Final answer:
The historical narrative often excludes common people and other non-elite individuals because historical records tend to focus on powerful figures like kings, queens, and dictators. The great man theory of history emphasizes the actions of these individuals, but this perspective overlooks the contributions and experiences of the rest of society. Understanding history requires recognizing the roles of all people, including those who existed outside the limelight of documented events.
Step-by-step explanation:
The historical narrative often overlooks various groups and individuals, especially those who are not in positions of power or public recognition. Ordinary people, such as family members, servants, workers, and citizens who live under the rule of significant figures, tend not to be as thoroughly documented in historical records. Historians must construct narratives based on available sources, which are biased towards the lives of elites like kings, queens, and dictators. These sources can often leave out crucial details about the lives and experiences of common folk, who form the majority of society but whose voices are less likely to be recorded with the same detail or preserved over time.
The tendency to focus on the actions and roles of influential individuals — whether heroes or villains — is sometimes referred to as the great man theory of history. However, history is not made solely by individuals but also by the masses and unrecorded daily experiences. As such, the traditional narratives shaped by historians, who wrote with a preference for grand tales of rulers and wars, missed out on the broader societal interactions and the fabric of life that form true historical complexity. This bias has been informed by many factors, including the agenda and perspective of the historians themselves and the relative scarcity of records pertaining to common people.