Projects / Programmes
Economic, Social and Environmental History of Slovenia
January 1, 2022
- December 31, 2027
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.01.00 |
Humanities |
Historiography |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 6.01 |
Humanities |
History and Archaeology |
Economic history, social history, environmental history, nature, environment, organic economy, modern economy, climate, commodification, environmental pathology, anomalies, utilisation of the environment, social and environmental vulnerability, risks.
Data for the last 5 years (citations for the last 10 years) on
April 22, 2024;
A3 for period
2018-2022
| Database |
Linked records |
Citations |
Pure citations |
Average pure citations |
| WoS |
15 |
10 |
10 |
0.67 |
| Scopus |
76 |
39 |
30 |
0.39 |
Researchers (13)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
During the next period of our long-term research into Slovenia's economic, social, and environmental history, we will focus on the basic problems of the relations between economic and social development and the natural environment. As the research phenomena, we will emphasise the relations between the economic development imperative and the values of long-term environmental preservation in the context of integrated social development concepts. We wish to highlight the complexity, interconnections, and different levels of these relationships from a long-term historical perspective by presenting the backgrounds and the relationships between nature, economy, and society. We focus on the relationship between the economy, society, and population on the one hand and the natural environment where people live and manage resources, on the other hand. We also transcend two traditional methodologically constitutive paradigms of the Slovenian historiography, i.e. the ethnocentric and anthropocentric optics. We introduce the principles of the macro concept of Anthropocene and the concept of environmental history in view of the long-term social and economic transformation in the Slovenian territories. We consider Slovene historical dynamics as a part of global economic, social, and environmental development. The Anthropocene is defined as a new geological epoch, in which the industrial revolution and the consequent scientific and technological revolution have gradually transformed the human economic and social activities into a fundamental force that alters the natural environment - not only with regard to climate change but also through the constant exploitation of the available natural resources that exceeds their natural renewal capacities. In contrast with the pre-modern era and organic economy, human impact on the environment has increased dramatically in the Anthropocene due to the exceptional growth of technological ability to extract and transform natural resources. The analysis focuses on the period from the gradual decline of feudalism to the end of the 20th century, i.e. on the era of modern economic and social systems, encompassed by the concept of Anthropocene. In the Slovenian case, the economic and social systems are defined as capitalism and socialism.
Significance for science
The application of environmental history, supported with the realisations of economic and social history, challenges historiography with epistemological, conceptual, and methodological considerations. Environmental history concepts question the linear flow of history based on the principle of progress. They also examine the interpretations and the ways in which science is organised and integrated into society. Just like historiography has transcended the national or state constitutive character by altering the paradigm in the direction of the science about the society and past social relations, environmental history is urgently expected to provide answers that will correspond to the altered social and natural circumstances. The dominant historical concept until now has been based on anthropocentricity and ethnocentricity. For a long time, the prevailing assumption was that historical agents adopt decisions and regulate cohabitation based on rationality and usefulness as social progress tools. Despite the emphasis on the complexity, interrelatedness, and interdependence of social and economic relations, the interpretation remains within the scope of the concept of nation or state. The comparative viewpoint, applied in economic and social history, has mostly already transcended the ethnocentric approach and offered new perspectives of the research and interpretation of historical processes. Quite the opposite, the anthropocentric approach has not yet been the subject of any critical evaluation in Slovenian historiography. Precisely at this point, the importance of the conceptual and methodological approach of environmental history reveals itself, which we aim to assert in the research process. The Earth's return into history through ecological problems, even in Slovenia, creates new social circumstances. From the historical perspective, the Earth calls for the reintegration of nature into national history's interpretative framework. As the natural and climate processes are global, the ethnocentric approach becomes an insufficient and even restrictive concept. From the environmental perspective, the previous interpretations reveal themselves as partial and deficient, as they neglect the natural environment's responses and the interaction between the environment and society. However, the altered viewpoint confronts the society with the historical constants of natural unpredictability, instability, risk, and potential vulnerability. The environment functions as an active participant in the human habitat and the material and intellectual world. The changes are not merely global but also extremely long-lasting. This calls for a consideration of the current perception of temporality, as all the research to date has been restricted to significantly shorter periods of time, too brief to sufficiently explain the relations between nature and society. The programme research group has asserted itself as the centre of professional communication, paving the way for the dialogue between various researchers in the fields of historiography, other humanities, and social science disciplines with project cooperation initiatives, conferences, and monographs. The realisations of environmental, economic, and social history facilitate the cooperation between the humanities, historiography, and certain natural sciences, as they inform the biological and environmental sciences of the historical characteristics of habitats and their dynamics. In turn, they benefit from the findings of the natural sciences, which contribute to more complex and consistent interpretations. Thus, we redefine the concept of cooperation that transcends the traditional lines between the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences - at least from the historiographical viewpoint.
Significance for the country
The proposed research programme directly affects the preservation of the national cultural heritage and its comprehensive presentation. The historical dimensions of the developmental dynamics in the environment, economy, and society will introduce additional elements to the existing conceptualisation of the cultural-historical memory and national ideological imagery of Slovenians as a cultural entity. The work involves a distinctive and analytic interaction between the environment, society, and economy throughout the extensive period of the Anthropocene, presented at the synthetic level. By synthesising knowledge, the realisation of the proposed programme expands the discussion in the context of contemporary Slovenian historiography regarding environmental, economic, and social history. The new realisations about the interactions between the environment, society, and technology in a broad context in the empirical as well as interpretative framework allow for the communication of the Slovenian scientific sphere with foreign expert circles, ensuring the empirical and interpretative foundations for other humanities, social sciences, and natural science disciplines in Slovenia. By exchanging knowledge and experience in the broader international arena, the integration into the contemporary historiographical developments will be increased, while the upgrading of the Slovenian knowledge with the corpus of realisations from the European and global context will be encouraged. Based on the communication with the international environment and foreign academic communities, the Slovenian economic, social, and environmental history is becoming distinctive and integrated into the broader European and global comparative historical overviews. The concrete research emphasis on environmental history introduces the awareness of the long-term interdependence between societies or social groups and their natural environment into the historiographical and public discourse. The studies of the topic of the Anthropocene or the human impact on the environment in Slovenia, which has been neglected until now, will contribute to a more comprehensive and realistic evaluation of the natural environment and its long-term economic, social, and cultural potentials. The links between the present and historical experience allow for a more realistic assessment and conception of the specific environmental management policies. With pedagogical activities and by preparing textbooks or other study materials, the group also ensures the transfer of knowledge from the scientific to the educational sphere. With other dissemination procedures, it enables the understanding of the interdependence between the environment, society, and economy in the various publics. This is the only programme group in Slovenia to focus on the methodical and long-term research into the Modern Period economic, social, and environmental history. It has been developing original methodological approaches, delving into its own research subjects, and thus acquiring, thanks to its past efforts, an increasingly recognisable identity within historiography as well as in the context of the humanities and social sciences. Moreover, with its research into the long-term structural economic, social, and environmental transformation in Slovenia based on contemporary references, the programme group enables the transfer of knowledge, new methodological orientations, and research practices from the European to the Slovenian space. This involves the analytical confrontation between the Slovenian economic, social, and environmental experience and the historical forces of the broader geopolitical area. Such an approach ensures a realistic comparison and evaluation of Slovenian development. Simultaneously, the Slovenian distinctiveness and characteristics in the narrower and broader economic, social, political, and natural environment during each period are emphasised. Simultaneously, we cannot neglect that these efforts also outline Slovenia's integration into the global processes of the broader habitats, ecosystems, and social systems.
