Survival and Sociology: Vindicating the Human Subject.

Abstract

Kurt Wolff seeks to answer a large ques-tion: what are the justifications and tasks of sociology at a time when hu-mankind and its planet are in jeop-ardy? Since his youth in Germany, where he was a student ofthelate, great Karl Mannheim, the author has ori-ented much of his work to the sociology of sociology. Survival and Sociology takes into ac-count that this age, for the first time in history, extends to society what was only in the province of nature and god--the ability to destroy as well as create life. That being the case, the concern of so-ciology must shift from everyday issues to ideas and policies aimed at averting human extinction. The act of surrendering to our novel condition may give us a clue. In any case, it re-establishes our continuity with such founding figures as Max We-ber. Max Scheler. Alfred Schutz, Emile Durkheim. Georg Simmel, and Mann-heim himself. As a result. Wolffs work can be seen as both innovative and continuing a grand tradition of analysis. The an-swers given are very much in terms of specific American conditions, but also provide the sort of theoretical scaffold-ing that underwrites current East-West negotiations on practical issues relat-ing to arms negotiations and peace set-tlements. It is thus a work that should have wide appeal to students of the his-tory of ideas, sociologists of knowledge, and people interested in the philosoph-ical foundations of war and peace.