What is social history?

Question

*an easy to understand definition

*an example

*quick history of it

Answer 1

'Social history' is the study of how people lived and worked in their everyday lives.  It would include economics and religion, or (less importantly) customs/dress, education, or housing.

For example, the 'social history' of New England would explain what they did for a living, what religion they were, and (maybe) how they would dress, what age they died, their attitudes towards s*x, or how old they were when married.

The opposite of this would be 'political history', which deals mostly with wars and politics.

History of it?  The study of social history began in the 1930s, when the Great Depression created interest in economic history.  From there, other aspects of social history followed.