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.