The Use and Abuse of Business History

Abstract

The use of history in vocational undergraduate courses is contested. Although there has been a recent push to bolster the teaching of history in Australian secondary schools, history in business courses still often seems only to linger at the margins. Pleas to include historical approaches to business education are made from time to time that suggest a role for history in the curriculum that is essentially not historical – they often highlight the skills history students develop or the broader humanistic understanding usually associated with historical knowledge, not necessarily ones based on what is unique to history. This paper argues that historical analysis is essentially different than that represented by other traditional disciplines and that this fundamental aspect of history should be at the core of arguments to include business history in course curriculums.