Sociology Conferred Research Articles

Wolfgang J. Mommsen: A British Appreciation

[MWS 5.1 (2005) 119-122] ISSN 1470-8078 Wolfgang J. Mommsen: A British Appreciation Sam Whimster It is difficult to explain how Wolfgang J. Mommsen came to exercise such an enormous influence within the academic world of the United Kingdom. To an extent his reputation came before him. Max Weber und die deutsche Politik had been published in 1959 and almost immediately he was designated the enfant terrible of German academia. As the ageing torchbearer of the German Gelehrter tradition Karl Jaspers wrote to Hannah Arendt, 'A young man from the Mommsen family recently wrote an important book about Max Weber's politics...characterising him as a representative of imperialism and, by virtue of his mode of thought, as someone who prepared the w^ for Hitler'. Mommsen's book did not say that. But that was its reputation first in Germany and also in Britain in the early 1970s, even though it was never translated into English until 1984, by which time its academic and political effect had already been somewhat discounted. In his doctoral research Mommsen unearthed a profuse letter trail that showed beyond question that Weber throughout his life had been a committed and uncompromising nationalist and, in Mommsen's formu lation, that the values and structures of the nation took precedence over those of democracy. In Germany Max Weber und die deutsche Politik was a deeply transgressive book. Mommsen had gone over the border to Merse burg in the German Democratic Republic, where the Prussian State Archive was located, and discovered a major part of the Weber 'Nach lass'. Mommsen later reported that his supervisor, Theodor Schieder, was at first disbelieving about the content of Weber's political letters. The book caused an enormous shock at a time when no less an eminence as Theodor Heuss, then President of Germany's Federal Republic, had written a preface to Winckelmann's edition of Weber's collected political writings. Heuss, like Winckelmann, had portrayed Weber as an untainted liberal, a figure whom present-day Germans could look upon without embarrassment. Inevitably Mommsen's book unleashed a huge contro versy and it is worth indicating just how multi-layered that controversy was. It was clearly a generational conflict: a father and son conflict© Max Weber Studies 2005, Department of Applied Social Sciences, London Metropolitan University, Old Castle Street, London El 7NT, UK. 120 Max Weber Studies fought out in the academic presses. It should also be recalled that the controversy played out in the wider student revolt against the ruling generation and its structures of power (and tolerance) with Mommsen's book becoming emblematic as a critique of power, violence, and the elder generation. The Heidelberg German Sociology conference of 1964 indicates a further layer in which Mommsen's work was caught up in a wider ideological conflict in the 'show-down' between Bendix and Parsons in the US and the Frankfurt School. Lastly it should be recalled that Max Weber und die deutsche Politik was a liberating book for the post-war generation, greatly admired for its style and scholarly verve and for breaking a taboo that allowed new voices and new themes to be vigorously pursued. Mommsen's influence in Germany on a whole stratum of progressive academics and teachers from the 1960s onwards was considerable. Mommsen's first English book publication (in 1974) was his set of essays The Age of Bureaucracy, written during a fellowship at St Antony's College, Oxford. Prior to this Weber was already regarded as a cham pion of conflict theory and of the view of liberalism as the political mask of a dehumanizing capitalism. The Heidelberg conference of 1964 was published in English in 1971. At that time it looked as if Mommsen's radicalism had been co-opted by the massively fashionable Marcuse. Mommsen was seen to stand for the 'realist' Weber, the new Machiavelli of the social sciences who was deployed against the Parsonian obfusca tions of social integration and value-freedom. Although Mommsen was received in this way—and a Mommsen appearance would always pack a lecture hall, his Age of Bureaucracy in fact offered a more nuanced Weber. To the Weber of 'negative liberalism' and the...

Worlds come apart: Systems theory versus critical theory. Drama in the history of sociology in the twentieth century

This article places an episode in the history of sociological theory into intellectual history in the twentieth century. The perspective is chronological as well as contextual. The themes are two theoretical approaches, both embedded in both American and German history, Parsonian Systems Theory and “Frankfurt School” Critical Theory. The chronology shown spanned mainly from the 1940s to the 1960s. The context of the two theories is a period that is crucial in twentieth century history. The protagonists of the two approaches were, in the 1940s, Americans and Germans exiled in the United States. In the 1950s, both approaches were affected by McCarthyism in different ways. The 1960s, however, were the culmination. The dynamics of the two approaches led into a schism which came into the open on the occasion of the 1964 German Sociology Conference in Heidelberg celebrating Max Weber. The article shows the stages in the evolution of the schism, emulating three acts in a drama. The final split was over whether Weber or Marx should be the classic whose oeuvre was to influence sociological thinking today. My aim is to exemplify how these two authoritative approaches in sociological theory, far from escaping the vagaries and vicissitudes of their times, were embedded in twentieth-century history.

The Root and New Direction of Environmental Sociology: The Report on the Kyoto Environmental Sociology Conference 2001

The Root and New Direction of Environmental Sociology: The Report on the Kyoto Environmental Sociology Conference 2001

Indian Sociological Society: XXVII All-India Sociological Conference

Indian Sociological Society: XXVII All-India Sociological Conference

European Sociological Association conference announcement

European Sociological Association conference announcement

Resurrecting Sociology as a Vocation

Backstory In March 1987, the Village Voice assigned me to go to Bergenfield, New Jersey, to investigate a suicide pact that involved four teenagers. wondered \Xlho are these kids? wanted to understand who they were in the context of their families, the town, the school, the economy, and the larger cultural history of youth. At the time, most of the public discussion of suicide was dominated by medical models and psychology. But viewed the suicide pact as a social act. Sociology allowed me to explain a horrifying event that first grabbed me in the solar plexus and made me cry. For that reason, will always fight to keep it alive. hope to shed some light, to offer solne hot tips on how we might better engage the public and lend our sociological vision. This is important to me, because sociology is important to me. The topics write about today include subur bia, tattoos, guns, cars, rock & roll, pornography, intergenerational love, TV talk shows, and spirituality. It wouldn't occur to me that these suljects were off limits, unsuitable for a sociological exploration or analysis. The last time gave a paper at a mainstream academic sociology conference was at the 1987 Eastern Sociological Society meetings in Boston. was a graduate student at SUNY, Stony Brook, giving a paper on fanzines. My dissertation chair was sitting there in the audience. had purple hair, he was Lewis Coser. Once, pointing from his office window out to the snowy walkways and trees of eastern Long Island, Coser referred to data as out there. took him at his word; after that, anything seemed possible. Coser had also been a journalist, and he impressed upon me early on that the social world was complex enough, so the language we use to describe it should not make it more complicated. Today consider myself a public intellectual. am self-employed, dividing my work among journalism, teaching, and youth activism. My tax returns say writer. A few years ago kegan teaching sociology at Barnard College. Based o n my work in Teenage Wasteland was invited to develop two courses on youth: Sociology of Youth deals with institutions, the kroad histoley o f young people, intergenerational politics. 05Vorlds of Yotlth focuses on subcultures and subjectivities XXIhile was devekzping my syllabi it occurred to me how few interesting or even readable works by sociologists were available was using Becker Berger Merton even Mannheim But where the voices of the 1980s and '90s? Lost in the din of culturcll studies journalism psycholc)gy? How could tnis happen? I've always separated the discipline from the profession the body of knowledge from the career the work from the job The work is wlrat we do from the heart the job is what we have to p ut Up with in order to do it Sociology as palt of my everyday life It isn't school it's how live and where breathe There are many ways to bring sociological thinking into the world But lnlease be carefulsome of my advice could make you unmarketable You'd never get tenure or make full professor and you could get firecl have had a very nontraditional career trajectory was recently interviewed l y the Columbia Spectator in a profile with the headline Barnard's Bold 'Postmodertl' Sociolo,ist, Dotma Gailes, a Rock S Rolling Youth Sociologist, is a Big Hit q,vith Her Studelts XXIhen asked about my work replied I consider myself a 'pulnlic' ilatellectual, clS opposed to one who is institutioncllly embedded made the choice early on that wanted to have optimal freedom in writing and speaking about social and cultural issues of importance to me An academic career trcljectory would laecessitate different priorities XXIhen asked to descril e who aln answered I think like a sociologist feel like cl social worker and write like a journalist Postmodern guess Teena,ge Wastelald WclS a trade book It was my choice to publish it in that market wanted to write a bzok my parents could read they were musiciclns wanted my work to l e widely accessible because it was al Otlt imminent social problems youth suicide alienation and anomie didla't want it l uried in some obscure scholarly journal Kids were dying; wantecl to foster some recognition that this was a social, laOt cl psycllologiccll prolDlem. Teenage Wasteland came out of cl cover feature for the Voice, was filed as a doctoral dissertation auctioned clS a

Racial Inequality in Singapore

Abstract This paper examines racial inequality in Singapore front a dual economy perspective. Data come from the 1982-88 Report in The Census of Industrial Production and Labour Force Survey. Findings show that the dual economy theory is not useful in explaining racial inequality. Racial minorities are not overrepresented in the core as predicted by the theory. However, the decomposition of incomes shows that income inequalities among racial groups are due to discrimination. The source of this discrimination is the segregation of racial minorities in lower paying occupations and industries. The helpful comments of John Dixon and the reviewer are gratefully acknowledged. Earlier visions of this research were presented in the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Conference, Calgary, Canada (1994) and the Fourth Southeast Asia Business Research Conference, Ann Arbor, Michigan (1993). Address all comments to the author at the Department of Social Sciences, Lingnan College, 15 Stubbs Road, Hong Kong.

Marc Bloch et le XIVe Congrès international de sociologie, Bucarest, août 1939

Marc Bloch and the 14th International Sociology Conference, Bucharest, August, 1939 The 14th International Sociology Conference that was supposed to be held in Bucharest from August 29 to September 2, 1939 never took place, but some of the papers were published during the war. Among these is an unknown text of Marc Bloch : «Types of social structure in rural French life». Taking up his theses on «French Rural Life», the author responds on the one hand to Nazi ruralism which was to be widely represented at the Conference and on the other hand, ahead of time, to the Vichy ideological plan which, by advocating the return to the land, would side with social mystification and racism.

Arab Sociology Today: A View from Within

Some of the accomplishments and shortcomings of Arab sociology during the last few years are assessed from the perspective of Arab sociologists. This assessment of Arab sociology from the insiders' perspective involves (a) reviewing selected papers presented at one of the most recent Arab sociology conferences, (b) analyzing the results of a survey of 36 Arab sociologists, and (c) describing in detail the major contributions of Arab sociologists and social scientists to the study of Islam, with particular reference to Islamic social movements. Recent socioeconomic changes and political events in the Arab world help explain the rising interest in sociology. Arab sociologists view their discipline as still in process of becoming and in a state of crisis. The sociopolitical and disciplinary aspects of this crisis and the solution suggested to remedy it are described. Arab sociological studies of Islamic social movements have the following features: (a) an emphasis on the diversity, complexity, and historical specificity, of these movements, (b) a recognition of the need for an interdisciplinary approach, (c) a focus on the sociological characteristics of leaders and followers, (d) analyses of the origin of the movements, and (e) an emphasis on the need for a methodology more personal and subjective than the one used in the West. This research, as well as the survey of Arab sociologists, indicates that there is a noticeable trend toward the substantive indigenization of Arab sociology and that Arab sociologists are aware of the need to be innovative and flexible in their selection and use of research methods. These also show that there has been little theoretical indigenization of Arab sociology. This may explain, in part, the sense of crisis felt by Arab sociologists.

Arab Sociology Today: A View from Within

Some of the accomplishments and shortcomings of Arab sociology during the last few years are assessed from the perspective of Arab sociologists. This assessment of Arab sociology from the insiders' perspective involves (a) reviewing selected papers presented at one of the most recent Arab sociology conferences, (b) analyzing the results of a survey of 36 Arab sociologists, and (c) describing in detail the major contributions of Arab sociologists and social scientists to the study of Islam, with particular reference to Islamic social movements. Recent socioeconomic changes and political events in the Arab world help explain the rising interest in sociology. Arab sociologists view their discipline as still in process of becoming and in a state of crisis. The sociopolitical and disciplinary aspects of this crisis and the solution suggested to remedy it are described. Arab sociological studies of Islamic social movements have the following features: (a) an emphasis on the diversity, complexity, and historical specificity, of these movements, (b) a recognition of the need for an interdisciplinary approach, (c) a focus on the sociological characteristics of leaders and followers, (d) analyses of the origin of the movements, and (e) an emphasis on the need for a methodology more personal and subjective than the one used in the West. This research, as well as the survey of Arab sociologists, indicates that there is a noticeable trend toward the substantive indigenization of Arab sociology and that Arab sociologists are aware of the need to be innovative and flexible in their selection and use of research methods. These also show that there has been little theoretical indigenization of Arab sociology. This may explain, in part, the sense of crisis felt by Arab sociologists.

A Report of the XV All India Sociological Conference Held Meerut (U.P.)

A Report of the XV All India Sociological Conference Held Meerut (U.P.)

Guatemala-Crisis and Political Violence

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsEdellberto Torres-RivasEdelberto Torres-Rivas teaches sociology at the Consejo Superior Universitario Centroamericano (CSUCA) in SanJose, Costa Rica. He has published numerous essays and books on dependent development in Central America. This article, edited by NACLA, is a shortened version of a paper presented at the Latin American Sociology Conference held in November 1979, in Panama.

Leisure and sociological research conference

Leisure and sociological research conference

A Report of the XIV all India Sociological Conference

A Report of the XIV all India Sociological Conference

Twelfth All-India Sociological Conference : Secretary’s Report for the Period April 1972 to October 1974

Twelfth All-India Sociological Conference : Secretary’s Report for the Period April 1972 to October 1974

Twelfth All-India Sociological Conference

Twelfth All-India Sociological Conference

Racial Minorities. By Michael Banton. (London: Fontana/Collins, 1972. Pp. 192. $1.95, paper.) - Racial Tensions and National Identity. Proceedings of the Second Annual Vanderbilt Sociology Conference, November 4–6, 1970. Edited by Ernest Q. Campbell. (Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University Press, 1972. Pp. x, 262. $10.00.)

Racial Minorities. By Michael Banton. (London: Fontana/Collins, 1972. Pp. 192. $1.95, paper.) - Racial Tensions and National Identity. Proceedings of the Second Annual Vanderbilt Sociology Conference, November 4–6, 1970. Edited by Ernest Q. Campbell. (Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University Press, 1972. Pp. x, 262. $10.00.)

Report on the Second Annual West Coast Socialist Sociology Conference

Report on the Second Annual West Coast Socialist Sociology Conference

Report On The East Coast Socialist Sociology Conference

Report On The East Coast Socialist Sociology Conference

The Profession: Twelfth All-India Sociological Conference

The Profession: Twelfth All-India Sociological Conference