Editor's Introduction

Abstract

Serious Soviet scholars have long sought to extend the intellectual and ideological framework of Soviet sociology beyond the narrow confines of textbook Marxism. While this process has been under way for decades, it has obviously accelerated in recent years. One illustration is provided by A. G. Zdravomyslov's discussion of the various ways in which the concept of rationality has been used in the sociological literature ("The Principle of Rationality in Contemporary Sociological Theory"). Zdravomyslov examines the variety of meanings attached to rationality in the writings of Marx, Weber, Habermas, and others. Of special interest is the author's distinctly positive assessment of Weber's thesis of the paradox of rationality, the view that "the growth of rationality in all spheres of social life results not in emancipation but in increased dependence on the rules and norms of bureaucratized structures." In this connection Zdravomyslov cites Weber's highly skeptical attitude toward socialism, which he associated with the triumph of bureaucracy—"by no means a nonsensical prediction, as it turned out." When this article was published, Zdravomyslov was still a department head of the Institute of Marxisim-Leninism attached to the party's central committee, but holding such a position was apparently not incompatible with an appeal for assimilating "the achievements of all schools of sociological thought."