Long history
Various factors have contributed to the decline of 'big picture' approaches to history. Previous metanarratives (attempts to provide an overarching template to explain the course of history) such as the liberal view of history as progress or the Marxist interpretation of history as being driven by the class struggle have been discredited both by events and by theoretical challenges arising from the cultural and linguistic turns. The growth of the profession and the subsequent exponential expansion of literature has engendered specialisation. Advocates of Long History argue that the proliferation of micro-histories need to be placed within a longer-term context to give them meaning, and that it is possible to provide 'big picture' accounts which are more pluralist than those employed in the past.
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- Historians:
- Toynbee, Arnold Joseph
- Themes:
- Cultural turn
Global history
Linguistic turn
Marxist history
