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The Force of Comparison - Willibald Steinmetz

The Force of Comparison

A New Perspective on Modern European History and the Contemporary World
Buch | Softcover
354 Seiten
2026
Berghahn Books (Verlag)
978-1-83695-395-1 (ISBN)
CHF 48,80 inkl. MwSt
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Drawing on a range of multidisciplinary perspectives, this volume investigates the concepts and practices of comparison from the early modern period to the present. Each contribution demonstrates how comparison has helped to drive the seemingly irresistible dynamism of the modern world, with a particular focus on what comparison looks like “in action.”
In an era defined by daily polls, institutional rankings, and other forms of social quantification, it can be easy to forget that comparison has a long historical lineage. Presenting a range of multidisciplinary perspectives, this volume investigates the concepts and practices of comparison from the early modern period to the present. Each chapter demonstrates how comparison has helped to drive the seemingly irresistible dynamism of the modern world, exploring how comparatively minded assessors determine their units of analysis, the criteria they select or ignore, and just who it is that makes use of these comparisons—and to what ends.

Willibald Steinmetz is Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Bielefeld University. He has published widely on the history of concepts and political communication and is co-editor of the book series European Conceptual History with Berghahn Books.

List of Figures and Tables



Introduction: Concepts and Practices of Comparison in Modern History

Willibald Steinmetz



Chapter 1. Outlines of a Historical Epistemology of Comparison: From Descartes to the Early Nineteenth Century

Michael Eggers



Chapter 2. Comparative Practices and their Implications: The Case of Comparative Viewing

Johannes Grave



Chapter 3. Above/Below, Better/Worse, or Simply Different? Metamorphoses of Social Comparison, 1600–1900

Willibald Steinmetz



Chapter 4. Empowering Comparisons? The Making of Republics in the Early Modern Period

Lars Behrisch



Chapter 5. Comparing Europe and the Americas: The Dispute of the New World between the Sixteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

Angelika Epple



Chapter 6. European Colonial Empires and Victorian Imperial Exceptionalism

Alex Middleton



Chapter 7. Comparison and the Welfare State in Modern Europe, c. 1880–1945

Julia Moses



Chapter 8. Comparison, Rivalry and Competition under Neo-Liberalism and State Socialism

David Priestland



Chapter 9. Comparing Economic Activities on a Global Level in the 1920s and 1930s: Motives and Consequences

Martin Bemmann



Chapter 10. In Search of A Global Centre of Calculation: The Washington Statistical Conferences of 1947

Daniel Speich Chassé



Chapter 11. Formalized Comparisons: Rankings and Status in Higher Education

Wendy Espeland



Chapter 12. Good – Better – Best: The Power of Ranking Orders

Bettina Heintz



Index

Erscheint lt. Verlag 1.3.2026
Reihe/Serie New German Historical Perspectives
Zusatzinfo Bibliography; Index; 14 Illustrations
Verlagsort Oxford
Sprache englisch
Maße 152 x 229 mm
Themenwelt Geisteswissenschaften Geschichte Allgemeine Geschichte
Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie Empirische Sozialforschung
ISBN-10 1-83695-395-X / 183695395X
ISBN-13 978-1-83695-395-1 / 9781836953951
Zustand Neuware
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