The Development Thread Of Darnton’s "Social History Of Ideas"

The paper is to discuss why Darnton and how to carry out the study of "social history of ideas" in the context of western historiography.Through Darnton’s historical context and his dialogue with scholars,I focus on the consistency and development of Darnton’s "social history of idea",and explains how he integrates social reality into intellectual history.According to the chronological order,this paper is divided into three parts.The first chapter analyzes why Darnton chooses the social history of ideas as his main approach in the context of intellectual history.Under the impact of social history,young historians pay more attention to expounding the ideas from the perspective of social reality.Affected by this,Darnton actively sought out the spiritual world of ordinary people from archives,and laid the foundation for his later concepts.The second part analyzes two ways of Darnton’s study.His research methods are mainly divided into two ways,one is to use archives to describe the impact of social conditions on the author,and the other is to describe the dissemination of books to show the impact of social reality on ideology and culture.The book cycle theory integrates social reality into intellectual history,showing the influence of social reality on the emergence,dissemination and change of ideas.But Darnton pays great attention to the creator and the intermediate link,he does not show the influence of ideology and culture on social reality.Darnton’s research methods changed.The third chapter focuses on the change of Darnton’s method of "social history of ideas".Under the influence of Gertz,Darnton pays more attention to explaining the practical significance of ideas in the symbolic system,and discusses the influence of books on readers.The theory of book cycle describes the influence of social realistic conditions on ideology and culture,while cultural anthropology shows the power of ideology and culture in society.Finally,Darnton can explain the emergence,spread,change and influence of ideology and culture from the social reality.