Call for Contributions
Scholars of contemporary history widely agree that the 1970s can be
considered as a decade of upheaval. However, a precise characterization is
difficult. Scholars speak of a “silent revolution”, or a “soft turning
point” which took place – at least in Europe [1]–, then one find terms like
“structural rupture” [2] or the “shock of the global” [3] to analyze this
period. Contemporary diagnoses spoke likewise of a deep change, even though
it was hard to identify the old and the coming new. Some scholars forecast
the “post-industrial society”,[4] others the entry into
“post-modernity”,[5] and third group analyzed the new era as “risk society”
[6]. Also terms such as neo-liberalism or concepts like
“post-democracy”,[7] both criticize our present from a political point of
view and are diffuse as far as they are not able to characterize periods
“in their own rights” but use “pre”, “post” or “neo” for their
deliberations.
It is not only difficult to characterize the 1970s but also to determine
dates. Firstly, there is no distinctive event which reduces the 1970s to a
common denominator (like 1914/18, 1945 or 1989). Secondly, it is
questionable whether the 1970s in fact possess specific characteristics or
whether a “decalogical approach” is actually more misleading than
helpful.[8] The majority of historians argue that the first oil crisis and
the collapse of the “Bretton Woods system” in 1973 can be used as the date
when a deep structural break marked the end of a “golden age” and the
prolonged post-war boom. Eric Hobsbawm pronounces it distinctly: „The
history of the twenty years after 1973 is that of a world which lost its
bearings and slid into instability and crisis.“ [9]
In our collection “Changes in Social Regulation”, we ask for changes in
political, economic, and social regulations as well as self-interpretations
since the 1970s which shape our present. How far have the following
contemporary phenomena their origins in the 1970s: rising social inequality
in the economic centres of the world (crisis of the welfare state),
withdrawal of the state from public services (privatization), economization
of political thinking (neo-liberalism), deep structural transformations of
social classes and milieus (crisis of labour movement), or the
individualization and pluralisation of lifestyle? Can these phenomena be
regarded as results of a transformation process which started in the 1970s
or does historiography have to “dig deeper”?
By means of the terms privatization versus statehood and deregulation
versus regulation, the “prehistory of our present” (Hans-Günther Hockerts)
will be analysed in the four fields of discourses/self-interpretations,
state/politics, economy, and social movements. On the basis of
deregulating/regulating or state/private practices, the thesis of the 1970s
as a decade of upheaval will critically be examined.
For a critical examination, three questions are central:
1) Are the processes described above consistent and unbroken trends or can
we ascertain contrary trends to more statehood, unification and
standardization, regulation, and de-liberalization?
2) Is it possible to generalize these transformations and upheavals from an
international perspective? May we speak of an international trend of
(neo)-liberalization or do we rather have to consider specific national
cultures in politics and economics which have shaped our present?
3) Which periodisation (chronological periods) for this change we do have
to assume? Has the break of 1989/91 a specific relevance, has the end of
the East-West-conflict accelerated or even counteracted these processes?
How far has the break of 1989/91 determined our interpretation and analyses
and hidden ongoing processes since the 1970s?
These three central questions are to be examined from an international and
comparative perspective. We call for contributions which analyse the
generalising theses about the 1970s by empirical and source based case
studies. The question for the 1970s’ character implicates research which
focuses on breaking points within the decade as well as research which asks
for the before and the after. Geographically, North-America and Europe is
in the centre of our call. We explicitly request comparative
East-West-studies and papers on international institutions.
We call for contributions in the following fields and with the temporal
focus from the 1960s to the 1990s.
1. Discourses and self-interpretations
Regarding the present, the spreading of market ideology on almost public
and private areas of life seems to be meaningful. Affected by this are, for
example, sectors like local authority budgets where it was unthinkable to
regulate these by market competition forty years ago. The contributions
shall highlight discourses on deregulation and denationalization as well as
networks in academics and politics.
2. Economy
The contributions address the change of social rules, patterns, and
structures on branch/industrial and corporate level. One leading question
is whether the 1970s were also a period of structural breaks and global
crisis for economic sectors and companies and which tendencies of
deregulation/regulation we can observe. In particular, we call for case
studies on changes in business organization and labour organization.
3. State/politics
Privatization and deregulation are also part of the political field: In the
ways that, for example, that political expertise and decisions are
displaced to boards which are not controlled by parliament or even the
establishment of so called governments of experts. The contributions shall
ask for changes in political regulation since the 1970s. In particular
papers are requested on exemplary political fields (e.g. education policy,
policy of local administration), comparative research on national politics
and analyses of political organisations and institutions (government
institutions as well as NGOs).
4. Social protagonists
The 1970s mark the crisis of the old social movements (labour and trade
union movement) and the rise of the new social movements (women, ecology,
peace). The contributions ask for structural change of social and political
protagonists (movements, organisations, initiatives, parties, trade unions)
in relation to changing social structures. The contributions analyse the
effects of these social protagonists on the transformation processes in and
since the 1970s as well as the interpretation of these processes by the
protagonists.
Please send abstracts of 500 words and a short CV by 15 October 2012. The
English papers of 5-7.000 words are expected by 15 February 2013. Enquiries
or suggestions by the editors are revised by 15 June 2013. We will be
publishing the book in 2014 in a British or American publishing house. Note
to non-native-speakers: The editors will carry out proofreading.
Dr. Knud Andresen (andresen [at] zeitgeschichte-hamburg.de)
Forschungsstelle für Zeitgeschichte in Hamburg, Deutschland
Dr. Stefan Müller (stefan.mueller.300 [at] uni-due.de)
Historisches Institut, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Deutschland
Ralf Richter (ralf-richter [at] boeckler.de)
Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf, Deutschland.
Notes
[1] Hartmut Kaelble, The 1970s in Europe. A Period of Disillusionment or
Promise? (German Historical Institute London, The 2009 Annual Lecture,
2010), p. 18.
[2] Anselm Doering-Manteuffel and Lutz Raphael, Nach dem Boom. Perspektiven
auf die Zeitgeschichte seit 1970 (Göttingen 2008).
[3] Niall Ferguson, ‘Crisis, What Crisis? The 1970s and the Shock of the
Global’, in Niall Ferguson (ed.), The Shock of the Global. The 1970s in
perspective (Cambridge/Mass. 2010), p. 1–21.
[4] Daniel Bell, The Coming of Post-Industrial Society (New York 1973).
[5] Jean-Francois Lyotard, La condition postmoderne. Rapport sur le savoir
(Paris 1979); engl.: The postmodern condition. A report on knowledge
(University of Minnesota Press 1984).
[6] Ulrich Beck, Risikogesellschaft. Auf dem Weg in eine andere Moderne
(Frankfurt am Main 1986); engl.: Risk Society. Towards a New Modernity
(Sage Publications 1992).
[7] Colin Crouch, Post-democracy (Cambridge 2005).
[8] For such a critique see Ruediger Graf’s review of Niall Ferguson’s
“Shock of the global” in H-Soz-u-Kult,
15.07.2011.www.hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/rezensionen/2011-3-039.
[9] Eric Hobsbawm, Age of Extremes. The Short Twentieth Century. 1914-1991
(London 1994), p. 403. Frank Boesch suggest to focus on the year 1979 with
its Soviet invasion to Afghanistan, the NATO double track decision, and the
second oil crisis: Frank Bösch, ‚Umbrüche in die Gegenwart. Globale
Ereignisse und Krisenreaktionen um 1979‘, Zeithistorische
Forschungen/Studies in Contemporary History, Online-Ausgabe, 9, 1 (2012)
URL: http://www.zeithistorische-forschungen.de/16126041-Boesch-1-2012.
[Cross-posted, with thanks, from H-Labor]