'n Herformulering van die grondslae van die kritiese sosiologie / A rewording of the foundations of critical sociology

Abstract

In the light of the idea that modern sociology is experiencing a so-called crisis, this article contains a plea for a new critical approach to and interpretation of social conflict and political behaviour. The underlying assumption is that a new critical sociology can be productive only if it is explained with the aid of the insights and limitations of the Marxist design (especially the theories on class). Because the Marxist class model, both in its orthodox and neo-styles, has failed as a critical theoretical concept, it is even more essential for the task and aim of the critical theory to be redefined and a critical sociology that is free of the dogmatic assumptions that limit the orthodox and neo-Marxist theories, be developed at the same time. The sum total of this analysis culminates in the view that critical sociology as an ideology should be based on a system of values, or a system of existential ethical beliefs. In this way an irrevocable break is made with the materialism of classical Marxism.