Welcome to the Historian’s Toolkit!
History isn’t just a long list of dates and names of kings and queens. It’s more like being a detective! To understand the past, historians use special "thinking tools" called second-order concepts. In this chapter, we are going to look at three of the most important ones: Similarity, Difference, and Significance.
By the end of these notes, you’ll know how to compare different people’s lives and decide which events in history really deserve the "Gold Medal" for importance.
1. Similarity and Difference: The "Comparison" Tool
When we look at history, we often look at how people lived. But did everyone live the same way? Usually, the answer is no! Historians look for similarities (things that are the same) and differences (things that are not the same) to get a better picture of the past.
How to spot them:
We can look for similarities and differences in two ways:
- Across different groups of people at the same time: For example, in Medieval Britain, was life the same for a wealthy Lord in a castle as it was for a peasant working in a field? (Hint: There were huge differences in their food, clothes, and homes!)
- Across different places: During the Industrial Revolution, did a factory worker in Manchester have the same experience as someone living in a small rural village?
Why does this matter? If we only look at one person's life, we might get a "one-sided" view of history. By looking for differences, we make sure we hear the stories of everyone—rich, poor, men, women, and people from different backgrounds.
Quick Tip: The "Mirror" Trick
To find differences, imagine two people from the past looking into a mirror. What would look the same? (Maybe they both believe in the same religion—a similarity). What would look different? (Maybe one is wearing silk and the other is wearing rough wool—a difference).
Key Takeaway: History is rarely the same for everyone. We use similarity and difference to understand the variety of human experiences.
2. Historical Significance: The "So What?" factor
Thousands of things happen every single day, but we don't study all of them in history class. Why? Because historians have to choose what is significant.
Significance is a label we give to events, people, or developments that we think are important enough to remember and study today.
How do we decide if something is significant?
Don't worry if this seems tricky at first—even professional historians argue about this! A good way to check for significance is to ask these questions:
- Remarkable: Was the event noticed or commented on at the time?
- Resulted in change: Did it lead to a big change that affected many people? (For example, the Holocaust is a significant event because of its massive and devastating impact on the world).
- Revealing: Does it tell us something important about the period or the people living then?
- Relevant: Does it still matter to us today? Does it help us understand our world now?
Did you know? Something can be significant to one group of people but not another. A small event in your local history study might be very significant to your town, even if it isn't mentioned in a textbook about the whole world!
Memory Aid: The "R" Rules
To remember how to judge significance, just think of the Rs: Was it Remarkable? Did it lead to Results? Is it Relevant today?
Key Takeaway: Significance isn't "built-in" to an event. We decide something is significant based on the impact it had and what it teaches us.
3. Using These Concepts with Sources
In this section of your course (Sources and Interpretations), you will use these tools to look at evidence.
When you look at a historical source (like an old letter or a photograph), ask yourself:
- Does this source show a difference between how people lived compared to what I already knew?
- Why is the person who created this source treating this event as significant?
- Are there similarities between two different accounts of the same event?
Note: To learn more about how to check if a source is reliable, see the chapter "Using and evaluating historical sources as evidence."
Common Mistakes to Avoid
1. Thinking "Different" means "Bad": Just because people in the past did things differently than we do today doesn't mean they were "wrong" or "less smart." They just lived in a different context.
2. Confusing "Significant" with "Good": An event doesn't have to be a happy one to be significant. Many tragic events, like wars or the Black Death, are highly significant because they changed the world forever.
3. Forgetting that significance can change: What historians thought was important 100 years ago might be different from what we think is important today. As we learn more, our ideas about significance can grow!
Quick Review Quiz
Q1: If you are comparing the lives of a factory owner and a factory worker in 1850, which concept are you using?
A: Similarity and Difference.
Q2: If you are explaining why the invention of the Printing Press changed the world, which concept are you using?
A: Significance.
Q3: Can an event be significant if it only affected a small local area?
A: Yes! It is significant within the context of a local history study.
Keep going! You are now using the same high-level thinking skills that professional historians use to make sense of the past. By looking for similarities, differences, and significance, you are moving beyond just "remembering facts" and starting to truly "understand history."