La storia economica contemporanea in quaranta anni di “Società e storia”

This essay analyzes various articles and debates dealing with the economic history of the contemporary age published in “Società e storia” over a period of more than fourty years. Firsrtly, we look at the importance attributed by the initial editors of the review to economy and economic dynamics as a key to understand the historical process. After an approach largely linked, even if in an undogmatic way, to Marxism, a more eclectic vision, open to different influences, prevails. Secondly, we consider the tendencies characterising italian economic historiography and its development from the Seventies to the present time. Finally the essay describes the changing mainstreams of historical research and the various topics as they appear in the volumes of the review since 1978.