History is a discipline in a state of perpetual crisis.
Thus, in 1970, Arthur Marwick explained much of the
controversy over historians' use of social science
methods and theories in the latest incarnation of a
social history which emerged after the Second World
War. History's flirtations with the social sciences
are recurrent. So are its crises. In the 1980s,
Marwick's view of cyclical crises in history has
been borne out. The use in history of ‘illuminating’
social science methods and concepts is now widely
accepted. A spirit of tolerance, respect and
professional courtesy has replaced the outward
hostility which until recently characterized
exchanges between the so-called ‘traditional’ and
new social historians respectively.