Individual leaders materially determine major historical outcomes such as the New Deal and perestroika.
Evidence
We make our history ourselves, but, in the first place, under very definite assumptions and conditions. Among these the economic ones are ultimately decisive. But the political ones, etc., and indeed even the traditions which haunt human minds also play a part, although not the decisive one. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 274 (
#complicates, via linked claim)
By path dependence we mean that the process of institutional change is shaped by historical conditions and initial institutional choices. Thus two societies that start with somewhat different institutions (potentially similar, but still with small differences), may end up with very different trajectories. — Daron Acemoglu, Georgy Egorov, and Konstantin Sonin, Institutional Change and Institutional…, 205 (
#complicates, via linked claim)
The ensemble of the material forces of production is the least variable element in historical development: it is the one which at any given time can be ascertained and measured with mathematical exactitude and can therefore give rise to observations and criteria of an experimental character and thus to the reconstruction of a solid skeleton of the historical process. … The ensemble of the material forces of production is at the same time a crystallisation of all past history and the basis of present and future history: it is both a document and an active and actual propulsive force. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1648 (
#complicates, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: A leader’s self-awareness about his historical role shapes political outcomes; Institutional change is shaped by historical conditions and initial choices. — Daron Acemoglu, Georgy Egorov, and Konstantin Sonin, Institutional Change and Institutional…, 205; Economic forces decide history but traditions and politics also act — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 274 (+5 more)
Broader Connections
- Economic forces decide history but traditions and politics also act
#complicates(0.80) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 274 - Institutional change is shaped by historical conditions and initial choices.
#complicates(0.78) — Daron Acemoglu, Georgy Egorov, and Konstantin Sonin, Institutional Change and Institutional…, 205 - Productive forces form the measurable skeleton of historical change
#complicates(0.76) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1648 - Historical outcomes depend on practice because social forces are structured yet open-ended.
#complicates(0.72) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 1197