Conducts research and collects data on the global history of labour, workers, and labour relations

Book Series

The publication policy of the IISH in the last two decennia has developed in close connection with the research policy in the direction of comparative, transnational and global social and labour history. This development is reflected in both the IISH journal, the International Review of Social History (IRSH), and in the book series.

International Review of Social History Supplements/Special Issues

The International Review of Social History (IRSH) is one of the leading journals in the field of social history, more in particular the history of work, workers, and labour relations, defined in the broadest possible sense, including workers’ struggles, organizations, and associated social, cultural, and political movements, both in the modern and the early modern periods, and across periods. The IRSH aims to be truly global in scope and stresses the need for a comparative perspective that acknowledges the interrelationship of historical change and the phenomena and factors underlying that change.
Apart from regular issues with research articles, survey articles, a suggestions and debates section, review essays, and book reviews and an annotated bibliography of recent titles in the field, IRSH annually publishes a special issue on a current topic. This special issue is also published as a book publication by Cambridge University Press.
Published by Cambridge University Press. Series editor: Aad Blok. See series titles.

International and Comparative Social History

Since the second half of the 1980s attention for international comparative aspects of social and labour history has been a central element in the research and publication policy of the IISH. The series International and Comparative Social History is designed as an outlet for this IISH policy. The series contains collections of essays, most of which based on research projects and conferences organized by the IISH Research Department.
Published by Peter Lang Verlag (Bern). Series editor: Marcel van der Linden. See series titles.

Work Around the Globe

Work around the Globe: Historical Comparisons and Connections
Most human beings work, and are exposed to labour markets. These markets are increasingly globally competitive and cause both capital and labour to move around the world. Understanding these developments and their consequences in the world of work and labour relations requires sound historical research, based on the experiences of different groups of workers in different parts of the world at different moments in time, throughout human history.  This new series offers a high-quality, peer-reviewed publication platform for the results of research in this topical field.  Published by Amsterdam University Press. For optimal availability for readers all over the world, volumes in this series are published online in open access. See series titles

Changing Labour Relations in Asia

Asian economies and societies have attracted close attention from policy makers, international development institutions and researchers during the post-war era. The changing labour relations in these countries have also attracted some attention, though this has often focused on management aspects and tended to ignore the historical and cultural context, or been inspired by a certain measure of orientalism. The aim of the CLARA series is to publish volumes that examine these changing labour relations in greater depth from a broad historical perspective.
Published by Routledge. Series editor: Ulbe Bosma. See series titles.

International Studies in Social History

Published under the auspices of the IISH, this series offers transnational perspectives on labour and working-class history. For a long time, labour historians have been working within national interpretive frameworks. But interest in studies contrasting different national and regional experiences and studying cross-border interactions has been increasing in recent years. This series is designed to act as a forum for these new approaches.
Published by Berghahn Books. Series editor: Marcel van der Linden. See series titles.

Studies in Global Social History

For a long time, historiography was the sum of national efforts. Historians automatically thought and wrote within the framework of nation states – even when discussing “foreign policy” and “inter-national” topics. “Globalization” is beginning to change their approach. Now that borders have become more fluid in contemporary society, and interest in transnational processes is increasing, the principles of the methodological nationalism of the past are undergoing a critical review. A different view of global cohesion parallels this trend. Until recently, the North Atlantic perspective dominated the mental world order: the “modern” period was believed to have started in Europe and North America and to have spread gradually throughout the rest of the world; the temporality of the core area was considered to have defined developmental periods elsewhere as well. This Eurocentrism is now under fire, and many attempts to circumvent it are in progress.
The peer-reviewed book series Studies in Global Social History figures within these new trends. Each volume in this series addresses at least two continents and aims to visualize contrasts and similarities and to reveal long-distance connections to demonstrate how our present global society has materialized from uneven and combined developments and from interaction between acts “from above” and “from below”: from rulers, entrepreneurs, politicians, and administrators on the one hand and from slaves, peasants, indentured labourers, wage-earners, and housewives on the other hand.
Published by Brill Publishers. Series editor: Marcel van der Linden. See series titles.

One-Of Publications with Ashgate

Both edited volumes published by Ashgate originate from research projects and conferences organized by IISH.
Published by Ashgate. See series titles.

Quellen und Studiën zur Sozialgeschichte

Published by Campus Verlag. See series titles.

Karl Korsch Gesamtausgabe

Published by Offizin Verlag. See series titles.

Close Encounters with the Dutch

Close Encounters with the Dutch: The North Sea as near-core region for a nascent modern world (1550-1750). The aim of the project is to analyze how the North Sea regions coped with the opportunities and threats posed by the first globalized economy and Amsterdam as the core of it. Over time, Amsterdam's influence over the surrounding regions grew and diminished again. While identifying these developments, the project will also test the reasoning behind the idea that inland seas created common cultures on their shores in the Early Modern Period.
Published by Aksant/Amsterdam University Press. See series titles.

Women’s Work in the Early Modern Period

The primary objective of this research programme is to provide the missing qualitative and quantitative information and to obtain a more precise understanding of Dutch women's work in the early modern period. The programme also aims to document the history of working women between c. 1500-1815, from the perspective of (1) the labour market and (2) the women themselves.
Published by Aksant/Amsterdam University Press. See series titles.

 

Archived book series