Historical Lenses
As you have discovered in this course so far, historians not only ponder “what”
happened regarding historical events, but also “why” those events happened.
“Why” is difficult to prove, however, and historians often differ on the
connections between events. Historians approach topics from different
perspectives. These different perspectives can be said to be the result of
looking at a topic through different lenses. Just like colored lenses or
prescription lenses can change the way a person views the world, historical
lenses can change the way a historian views a topic.
Often, the choice of a primary lens will simply reflect the historian’s personal
interests or priorities. A historian who is interested in military strategy may not
be interested in technological innovations except for those with battlefield
applications. A historian who is interested in environmental history may not be
interested in business practices except for when those practices affect the
natural landscape. As these examples show, however, one can rarely use a
lens in isolation. Most research projects will employ multiple lenses in order to
tell more complete stories. It is useful to study the different types of lenses to
be able to recognize the different perspectives and priorities that historians
bring to a topic.
While there are any number of lenses a historian may choose, they fall into
three basic categories: social lenses, political lenses, and economic lenses. In
good historical writing, these lenses will overlap.
Social Lens: This lens focuses on people and their interactions with others. It
explores areas of ethnicity, class, and gender. Examining the actions and
behaviors of how different groups of people interact with each other—and
within their own group—provides historians with a great deal of insight into the
past.
This is perhaps the widest and most all-encompassing of the three categories
of lenses. Through it, historians have examined all manner of
interaction—including German immigrants adjusting to their new home in the
nineteenth-century United States, class disputes within African American
women’s clubs in the twentieth century, and disagreement among different
churches about whether or not to support the gay rights movement. The social
lens includes the elite as well as the working class, the rich and the poor, and
men, women, and children. It seeks, as do the other lenses, to answer the
questions of who were these people, how did they think and what did they
think about, and how did their thinking drive their actions and behaviors.
Political Lens: Not focusing solely on politicians and governments, the
political lens looks at the relationship of those who have power and those who
do not. Historians using a political lens seek answers about the ways in which
legislation and law influence the lives of individuals. How do individuals (and
groups of individuals) react and respond to these? What methods do they
employ to create and/or change the “rules” under which they live?
Political history can be as simple as the recounting of organizing a community
to repeal an unpopular law, or as complex as the behind-the-scenes
interactions that propelled an individual to the presidency. It can examine the
treaties that ended World War I, or explore the “gerrymandering” of
congressional districts to maintain one party’s political control of Congress.
Economic Lens: This lens focuses on the local, national, or international
economy, all of which are central to the lives of every living person. While it
conjures images of corporations and economic systems, the economic lens
also focuses on government regulation of businesses, the relationships
between capital and labor, business strategies such as marketing or
horizontal integration, and the relationships between business and
consumers.
Historians use the economic lens in a number of different ways. Often, it is
used to explore the growth and development of labor unions, the effect of the
loss of small businesses on a community, or the havoc wrought upon farmers
by price changes in the international agricultural and commodities markets. It
can also be used to examine the effect of redlining on suburbs and ethnic
neighborhoods, or even the effect of the Industrial Revolution on artisans and
craftsmen. Economic history can provide insight into the wage differences
between men and women—and the effect they have on the development of
family wealth and status.
Other Lenses: Falling somewhere in between these three broad categories,
or perhaps overlapping one or more of them, are other lenses available to
historians. Each of these lenses helps clarify a specific area of the human
past: the environment, the military, science and technology, and so forth.
This brief list is in no way complete—there are about as many lenses as there
are people and events. Focusing first on a broad category and then narrowing
the lens helps historians focus their research. Once a historian has identified a
question to be resolved, he or she researches in primary sources and the
secondary literature to determine which lens will best help answer the
research question.
Assignment----
In this discussion, you will consider how historical lenses can affect the
study of a historical topic. Select one of the secondary source articles
from your research. After reading that article, write a discussion post
about which of the following lenses you believe the article is using:
social, political, economic, or other. Use at least two quotes from your
source to justify your choice of lens. Your post title should also indicate
which topic you have selected.
When responding to your peers, compare and contrast the lens they
identified with the lens you identified for your source. If you identified the
same lens, how does the evidence you each found to justify that choice
compare with each other? If you selected different lenses, discuss how
your historical topic might look through the lens they identified