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Developments in Contemporary Spanish Historiography: From Social History to the New Cultural History*

Historical research in Spain, as in other countries, has been deeply affected by the historiographical revolution of the twentieth century—the decline and retreat of traditional history and the consequent rise and dissemination of the social history paradigm, embodied, for example, in the Marxist and Annales schools. The transition to social history undoubtedly started later in Spain than elsewhere, and it was largely brought about by foreign influences. Indeed, Spain’s historiographical dependence on the outside continues even now; Spanish historians are more often beneficiaries than creators of historiographical innovations. Regardless of the genealogy of the Spanish historiographical revolution, however, the important point is that it happened, and as a result historical research in Spain during recent decades has reached a level of analytical sophistication similar to that of the most advanced historiographies. Since the advent of social history, the objects of study, methodological and theoretical concerns, research agendas, and principal debates of Spanish historians have been essentially the same as those of their foreign colleagues. At the same time, the huge growth of historical research and the creation of a solid, professional academic infrastructure, including academic journals, have clearly brought Spanish history much closer to the forefront of the discipline. Indeed, Spanish historical research is now clearly in the international mainstream. The object of this article is to describe the terms and extent of this modernization process and to examine the specific impact it has had on works in the fields of nineteenthand twentieth-century Spanish history. I will try to give the reader not only a comprehensive view of recent developments in Spanish historiography but also an assessment of the contribution of this historiography to the general development of historical knowledge. The adoption by Spanish historians of the new social history paradigm and the abrupt theoretical change this involved led to a fundamental redefinition of the object of study. In Spain, as elsewhere, the old narrative history of high politics, institutions, and great individuals gave way to a history that was more concerned with the study of economic and social phenomena and of collective action. Spanish social historians were driven to explore historical events that had previously been