ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies several possibilities of how the emergence of social groups and class can be interpreted in a transregional perspective. It argues that various social groups that were important for the history of the long nineteenth century were shaped by, if not the consequence of, transregional entanglements. The chapter then presents two theoretical approaches for transregional approaches to social history: world-system theory with its focus on global economic integration and the macro-sociological approach of world society, which focuses on the emergence of a worldwide sphere of communication after the eighteenth century. A first possibility to study class, social groups, and milieus in a transregional perspective is to examine the extent to which the emergence and transformation of certain social groups can be considered the result of transregional connections. Such an emphasis on sociability can benefit from the fact that both global and social historians share an interest in the ways specific structures are shaped by social interaction.
