The New Left and Social History

"The New Left" is a phrase commonly attributed to the reconfiguration of left-leaning scholars in the west in the aftermath of the the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 (as well as the process of de-Stalinization). In Britain, scholars It is often given more acclaim for scholars in the United States (David Montgomery, Herbert Gutman, etc.), but British Scholars (such as EP Thompson) were part of this movement as well and were some of the founding scholars of the new journals, such as New Left Review or Radical History Review. In the European framework, the philosophy of scholars such as Antonio Gramsci and those from the Frankfurt School (H. Marcuse) became popularized due to their focus on culture. Thus, there is a British New Left (often called the "old" New Left") and an American New Left.

In general, the political framework of the New Left movement was a continuation of radical political struggle against social injustice (hence, many were leaders of the labor movement, feminist movement, civil rights' movement, peace movement). Such interest in popular politics was reflected in historical subjects. The 1960s saw an increase in histories of specific communities and community formation. Histories focused on sex, race, and class proliferated. Two of the most influential histories of labor include EP Thompson's Making of the English Working Class and Herbert Gutman's Work, Culture, and Society in Industrializing America.

Social History emerged from this political interest and is the history with which you are probably most familiar. Social History is still situated squarely within the fabric of the materialist umbrella as it focuses on communities within particular socio-economic settings. Again, social history takes as models the work of scholars such as EP Thompson, Raymond Williams, and Herbert Gutman. Many of the European New Left in fact created a Centre for Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham (in England). These scholars included Thompson, Williams, and Hoggart. Another leader of the Centre was Stuart Hall, a scholar of communications who explores race, society and youth culture. Social history continued the trend amongst left-leaning scholars of focusing on everyday life and experience, the so called "alltagsgeshichte" (everyday history) or "history from below." Often referred to as the new social history, social history sought to undermine the emphasis on "great men" and high politics. Its main focus was indeed everyday individuals previously ignored by history (and historians). But to categorize social history in this way means to broaden the time span of "social history" as a subfield by including scholars like Braudel or Bloch.

In any case, while materialist, social historians are not necessarily Marxist (or Marxian). Your reading for today, an article by Lydia Lindsey, reflects some of the continuing concerns of social historians. What are they? How does she show a history of the everyday?