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This paper examines the development of John Dewey's critique of Marxism. We trace the development of Dewey's critique from his early political writings and his political encounter with Leon Trotsky to his mature critique. We also examine how Dewey's concerns anticipate ideas expressed in the contemporary discussion of Marxian morality and how this discussion helps clarify Dewey's concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We will briefly outline some of Marx's central ideas and concepts. Our purpose here is to show non-Marxists the excitement and potential that drive the enterprise. This review can also be of use to those who seized upon part of the Marxian enterprise and either misunderstood it or used it in a way that did violence to the integrity of Marx's methods and theories. While we do not make a claim for the correct reading, we argue that some readings are more plausible than others. We wish to underscore the fact that Marx is not just another sociologist or conflict theorist. Though sociologists have taken over part of the methods and some of the terms in question, sociology is not Marxist, nor is Marxism just another variant of sociology. I believe that many sociologists have no idea of what interested Marx, or why, and that many who parade under Marx's banner have forgotten the complexity of the intellectual enterprise which he identified. There has been a degeneration of the Marxian project, as well as a rebirth. These dual themes are explored in the course of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the nature of critical theory, its historical development, its connections to sociology and Marxism, and the central debates over its core ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has two purposes: (1) to show how previous work in complex organizations, social movements and political development converges to predict routinization of successful social movement organizations, and (2) to explore the Chinese experiment in organization as a deviant case for the "law" of routinization. First, theories from three substantive areas are shown to predict routinization of social movement organizations. Next, an alternative model of organization, the Maoist model, is presented. Then, recent social history of China is examined to see if the model has been implemented. Lastly, several generalizations about the routinization process are drawn from the Chinese case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A state-centered perspective in studies of revolutions holds that international pressures contribute to outbreak of revolutions, assuming that the magnitude and intensity of international pressures vary from case to case. This study argues that in the paradigmatic communist revolutions of the 20th century, such as the Russian and Chinese Revolutions, the role of the exogenous factor of war was paramount. After outlining a war-centered framework for studying communist revolutions, this research shows how the devastating experience of total war against Japan (1937-1945) undermined the Kuomintang state in China and created structural conditions for the communist takeover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responses to prominent reputations provide a framework for understanding the growth and decline of group prejudice. In the 1930s, the connection between American Jews and Communism was both an empirical and cognitive reality—Jews constituted a significant portion of the American Communist Party and many Americans stereotyped them as such. However, by mid-century, the perceptual linkage between Jew and Communist had largely vanished. We explain the change in public attitudes by treating prejudice as a cultural framework for collective memory. Building on Blumer (1958) and the empirical conclusions of other prominent sociologists of the period, we argue that group prejudice depends on a group's distinctiveness, its perceived moral imbalance, and the discursive utility of attacks. When components of this three-part frame weaken, prejudice dissipates. Specifically, we claim that the specificity of reputations serves as a concrete stand-in for more diffuse images of social groups. While group position is not only the result of the reputation of prominent figures, the public images of these figures help to shape prejudice and its decline. As an empirical case, we examine the cultural framework for interpreting the linkage of American Jews and Communism in the late 1940s and early 1950s through the reputations of Alger Hiss, Roy Cohn, and Adolf Hitler. Presented by reputational entrepreneurs, these images emphasize American Communists who were decidedly non-Jewish, underline the prominence of anti-Communist American Jews, and delegitimize public anti-Semitism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marxism and positivism are often thought to be incompatible perspectives in sociology. Yet, Marxism has a long history of commitment to scientific inquiry. Here, we juxtapose these two scientific paradigms—Marxism and positivism—in ways that can enhance both, while highlighting in particular the power of the former. We argue that many of the key theoretical claims of Marxism can be explored in terms of analytic concepts congruent with and easily accessible to the contemporary positivist tradition. Marxist criticisms of the cruder versions of the positivist program are not antiscience but are rather rational critiques based on scientific principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postwar literature reveals that sociologists disagree on the composition of the working class and neglect to specify relationships among its manual, clerical, and service workers. Contrary to Marxist thought, evidence on the deskilling of working-class occupations is inconclusive. Marxist and non-Marxists agree that management has not succeeded in dictating the control of work. The literature fails to locate connections between technology, work alienation, job dissatisfaction, and the societal alienation of workers. Weakest theory and research deal with the political mobilization of the working class, which is hampered by its internal stratification and cleavages. Paradoxically, labor unions are more effective in promoting consumer interests than those of their members or other workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the publication of Taylor, Walton and Young's New Criminology (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972 and New York: Harper Torch Books, 1974), the Quarterly asked Anthony Platt, Richard Quinney and Paul Rock to write reviewessays which were subsequently published in the Quarterly in the Autumn 1973 issue. These reviews elicited the following response by Stephen Mugford. It was circulated to the authors of the New Criminology. who declined to comment, choosing to formulate a general response to the many review comments the book has generated. Mugford's comment was also sent to the original reviewers, and Paul Rock's reply follows. The editor would like to encourage such free interchange, and will attempt to facilitate comment by circulating manuscripts and soliciting commentary. (Perhaps a format similar to that employed by Current Anthropology will emerge). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]