Help in understanding a sentence read in Hobsbawm's book.
Hello Friends,
While reading a book , On History by Eric Hobsbawm, I chanced upon the following sentence which I couldn't quite appreciate:
"In understanding such excercises historians seek models of the historical dynamics of captialism among the economists, and encounter only the generalities of rational-choice theory, except on the fringes , or perhaps better the frontier, of their dicipline" P.P 163
I don't quite understand the underlined part of the sentence.
Could anyone please help me understand it?
Regards,
Sabya
Re: Help in understanding a sentence read in Hobsbawm's book.
Quote:
"In understanding such excercises historians seek models of the historical dynamics of captialism among the economists, and encounter only the generalities of rational-choice theory, except on the fringes , or perhaps better the frontier, of their dicipline" P.P 163
Sorry, sabyakgp.
It appears to be in English, with a few spelling mistakes, but it's as clear as mud to me.
Goodness knows how a student is supposed to understand it.
Rover
Re: Help in understanding a sentence read in Hobsbawm's book.
Rational choice theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I presume he means that the economists who don't talk in such general terms are the ones who are not mainstream, but mavericks or others whose views are not so widely-accepted.
However, it's a very dense sentence that assumes an awful lot of knowledge about history and economics that I don't have.
Re: Help in understanding a sentence read in Hobsbawm's book.
Yes, Hobsbawm always proves very difficult to interpret.
