Methods in Comparative and Historical Sociology

2025/2026

Academic Year

ENG

Instruction in English

3

ECTS credits

Delivered at:

School of Sociology

Course type:

Elective course

When:

1 year, 3 module

Instructor

Roy Chowdhury, Arnab

Course Syllabus

Abstract

Comparative and historical sociology (CHS) tries to give causal explanation to historical outcomes. CHS employs comparative method, social scientific theories and concepts, traces large-scale trajectories and transformations and long-term historical processes for offering more holistic understanding of the origins of our times. Comparative historical methods examines historical events in order to create explanations that are valid beyond a particular time and place, either by direct comparison to other historical events, theory building or with reference to the present day. CHS is highly interdisciplinary in nature. Using readings drawn from disciplines such as sociology, history, geography, anthropology, institutional economics and political science, this course discusses the methods of comparative and historical sociology – mainly qualitative aspects and, to some extent, mixed methods. There can be no method without a theoretical base, and CHS is particularly theory-intensive and places emphasis on theory-laden narratives. These narratives include cases such as changing dynamics of state–society relations, revolutions, and other kinds of macro-transformations. Based on research and cases from western and non-western worlds and perspectives, this course covers the range of methodological and geographical aspects of comparative and diachronic studies of societies. In doing that, the course discusses various kinds of research designs, techniques, reasoning, issues of causality and methodological approaches such as single and small-N case studies, process tracing, necessary and sufficient conditions, and contingency-path dependency, which are used in CHS.