Toward a Sociology of Being: The Humanistic Potential

Abstract

Sociology has had a humanistic tradition for a long time; however, humanism in the social sciences has recently developed farthest Wi psychology. The humanistic psychology movement was established as a third force to transcend the limitations of behaviorism and psychoanalysis in dealing with a holistic and positive concern for man and his potentialities. The humanistic views of Abraham Maslow challenge sociology to study institutions, cultural and social structures, and values which facilitate the growth of the individual and enhance his ability to make free and responsible choices. Social science today focuses on adaptation to the status quo, on what is, to the exclusion to what might be, and holds a pessimistic view of man reflected in studies of deviant behavior concerned solely with deviance on the pathological side. There is a need for a radical shift in our images of man, society, science and the nature of the sociological enterprise. The implications of a humanistic perspective in sociology for the sociology of religion are briefly explored.