Abstract :
Different aspects of personalization in historical descriptions and explanations are focused on. One aspect of personalization is connected with the view that the course of history is directed by Great Men or Women. A second aspect concerns the personification of the state, political institutions and other organizations. A third has to do with the tendency of students to transform structural explanations into the kind of explanation where the actions or needs of the people constitute the explanans. Methodological problems are considered and it is argued that personalization is a central theme in the common sense concept of history.
