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How might have an advanced graduate student, with knowledge of sociology and philosophy, taken to The Elementary Forms of Religious Life in the spring of 1914? Before making his own commentary, he discusses five reviews that appeared before the English translation of 1915. All the historical data in his letter are factual, from George Santayana down to the original cost of the French edition of Durkheim’s magnum opus. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities has redrawn understanding of the loci and agents of modern nationalism. Whereas standard interpretations had privileged the movements of modernity of Western nation-states, Anderson’s analysis gave priority to the role of peripheral elites in “imagining the nation” beyond the boundaries of the everyday world. What Anderson leaves out altogether in his seminal study is the bearing of the religious factor in various peripheral settings in such regions as sub-Sahara Africa and East Asia. This article, extending Max Weber’s notion of charismatic leadership, proposes that in concrete cases of “colonial situations” in Africa and in two East Asian countries of weak states, religio-political figures arose seeking a new social order that had mass appeal. Their successes and failures should be seen as integral comparative aspects of nationalism and modernity [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This essay proposes that the comparative research of Eisenstadt made room for ‘tradition’ as a creative feature of modernity, rather than as dysfunctional, as in either the liberal or leftist model. He recognized that conflict — often a conflict of generations—is a feature of modernity, and that trust is also a problematic aspect of change. An ultimate concern of Eisenstadt was to build on classical themes of sociology and theories of social change to develop, with colleagues, an adequate sociological understanding of an evolving civilization of modernity. Eisenstadt based his writings on comparative historical research, his far-flung travels, as well as continuous observations of the dynamics of his own Israeli society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Presents an introduction to the July 1, 2004 issue of the "International Journal of Comparative Sociology."

The article discusses sacred and secular problems of crossing the millennium. Time, it may be said, is a fundamental factor of the human condition. At the personal level, temporality is not extrinsic but rather constitutive of being-in-the-world, and temporality is equally a parameter of social organization and social interaction. Often one is not aware of time as a fundamental structure relating the human being and the human group to the environment unless there is a rupture in temporality. Instances of ruptures are varied in everyday or normal social organization. This paper is concerned with a rupture in time reckoning constituting a global event, a unique global event: the crossing of a millennium. Part of the modernity of the West is related to the abstraction and rationalization which made possible an absolute, quantifiable time that stood outside the natural experience of the passing of time as, for example, repetitive, cyclical processes. An early part of the modernization of time was the invention of continuous, unfolding time, from a conventionally agreed upon origin to a brief stop at the present and eventually to becoming a structure for future activities.

'Civilization' has been a contested term since its inception in the 18th century. However, after the pioneering studies of Weber and Mauss, civilizational analysis dropped from sight in major reference works. The present issue is an endeavor to recapture the significance on the contemporary scene of civilizations and their dynamics as macro-units of analysis. Attention is given to the trio of 'second generation' figures, Sorokin, Elias and Nelson, and to more recent conceptualizations, including the controversial thesis of Huntington. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parsons's training as an economist, his graduate stay at Heidelberg, and his participation in the Henderson seminar at Harvard provide major clues to his familiarity with Marshall, Pareto, and Weber—three of the four figures whose convergence forms the major theoretical achievement in The Structure of Social Action. But what led him to Durkheim, since Parsons did not study or reside in France, yet read Durkheim in the original, remains an enigma. Without resolving the enigma, this paper argues that Parsons had a great deal in common with Durkheim, and, equally important, that in his mature and late periods he found in his "revisits" of the later writings of Durkheim both inspiration and affinity. I argue that Parsons well deserves recognition as a major authority on Durkheim, and that both combined offer an alternative to the contemporary version of utilitarianism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although its presence is manifest in all modern societies — in politics, economics and popular culture as well as collective memory — was has indeed been a neglected topic of sociological research, though no discussion of modernity can be complete without it. This article first addresses the question of factors in both the liberal and the socialist traditions that have led to this neglect. Attention is then given to functions of war in the modernization process and beyond this, to the imputed moralism of modern warfare, from the 19th century to the present decade. Since modern war represents the epitome of mobilization, war may be viewed sociologically as a powerful social movement on behalf of a moral cause. A final consideration is the complex relation of war to violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides information on several secessionary and autonomous movements. Undoubtedly, the most dramatic set of successful secessionary movements in recent years are the ones of 1989-91 involving the break-up or of the Soviet Union. The Baltic states spearheaded the secession, arguing that their integration in the USSR at the onset of World War II had been a forcible one. The Soviet state responded initially with force, but President Mikhail Gorbachev backed down in the face of international pressures at a time when the Soviet Union badly needed Western economic support. As a domino effect, various other components of the Soviet Union seceded without opposition from a hapless Communist state that had five years before seemed monolithic. Interestingly enough, unlike practically all Western democratic states, the Soviet Constitution had provided for the right to secede. The break-up of Czechoslovakia in 1993 has been termed a "velvet divorce," one in which an essentially culturally homogeneous population -- albeit marked by regional disparity between the more developed, urban, industrial and "secular" western Czech region and the lesser developed, more agrarian, "traditional" Slovakia -- failed to agree on the post-socialist path to a market economy. On the heels of the Soviet breakup, the breakup of Yugoslavia offers other multiple efforts of secession where ethnicity and territoriality have been potent, lethal forces. The Yugoslavian situation has a further dimension of interest, namely that primary secession can lead to secondary secession: thus, long-term Serbian populations in Croatia and Bosnia have responded to what they see as "ethnic cleansing" directed against them by setting up the respective republics of Krajina and Srpska.

It is gratifying to be asked to reflect on the contributions of Roland Robertson and at the same time a rather complex challenge. In this year of America's Quincentennial, it might be appropriate to designate Robertson as a peripatetic sociological explorer, who like Columbus, Byrd, Lindbergh, and others, has enjoyed setting sail in uncharted territory. It might also be opportune to assert that sociology is now ready to accept the possibility that the globalization theme could be a new sociological continent, and that consequently both globality and Roland Robertson are "coming of age." The article first discusses an intellectual context in which to situate Robertson's current emphasis. Second, although it considers a sympathetic fellow traveller, it is also incumbent to raise some questions about that which is the object of treat search. When Robertson came on the scene, sociology had entered a state, its recent hegemonic conceptual framework of structural-functional analysis now rejected or trivialized by a new generation of sociologists as a conservative ideology incapable of dealing with conflict, which was seen as the main vehicle of social change.

In this article, the author suggests that wherein lies the source of what he ventures to assert as perhaps the most powerful metaphor used by a sociologist, one which has served as an apt summarizing of the topography of modern advanced society. Max Weber in this seminal essay has shown the dialectical relationship between the sacred and the profane to invoke the famous dichotomy features in that other great pre-World War I treatise in the sociology of religion. Weber has traced interconnections and interdependence between that powerful religious force, asceticism, and the rational economic conduct that typifies the development of modem capitalism. Weber's essay, examines stages of the transformation of Western civilization, with a critical quantum leap introduced by the Reformation, and particularly that aspect of it to which one owe the economic routinization of this-worldly asceticism in the form of the "calling" of one's occupation. It also presents information on secondary literature on Max Weber including books like Arthur Mitzman's "The Iron Cage: An Historical Interpretation of Max Weber," and Marianne Weber's "Max Weber: A Biography."

The article argues that a major factor in the absence of a labor party in the U.S. stems from the strength of ethnoreligious identity. As a leading modern industrial society, the U.S. is exceptional in the diversity and vitality of its religious life. Tocqueville had already made this observation in Democracy in America. As Herberg noted in Protestant-Catholic-Jew, religion and ethnicity came together at the turn of the century to provide an important category of social identity to new groups of immigrants, To further the analysis of Tocqueville and Herberg, this paper considers that for Protestants, Catholics and Jews, respectively, the U.S. experience has been exceptional.

This paper advocates internationalising the sociology curriculum for both practical and theoretical reasons. Macro-sociology must drop the parochialism of implicitly confining itself to intra-state phenomena, based on Western historical experience, and develop a conceptual framework adequate to deal with the emergent transnational scene and transnational global structures and processes of change. Correspondingly, the sociology curriculum must be geared to increasing the international competency of students, both undergraduates and graduates. Doing so will attract better undergraduates seeking careers in the international field, and will for graduates provide training and research that will promote the number of sociologists actually engaged in international studies. Specific recommendations to internationalise the sociology curriculum include (1) an introductory course dealing with large-scale phenomena and their global interdependence and manifestations, including major attention to colonial situations, (2) a topical course on major international issues and problems, (3) a methodological training course in comparative analysis, and (4) a senior seminar regarding the international sphere and its impact or relation to the local national setting. To complement the course work, the curriculum should also provide field research and an internship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the book "Visions of the Sociological Tradition," by Donald N. Levine. Sociologist Donald Levine in this volume has brought out his interpretation of sociology's historical patrimony, its development and its mission. The book is a testimony to a scholar whose appreciation and concern for the history of sociological thought are exemplary. As much of an Africanist as a theorist, Levine easily navigates and explores the various theoretical currents. He is, of course, not the first to provide an account of sociology and he himself notes up front that there are many ways of telling such a good story. He provides us in the first two parts with visions of yesterday and tomorrow as frames of today. First, visions of the past as narratives; here he singles out six of these histories in search of a tradition from positivist and pluralist to humanist and contextualist to points in between, namely synthetic narratives. The next journey takes him to visions of the future, in the form of seven national traditions in search of the good society; Hellenic, British, French, German, Marxian, Italian and American.

Durkheim's doctoral dissertation can justifiably be called sociology's first classic. Rereading it 100 years later enables us to see major domains of the contemporary world where its analysis remains, of actuality, heuristic or yet to be fully appreciated: for example, its themes of anomie as economic deregulation and corporatism as an institutional arrangement to deal with anomie. At the same time, Durkheim's discourse reflects its historical embeddedness, such as his discussion of the sexual division of labor, which needs to be reworked. A second feature of emergent contemporary social solidarity unforeseen by Durkheim (and the great majority of theorists of change) is what may be termed "the return of mechanical solidarity." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the modernity-related problems facing human sciences. Dynamic set of factors creating modernity; Contributions and limitations of intellectuals in discussions of nationalism and religion related to modernity; Role of historians; Invention of tradition; Perspective of a liberal functionalist; Rational-choice theory.

A meaningful interpretation of the dynamics of recent momentous historical changes -- most notably the unexpected and surprising implosion of the Soviet empire in 1989-1990 -- may be obtained by recombining aspects of the sociology of religion analyses of Weber and Durkheim, In particular, their complementary notions of 'charisma' and 'collective effervescence' provide an understanding of how social actors in coercive secular states, confronted by a seeming monopoly of the use of physical force, are able, in certain exceptional circumstances, to mobilise and disarm the state. The assembling of the societal or national community is the background to Weber's discussion of charismatic leadership and the foreground to Durkheim, The 'vrivet revolutions' of 1989 in various countries of Eastern Europe may be seen as manifestations of an historical moment of 'collective effervescence' in which the assembled collectivity itself, more than individual figures, manifested the empowerment of charisma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1988 the world has witnessed unexpectedly massive changes and reforms, including the destructuring of the bipolar world of the Cold War era, the adoption of market economies to replace centrally planned economies, and the democratisation of authoritarian regimes. Essentially, this paper argues that the turbulent transition period of this decade is one that may be characterised as a 'new world of new worlds', presenting a vast ensemble of challenges for the sociological analysis of modernity. A historical perspective with previous periods of transition from one social order to the next is proposed, as well as a discussion of salient general socio-psychological features of the contemporary situation, such as changes in collective identity. Finally, attention is given to a methodological approach suitable to make sense of our world situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important challenge for macrosociology in the 1990s is to account for the cluster of social movements in different post-World War II settings, most recently those that intend structural changes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. To account for these extraordinary phenomena of historical significance calls for a new global synchronic and diachronic analysis. After discussing three major waves of these movements that have in common a challenge to the authority of the modern state, this paper proposes that 'neomodernisation analysis' may be the most appropriate macro-paradigm to relate sociology to the comparative study of cycles of modernisation and of centres of modernity. It is highly relevant since many regions of the world are undergoing ah important new phase of modernisation and since there may be taking place ah important shift in the epicentre of modernity. State socialism is bankrupt in Eastern Europe. Governments, ruling parties, of the opposition, experts, and expert committees are desperately searching . . . for a new paradigm, a new social and economic model with which to launch these countries onto a new course of dynamic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including imaginary communities, global connectivity in the creation of imagined communities, and Palestinian national identity.

How did Rational Choice Theory (RCT), traditionally rejected by sociologists for its economic individualism, rise rapidly in the 1980s and the 1990s to theoretical and institutional prominence within sociology? Drawing on Frickel and Gross’ (American Sociological Association, 70(2):204–232 2005) framework for the emergence of scientific/intellectual movements (SIMs), we argue that RCT rose to prominence in sociology in conjunction with: 1) high status actors’ criticism of the previously dominant paradigm, structural functionalism; 2) favorable structural conditions that provided entrepreneurial access to key resources; 3) proliferation through micromobilization contexts; and 4) the ability of those espousing RCT for sociology to draw on dominant cultural motifs outside of academia. The rise of RCT in American sociology provides a case study for how scientific/intellectual movements can find an audience in academic contexts that are predisposed to oppose them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This empirical study treats German university students as a rising elite. After discussing the broader sociohistorical context of German national identity in recent decades, this study analyzes (a) students' attitudes and perceptions on issues related to nationalism, national identity, and inclusion, and (b) the extent to which the "Wall in the Mind" as a psychological chasm persists in the new post-cold war generation of West and East Germans. Survey data were obtained from a sample of 544 student at 11 universities in the three areas of Germany: West Germany. East Germany, and Berlin. A major finding on the issue of national identity, as manifested in common symbols and common symbols and common tasks, is a blurring of regional differences, with no significant differences found by age or gender. Overall, students reject "traditional" nationalism in favor of a "post-national" commitment to transnational values such as human rights and social equality for all. A significant majority feel there is a common German culture and that East and West Germans are following one people; one whose future lies in being part of the European Union. We conclude there may be an emergent trend among university students of a post-national identity of being German-in-Europe, which warrants further comparative research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the involvement of altruism and social solidarity within the sociological field of specialization. This establishes the major contribution of altruism and social solidarity in the discipline that is related to society. It primarily assesses the aspects of personality, society and culture that are substantial in the lives of individuals and ennoble social life. Moreover, the study demonstrates that there exist a substantial body of substantive topics within the potential specialty area of the sociology of altruism and social solidarity that need consideration in the sociological field.