A New Repertoire for Historians?

Í4 Historically Speaking September 2003 PATTERNAND REPERTOIRE IN HISTORY:AN EXCHANGE CONTINUING A THEME begun in the February 2003 issueattemptto bridgethemethodologicalgap between thesocialandnatofHistorically Speaking, this exchange once again addressesuralsciences byadvancinga casefor ''analyticalhistory." Heretwo the relationship between historical scholarship and scientifichistorians, RonaldFritzeandJohn Lukacs, offertheirreactions methodology. In Pattern & Repertoire in History {Harvardto Pattern & Repertoire in History. Theiressays arefollowed University Press, 2002) Bertrand Roehner and Tony Symeby BertrandRoehner's reply. Roehner and Syme are two scholars seekingto formulate principles forthe practice ofhistoricalsociologyorsociohistory by which they hope to create a discipline that combines the best ofhistory and sociology. History will provide the detailed information about the past while sociology will provide the theoretical structure and empirical organization. Many scholars reject the possibility of such a truly scientific approach to the study ofhistory. They argue rightly that major historical events like the French Revolution or World War II are unique phenomena. Roehnerand Syme agree that a large event like the French Revolution is unique in its entirety. But they argue that such big and complex events can be broken down into simpler, component parts. These simpler and smaller scale events are notunique and so are susceptible to an empirical and scientific approach. In the 17th century René Descartes advocated such a process ofsimplifyingcomplexphenomenoninto smallerunits with the goal ofrevealingunderlying organization or patterns. This method is called the "modular approach," but Roehner and Syme have also labeled it "analytical history." Applying the modular approach to the French Revolution, the authors proceed to break it down into simpler episodes or components , e.g., the meeting of the EstatesGeneral , the insurrection of the people of Paris, and the confiscation of the Church's lands. Their contention is that the smaller episodes within a larger event are notparticularlyunique . Anational legislative bodyhas met to find a solution for a serious problem on a number of occasions in France and in other countries throughout history. The people ofParis have engaged in uprisings many times as have the people ofother important capitals and metropolises. Church lands have A New Repertoire for Historians? Ronald Fritze been confiscated more than once and inmany countries. The point is that when a historical eventis studied in terms ofits component parts, it is possible to identify modules from other great events ofthe same type. As a consequence , valid comparisons can be made between such modules, and observations can be quantified. From this "modular approach" to historical events, the authors introduce the twin concepts of "pattern" and "repertoire" that form the title oftheir book. "Pattern" is their term for regularly occurring events in history . "Repertoire" refers to forms ofcollective action that people take in response to various recurring historical situations. Societies develop collective responses to problems, learn which ones are successful, and those become part oftheir repertoire ofcollective actions. Once a society develops a satisfactoryrepertoire itwill be slow to change, and innovation will be extremely difficult. Innovation and significant change are relatively rare in human history. The proposition that history can be studied in a scientificwayis highly controversial. \et Roehnerand Syme argue thathistorycan be studied in a scientific manner that will in turn produce consistent conclusions which can be replicated or at least shown to be repetitive. To support their argument they introduce the concept of paronymy or "paronymie episodes." Although the term paronymy comes from linguistics and refers to wordswithverysimilarspellings, Roehner and Syme use it to refer to historical events that are very similar. People engage in many complex tasks, but as theyrepeat them again and again these tasks become easier. But Roehner and Syme point out thatwhile individuals generally only tend to imitate and repeatsuccessful actions and behaviors, societies repeatboth successful and unsuccessful actions. Theycite the example ofHider,who, although well aware ofGermany's strategic mistakes inWorld WarI, proceeded to make the same mistakes as he led Germanyinto the debacle ofWorld War ?. Therefore analytical history becomes a search for recurrent events. Like paleontology, analytical history seeks to perform the simpler taskofdescribing a sequence ofevents rather than the more complex task ofexplaining the interconnections and causalityofthose events in a structural sense. With these concepts, Roehner and Syme establish the case for a scientific methodology for the study of collective behavior and decision-making. Pattern and Repertoire points out...