PRÁTICAS SOCIAIS E EXPERIÊNCIA HISTÓRICA: CONTRIBUIÇÕES DE EDWARD PALMER THOMPSON

Abstract

Edward Palmer Thompson, in his studies of the history of the English working classes, has taken up the historical experience as a category of analysis. Besides the experience, the Marxist historian developed his conceptions of class, awareness, and class struggle. This article, based on a bibliographical review, aims to present Thompson’s contributions to the understanding of social practices. The developed theoretical revision allows to affirm that Thompson has as reference the historical discipline and, in this perspective, the social practices must be understood in its historical movement. The idea of process, contemplated from the historical dimension, makes it possible to point out the possible internal contradictions as well as the transformations and ruptures of social institutions and systems of social organization, for example. Besides that, Thompson’s approach, in so far as it makes visible the place of individual and collective subjects in history, reinforces the notion of praxis by emphasizing the practice of human acting.