on how to analyze history using sociology, emphasizing the interplay between individuals and society (structuring).

Framework

Answer / Explain

Main Point

Abrams argues that to truly understand history sociologically, one must recognize that individuals and society mutually shape each other through a process he calls "structuring," and he proposes a four-part method for historical sociological analysis to capture this interaction. The key sentence occurs at the end of the first paragraph:

P1: Introducing Structuring — The Mutual Shaping of Individuals and Society

The first paragraph introduces Philip Abrams’s idea that, although people make society and society makes people, sociologists usually focus on only one side. Abrams urges them to recognize the continuous back-and-forth influence (structuring) between the two.

P2: The Role of Contingencies in Historical Structuring

Here, Abrams expands the idea of structuring to history, explaining that both past events and the conditions we’re born into (“contingencies”—like family life, the economy, available ideologies, and random events) shape who we become and what actions we can take. Our actions, in turn, make history—but only within the structures that contingencies help create.

P3: How to Study Structuring — Events, Context, Agents, and Consequences

Abrams explains that historical sociologists must select key events where individual actions intersect with broader forces, and recommends a four-step method: (1) describe the event, (2) discuss the social context, (3) summarize the life of the main agent, and (4) analyze the consequences for both history and the individual. This approach aims to fully capture the interplay between individuals and society.

15.

Which one of the following most accurately states the central idea of the passage?

Abrams argues that historical sociology
Out of Scope: cannot be applied
According to this answer, Abrams was trying to Challenge the Position that "structuring cannot be applied to the interactions between individuals and history". There isn't any opponent in this passage who said anything about structuring. Abrams invented that term and uses it to rebut the one-sided sociologists in the first paragraph. If Abrams could only leave you with one idea, it would be "I recommend that going forward we who do historical sociology use this fourfold structure that helps us capture the dynamic two-way influence between people and society". According to this answer, he'd say, "Historical sociology rejects the claims that these guys are making."
4% picked this
Abrams argues that historical sociology
Wrong Emphasis: one-sided
According to this, the big thing Abrams wants us to know is that "history influences the social contingencies that affect individuals". (This is more or less the people are made by society strain of one-sided approaches) According to our reading, the big thing Abrams was saying was, "we need to understand history as a two-way interaction between people and society".
6% picked this
Abrams argues that historical sociology
Wrong Causal Relationship Too Strong: demonstrates
Nothing in this passage is about what historical sociology has supposedly demonstrated (i.e. proven). Abrams is suggesting a methodological framework to use going forward, not taking a victory lap for any accomplishments of the field. This answer doesn't stress the two-way interaction between society and people. It stresses a two-way interaction between society and history.
38% picked this
Correct
Abrams describes historical sociology as
Why this is right
The first half of this answer deals nicely with the framing ideas at the beginning of the passage. The first sentence talks about Abrams explaining the foundations of historical sociology, in which he says "even though society makes people and people make society, sociologists usually only take one or the other approach. We insist that we move beyond that and appreciate the causal influence flowing in both directions". The second half of this answer applies to the final paragraph. Abrams "applies the resulting combined approach to the study of history" when he spells our the fourfold structure with which we should be doing history. Those four categories involve keeping track of ways in which society influenced people and ways in which individuals influenced society.
Skill tested: Main Point · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
49% picked this
Abrams describes historical sociology as
Out of Scope: shortcomings of history
Abrams never talks about shortcomings of the traditional historical method, only about shortcoming of the typical sociological method.
3% picked this

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