Search

An unexamined problem in the history of American sociology is how to understand cross-societal transference of theoretical structures. The case study considered here is that of the cultural migration of refugee scholars from Nazi Germany to the United States. This paper treats this event as a problem in the sociology of theory structures. Habermas' work on the social character of scientific knowledge aids in conceptualizing our frame- work. A major substantive contribution concerns the use for the first time of data sources previously unknown or ignored in the existent literature on refugee scholars. The analysis focuses particularly on the comparative depletions of theoretical structures from German universities. Sociology emerges as one of the early disciplines to feel the impact of the Third Reich in terms of depletion rates and losses of senior faculty. It also ranks very high in the percentage of refugee scholars already in the United States by 1937. Two other aspects of this problem are considered in less detail: the character of sociology remaining in the Third Reich and the examination of a `deviant' case in the cross-societal transference of theory structure in sociology from Germany to the United States. The paper ends with additional reflections on the study of theory structures and general issues in the history of sociology in the context of examining theory structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The historical, and indeed evolutionary, dimension is a fundamental element in alt of Durkheim's sociological work. The resent paper argues that this fact should be neither ignored nor explained away as a mere survival of outmoded nineteenth century thought. Rather, Durkheim's practice in this respect, as in others, provides an important pointer for current sociology. The historical dimension had a prominent place in Durkheim's discussion of method in sociology, especially in his insistence on comparison and on structural taxonomy. In Durkheim's analysis of social causes, both morphological and representational, the historical and evolutionary dimension provided a fundamental axis. Various aspects of his work-for example, his sociology of the family, of individuation, and of religion-are cited to illustrate the significance of history in Durkheim's thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an overview of several reports on educational sociology presented during the conference of the British Sociological Association in 1957. Jean Floud traced the origins of educational sociology back to the studies in pre-war years into problems of social stratification and selection, but it was not until after the war that, under the influence of Karl Mannheim, it became of more general interest to educationists. The second speaker was G. Baron, who emphasized the value of sociology in the curriculum of education departments, particularly for students from overseas, whose interest in the topic was often predominantly sociological. The questions they asked, for example, arising out of their own experiences, concerned the function of various educational institutions and their relationship to the wider social structure. There were two main themes in the discussion. The first questioned the emphasis on social selection and wastage which has characterized studies in this field. The second theme turned upon the problem of research personnel and in particular on how far studies within the classroom have to be undertaken by teachers themselves. The session ended with a paper by T. Bishop in which he described the study he is making into the social background and careers of Winchester pupils.

The article discusses the emergence of various theoretical trends and their prospects in sociology. While it is not the author's purpose to trace the historical development of these trends, it is worthwhile noting that alt of them at some point were of central concern to the early history of sociology, either in classical European thought or in the body of theory which was promulgated at the University of Chicago, Illinois, early in this century. Indeed, if the ensuing prognosis were on target, it would be interesting to ascertain why contemporary sociology is just now "rediscovering its roots" and attempting to make a place for the very ideas, which give it its birth. The developments the author has outlined in this article, the movement toward a radical sociology, the codification of a theoretically humanistic sociology, the emergence of a sociology of self as the genesis for theory creation, the advocating of moral engagement vis-a-vis what it is sociologists study, and the need to develop a viable theory of meaning, all suggest one central underlying theme. This theme is a renewed emphasis on the study of the person as the central focus of social action. This is not to say that structural variables will no longer be vital to the sociological perspective. Rather, it is a matter of emphasis, i.e., the traditional emphasis on the system paradigm is rapidly yielding to a more dynamic "person paradigm", the main thrust of which is to more accurately tap the essence of the human condition.

This article presents information on the article "The Sociological Theories of the French Institutionalists," published in the periodical "Thought." Since the middle twenties, there has developed in France an institutional school of social thought, primarily concerned with jurisprudence, specifically with the problem of corporate personality. Most of the Catholic philosophers agree in asserting the reality of the social group as a real union of relation between social agents, while rejecting group mind theories or organismic analogies. Obviously this article is significant for those interested in the history of social thought and sociological theory, and in the special fields of social institutions, social groups, and social relations. It is not always clear, however, whether theorists of this school are dealing with social groups or with "institution-persons."

Merton has made an important distinction between the "history" any "systematics" of sociological theory, and outlined the valuable functions of the former. Most histories of sociology, however, have been "presentist" or "Whiggish" in perspective; we propose an "historicist" alternative. Within this perspective, Durkheim's response to Spencer is analyzed in three areas: (1) the relation between "individual" and "society;" (2) evolution and social change; and (3) the scope and method of sociology. In these areas, Durkheim's critical style reveals a repetitive theme which is termed "inversion." The essay concludes by re-affirming Merton's distinction and urging that the "historicist" perspective is the most valid and useful approach to the history of sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a short outline of the history of sociology in Poland, a general trend in today's Polish sociology is discussed. It is argued that the trend which stemms from a desire to make sociology a more scientific discipline leads, instead, toward the opposite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about the social and administrative history of a Nigerian Township. In looking at the development of the township in terms of the broad field of social relationships in the region some points become quite obvious. The first is that as far back as we have knowledge there has been administrative and governmental change in the region, from the time of the first movement of Ibo against non-Ibo peoples in the rural areas to the present It would be incorrect to think of political change as being a relatively recent matter, associated with the coming of the British only, or at a later date, with independence for Nigeria Second, the movement of the original Ibo into the area as rural yarn farmers, and the more recent movement of Ibo strangers, largely to the town, are both part of a general expansion of Ibo from centers of higher population and strong land pressures in areas to the west. The outward expansion has been a long-term affair, one which has been bound to influence governmental forms. Third, among the Ibo it is clear that a radical innovative attitude toward change at one time can become a conservative and unadjustive view at another moment. It seems obvious that the original movement of Ibo into the area as farmers, and their outward spread subsequent to arrival, involved innovations in forms of social and administrative organization from those found in the more central area from where the migrants probably came.

The purpose of this article is to elucidate by quantitative data the extent of vertical social mobility in Chinese society, the Yin privilege notwithstanding. There is substantial evidence in support of the view, that a fairly high degree of social mobility existed in Chinese society during the last thousand years. The article proves beyond any doubt that: in the majority of cases prominence, chiefly bureaucratic, but also social, economic or literary, did not last over one generation; that of the families which did maintain themselves a little longer, the vast majority did not last over two generation. The basic data are collected from the biographies contained in Chinese district histories. With specifically defined criteria for the term prominence and a particular set of documentary material, the article demonstrates that roughly 50 per cent of the local prominents in any district studied came from unknown origin and that roughly 80 per cent of the descendants beyond the grandson generation of the local prominents also became unknown.

The article informs about the articles in the "Journal of Sociology." One conclusion which becomes absolutely inescapable as one reads the series of articles comprising this issue of the Journal , largely written by sociologists teaching in universities in the South, is that the theoretical aim of having a "different" South, a region which performs essentially agricultural functions for the rest of a more highly industrialized nation, has now finally disappeared. The social sciences, and particularly sociology at this time in its history, find themselves confronted with the need for theories of social change adequate to the task of explaining the varied and often bewildering panorama of the "third world" countries as well as the upheavals in race relations in the United States. Another theoretical orientation of a more historical bent has been in and out of favor and, under the pressure of recent events, is again becoming current. There are some who have a demurrer even here, especially those concerned with the possibility of the emergence of anomic and mass society in the late stages of industrialization and urbanization.

Ernst Troeltsch was a towering figure in the world of German scholarship during the first quarter of the present century. A professor of theology (and, later, also of philosophy) at Heidelberg, 1894-1915, where he was closely associated with Max Weber and a professor of philosophy at Berlin from 1915 until the time of his death in 1923, he was the outstanding philosophical theologian of German Protestantism in his period. His writings deal with religious and intellectual history, the philosophy and sociology of religion and culture, historiography and the philosophy of history, metaphysics, theology, and social ethics. He was convinced that interiority can achieve authenticity only through responsible decision and participation in history and community. He was in general concerned to discover sociological laws, though he did adapt for his own purposes the Weberian method of "Ideal Types." He rejected the notion that the history of religion can be understood in terms simply of the relations between Ideas and Persons.

The article presents a bibliography on History and Organization of Sociological Studies. Under the heading Historical Development of Sociology, some of the books included are: A Hundred Years of Psychology, and The Origins of European Thought About the Body, the Mind, the Soul, the world, Time and Fate, New Interpretations of Greek, Roman and Kindred Evidence, also of Some basic Jewish and Christian beliefs. Under the heading Current Trends and Activities, some of the books included are: A Short Economic and Social History of England, The Prospect Before Us, Pioneers in Russian Social Thought, The Rise of Industrial Sociology, The New Sociology in China, and The Place of Social Science in Germany Today. Under the heading Teachings of Sociology some of the books included are: The Teaching Sociologist's Frame or Reference, and Education in Social Science and the Selection of Students for Training As Professional Social Scientists. Under the heading Textbooks and Manuals some of the books included are: Readings in Sociology, and others.

This article deals with the achievements and difficulties involved in social investigation. The tendency of the human mind to build a system, and defend it as a science, by a process of assertion and illustration which is liable to masquerade as empirical inquiry, has, however, run both too strongly and too deeply for it to be easily stemmed either in the eighteenth century or today. Predominantly, Graham Wallas was a system-builder who encouraged young and ambitious men to undertake empirical studies. Hobhouse, on the other hand, was a philosopher, who was at the same time a man of affairs, and as such was quite prepared to undergo the drudgery of the collection and analysis of large masses of evidence. The roots of empiricism are to be found in the work of nineteenth-century administrators and social workers such as William Farr, Charles Booth, and, Sidney and Beatrice Webb, rather than in that of the social philosophers. Furthermore, the social situation within which investigations were carried out underwent fundamental changes. Victorian optimism gave way to Georgian doubts. The popularity of the statistical cult today is, perhaps, merely another example of the broader and older cult of science.

This article considers sociology as a moral philosophy. In various accounts of the origins and history of sociology, the most significant fact is almost always omitted, namely, the relation of sociology to moral philosophy. It must be pointed out that in the 19th century the new study, sociology, took over from the old moral philosophy almost the whole range of the interests and methods of the older discipline. To this day general treatises on sociology can be analyzed along the lines of the 18th century formulation of moral philosophy. Professor Albion Woodbury Small said of sociology that it was a moral philosophy conscious its task; but his remark has escaped the attention it deserves, and sociology has escaped a particular line of criticism that it merits. For what is unfortunate in regard to the relationship is just the unconsciousness with which sociologists have continued to work with an old set of ideas and old methodological tools. From Auguste Comte, who was well versed in the moral philosophy of the 18th century, through Barth, Simmel, Hobhouse and the Americans, the major concepts and methods of the older study have continued to be disseminated. The works of American sociologists are herewith presented in the context of their similarities with 18th century moralist.

This article discusses some contributions of American psychological sociology to social and political theory. Lester F. Ward made notable contributions to a systematization of psychological sociology. His psychological interpretation of society was clear, logical and consistent. His contributions to psychological sociology may be summed up under the headings of a classification of the social forces, the psychology of social forces, the explanation of the dualistic nature of the psychic factors operative in society, and the emphasis upon the overwhelming importance of conscious social effort at improvement. Ward divides social forces into two major types: physical and spiritual or psychic. The psychology of the individual mind and the psychology of society are dualistic in nature. The psychology of the individual may be viewed as that of feeling and thought, as affective and perceptive psychology, or as subjective and objective psychology. Simon N. Patten in a characteristically paradoxical manner, denies that sociology has any relation to psychology and then proceeds to develop his theoretical sociology along almost strictly psychological lines. There are, according to Patten, two neuro-psychic systems which operate in the individual and society: the motor and the sensory. The motor system is evolved by the pursuit of pleasure, while the sensory has developed to avoid and decrease the sources of pain.

The development of sociology in Argentina is so intimately tied up with the history of the country that it is in a special sense a part of that history. Spain's repressive policy at home and in her colonies had left the peoples which later became Argentina with little knowledge of any sort of social theory. Manuel Belgrano had been educated in Europe and had brought back to his position as secretary to the Consulado an outlook which made him the initiator of various economic reforms in the colonial administration at the end of the Eighteenth Century which helped to prepare the way for the Revolution of 1810. The Napoleonic conquest of Spain and the suspension of the legitimate Spanish monarchy gave the people of the Rio de la Plata region an opportunity for revolution. Once the revolution was accomplished, the criollos were compelled to govern themselves. The two men who stand out are Mariano Moreno and Bernardino Rivadavia. The former had been trained in the University of Charcas, in Bolivia and had imbibed the doctrines of the French Revolution. So strong was his personality that after less than once year in the government, he has influenced the democratic tendencies of the country throughout its history.

This article focuses on the institutionalization of sociology in the United States. It attempts to indicate certain religious themes which have been embedded in the sociological tradition from the very beginning. One can make a good case for treating sociology as a functional alternative for traditional religions. The article draws some analogies and parallelisms. Second, it attempts to discuss the institutionalization of sociology in the United States. This institutionalization process, which has been very successful, has emphasized different ideologies over time. Many of the problems of the present time have been pointed out. While sociology has always had a theodicy of failure, it has never had a theodicy of success. As one looks to the future of sociology, it is now likely that one may again be comfortable with the success of failure since failure will reaffirm the sectarian identity. The article concludes by discussing some of the likely problems of the future. The article, however, begins by discussing the ways in which sociology can be seen, from a historical perspective, as one substitute for the disintegration of traditional religion.

The article presents the history of social thought and the history of sociology. The history of social thought belongs to a long and broad tradition. "Social thought means any set of ideas about man's relation with his fellows." Consequently, economists, political scientists, historians, psychologists, theologians, philosophers, sociologists--just about anyone who could be labeled an intellectual--have all been found at one time or another to be intimately concerned with this area and to have written widely in it? It is therefore a native mistake to think that the history of social thought belongs to the province of sociology alone. This article has tried to indicate some of these consequences, not the least of which involves the genetic fallacy. Failing to maintain such a distinction between these two terms can increase the likelihood of evaluating an idea of theory in terms of its origin or location in a particular socio-cultural matrix rather than in terms of logic or empirical support. In short, this genetic fallacy is less likely to be committed when the distinction between the history of social thought and the history of sociology is kept clearly in mind.

The relationship between sociology and history has interested scholars from both disciplines for a long time. By now a considerable library of materials is available on the subject ranging from involved philosophical essays on the nature of the borderline separating the two fields to ceremonial addresses of various kinds urging a greater volume of traffic across that line. Literature from the sociological side of the border, at least, has been almost unanimous in its insistence that sociologists should devote more attention to history so much so that the argument would appear to have lost much of its urgency for simple lack of opposition. Yet, for all of that, sociology in the United States continues to lack historical focus. Sociology in the United States has generally leaned in the more positivistic of those directions, developing a form of scientism that no longer seems to resemble the natural science models from which it derived. There have been unmistakable signs in recent years, however, of a swing in the opposite direction toward a species of radical skepticism in which persons distrust their own intelligence and all the established apparatus of sociology for fear of the various class and racial and ideological biases that might be hidden within them.

This article presents the lists of books received and published in March 1, 1945 issue of the periodical "Rural Sociology." Some of the books are as follows: Agencies Concerned with the Quality of Rural Life in the South; The Individual and His Society; Adult Education for Democracy in Family Life; A Guide to Materials Bearing on Cultural Relations in New Mexico; Local History: How to Gather It, Write It, and Publish It; Demographic Studies of Selected Areas of Rapid Growth; Tragic Ground; Sociology of Religion, Knowledge, and the Arts; The War and Conflicting Social Philosophies; Primitive Peoples in North, Central, and South America.