There were times – not so long ago – when it seemed that historical processes could be dissected as though human action did not matter. Those times have changed. Nowadays, scholarly biography is enjoying broad interest, also among social historians, as is shown in this issue of the IRSH, in which John D. French explains how biography can contribute to a better understanding of global labour history. This contribution addresses three issues. Firstly, the relationship between agency (subject) and structure, or the role of the personality in history and society; secondly, the question of charismatic leadership, and finally, the question of how to deal with issues of necessity and coincidence and with the selection of leadership.

曾几何时——就在不久前——历史进程似乎可以被剖析，就好像人类行为无关紧要一样。那些时代已经改变了。如今，学术传记正受到广泛关注，社会历史学家也对此感兴趣，正如本期 IRSH 所显示的那样，John D. French 在其中解释了传记如何有助于更好地理解全球劳工史。这个贡献解决了三个问题。第一，能动性（主体）与结构的关系，即人格在历史和社会中的作用；其次是魅力型领导的问题，最后是如何处理必然性和巧合性问题以及领导的选择问题。