Understanding Historical Persistence

• In Event: Legacies of History and Contemporary Politics

Abstract

While continuity and change have long been central in the study of politics, we do not yet fully understand the criteria by which claims of continuity can be made. What is the dividing line between continuity with the past and change from the past? This paper addresses that question through an examination of how social scientists discuss and assert continuity of social phenomena even in the presence of change. It identifies three logics of persistence, each of which specifies a different set of criteria for distinguishing between identity- preserving and identity-destroying change. The paper concludes with an example illustrating the importance of having rigorous criteria for identity over time.

Author

• Jason Wittenberg, University of California, Berkeley