SCANDINAVIAN SOCIOLOGY.

The article focuses on Scandinavian sociology. Sociology in the Scandinavian countries that is Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden does not have its roots in national traditions of speculative theorizing about the nature of man and society. The absence of a long intellectual history of significant social philosophy and macrosociological speculation is a conspicuous feature of the four countries. This characteristic of both Scandinavian sociology and the Scandinavian societies can to some extent be explained sociologically. To state that Scandinavian sociology does not rest on national traditions of social speculation is not to say that sociology in these four countries is without national roots. It is, however, striking that the forerunners of present-day sociology belonged to a strongly empirical tradition. In all four Scandinavian countries there is a long and honorable record of studies in government, statistics, social welfare, and ethnography dealing with sociological problems. When sociology in its present form was established at the Scandinavian universities after World War II, it developed in an academic milieu with a strongly positivistic orientation.