Placed on its simplest terms, social history is the history of its contemporary society. It can then be stated that this broad term actually encompasses several of the major divisions of the study of history: economics, politics, religion and broad cultural trends within the society. This is, of course, the broadest possible definition of the term. Essentially, the term social history must finally be defined by the time which it is used to describe and delineate.

When one is discussing the social history of Elizabethan England, it is necessary to include such things as the agriculture of the time, the trends on the land at the time; this includes such things as migrations and crop cycles, trade (both foreign and domestic), internal politics, religion. While cultural history is certainly important to any age, it can be …