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Outline on Mannheim
& German Sociology
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MANNHEIM'S SCHOLASTIC ROOTS |
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Mannheim's thought has 3 scholastic roots, including: |
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a. German classic phil, esp the Hegelian school |
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b. nonacademic sociological thought, esp Marxism |
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c. the Geistewissenschaften school which held that the
social sciences needed their own methodology |
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Following Hegel & Marx, Mannheim adopted the conception of history
as a structured & dynamic process |
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Mannheim expanded the ideas of Comte, Hegel, & Marx to embrace
the idea that while humanity had been blindly dominated by the forces of
hist, in the past, w/ knowledge of those processes, & a social will
to be free, we could escape these hist processes |
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Facts & events are not isolated phenomena & occurrences but
in relation to the dominant social forces & trends & create the
whole social situation |
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The changing class structure of a society resulted from changes in
productive techniques & the division of labor |
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The ideologies of a given society in a given period bore some determinate
relationship to the existing classes & to the objective conflict of
interests among them |
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THE WORLDVIEWS OF THE PHYSICAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES, & THE
HUMANITIES |
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Weltanschauungen, i.e. styles of thought or worldviews, separated the
physical & social sciences |
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For Mannheim, the social sciences required a specific method |
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The physical sciences are concerned w/ calculable external phenomena |
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The social sciences are, & must be concerned w/ the motives &
values of people & the meanings of their acts |
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In the physical sciences explanation, as defined as the correlation
of external facts, was sufficient |
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In the social sciences explanation, as defined as the correlation of
external facts, was insufficient |
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In the social sciences explanation alone is superficial |
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All knowledge, at any rate, knowledge of things human, was situation
bound, that is, tied to a given constellation of socio hist circumstances |
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THE SOCIAL SCIENCES ACHIEVE BOTH EXPLANATION & UNDERSTANDING |
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The social sciences should strive for explanation & understanding,
erklarung & verstehen |
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In order to have an understanding of the meaning of a situation, one
must have a sympathetic intuition of the actors & the situation |
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Mannheim is interested in meaning because the most important interrelationships
& interactions were meaningful & communicative acts |
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Interpretive understanding is applied not only to art, literature,
music, etc. but also to everyday speech & acts |
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Mannheim saw that Weber adopted Marx's general view that changes in
the minds of people could not be understood w/o relating them to the changes
in their concrete existential conditions |
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Mannheim related the changes in mental attitudes to changes in social
situations |
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Changes in the human spirit corresponds to changes in the situation
& conversely changes in the situation indicates that people, too, have
undergone some change |
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'CULTURE' AT ITS HIGHEST LEVEL EXPRESSES THE MEANING OF A SOCIETY
IN A GIVEN EPOCH |
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Geisteswissenschaften: a cultural element is part of a greater
logico meaningful whole |
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Understanding consists in systematically placing an element in its
large logico meaningful context |
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The large Gestalt, i.e. whole, structure, context, form, etc., is what
imparts meaning to its component elements |
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Every intellectual & cultural field has a structure of its own |
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Each age develops its own style of though & comparisons btwn these
styles are impossible, since each posits a different basic, or, so to speak,
relatively absolute sphere |
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The simpler forms of social being can only be understood in terms of
the highest, all embracing form |
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System, context, complementarity, correlations, etc. are all implied
in every concept because there is no such thing as an isolated concept |
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The unity of concepts, of all social being, is demonstrated by the
fact that one has a sense of where a given concept properly belongs &
it will be obvious once it is transferred to an alien sphere where it can
only be applied metaphorically |
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The very process of thinking is a matter of placing a concept in its
proper total framework |
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A thing is taken to be explained, comprehended, insofar as we have
discovered its place in the currently accepted orders, on a series of levels |
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The concept of a system where everything is interconnected holds for
the physical sciences as well as for phil, art, lit, etc. |
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NEW UNDERSTANDING IN THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES DISPLACES THE OLD;
IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES IT SUPPLEMENTS THE OLD |
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In the physical sciences, once a new system comes along, the old system
is discarded as when the Copernican system made the Ptolemaic system obsolete |
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In the social sciences, when a new system comes along, the old system
continues to exist along side of it as when Chic Lit came into existence
after Gothic Romance |
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Art forms can exist side by side w/o contradicting one another even
while expressing different truths |
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Different truth & validity are involved in the arts as compared
w/ the sciences |
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Once a work of the humanities achieves aesthetic validity, it acquires
a 'timeless glory' |
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While phil is closer to science than art, certain of its old or abandoned
solutions or insights have a timeless quality |
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Each cultural endeavor has its own criteria for validity yet all such
endeavors are part of a meaningful whole which lends them a mutual affinity
& common spirit |
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TRUTH IS AN ATTRIBUTE OF REALITY |
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For Mannheim, truth is an attribute, not so much a discourse, of reality |
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The individual who is in contact w/ the living forces of her age has
the truth, or better, is in the truth |
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The concept of being 'in the truth' shows at once Mannheim's Marxism,
his historicism, & his pragmatism in that truth is situated in the
material conditions that produce it, truth is situated in the cultural
worldview of that epoch, & truth is what functions best, i.e. is 'frictionless'
in that epoch |
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Mannheim is close to the position that truth is where there is a correspondence
of thought & situation |
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Mannheim was interested in the genuineness, rather than in the properly
of, the so called truth of a given worldview |
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Internal
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Outline on Mannheim
on Interpretation
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External
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SOCIETY IS FRAGMENTED |
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The many cultural creations of humanity constituted a unity |
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The truth of human unity is obscured by the splitting up of the whole
culture into apparently separate & isolated domains |
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The fragmentation of the concept of culture into religion, art, literature,
phil, etc. was a product of the theoretical standpoints from which culture
is analyzed |
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The div of labor & rationalization of society from which there
emerged professional practitioners of religion, art, lit, etc., added to
the fragmentation of culture |
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As the result of the div of labor, professionalization of the humanities,
& theoretical abstraction the concrete cultural experiential whole
is neglected |
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The 'whole of culture' can be seen both in an individual work of art,
in the oeuvre of the artist, the meaning of the style, to the most comprehensive
whole of culture of an epoch |
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Interpretation requires one to refer to the cultural unity underlying
the creations of a society in a given epoch |
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WELTANSCHAUUNG IS A HOLISTIC UNDERSTANDING OF A CULTURE |
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Zeitgeist refers to the underlying cultural unity of a society in a
given epoch |
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Zeitgeist, worldview, global outlook, weltanschauung, culture, the
highest levels of the superstructure, etc. all relate to each other |
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Weltanschauung is an atheoretical entity, an ideal type in the Weberian
sense, which refers to the highest, all embracing 'spirit' that permeates
all cultural creations ranging from the arts through customs & including
even the tempo of living, expressive gestures, & demeanor |
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OBJECTIVE MEANING |
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Every cultural product & / or social event reveals 3 levels of
meaning: he objective, the expressive, & the documentary |
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Observing the objective meaning of a social interaction is simply to
see what happened & what was said |
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EXPRESSIVE MEANING |
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To proceed beyond the objective level, one must grasp the individual
intent |
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At the expressive level, to grasp intent, one must grasp the act &
context authentically, as the actor intended it |
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DOCUMENTARY MEANING |
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But to truly know a person we must understand how they act not only
in one context or situation, but in many contexts or situations |
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The documentary or evidential type of meaning provides an expressive
level of understanding across many contexts or situations |
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The objective, expressive, & documentary levels of meaning are
merely analytical & thus not clearly distinguishable from one another |
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When the three methods of objective, expressive, & documentary
levels of understanding are combined, one gets an understanding of weltanschauung |
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The existence of any one weltanschauung of one society in one epoch
can never be positively, empirically demonstrated |
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Yet one can apply rigorous scientific standards to problems of objective
& expressive meaning |
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Given sufficient background, one can describe w/ precision the 'visible'
aspects of a work of art & the relevant aspects of an artist's biography
which affected his style, choice of subject, materials, themes, etc. |
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SPATIO TEMPORAL LOCATION |
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The documentary level has the special problem of the spatio temporal
location of the interpreter |
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Unlike objective observation & the understanding of the expressive,
documentary interpretation must be performed anew in each period |
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Any single interpretation is influenced by the location w/in the histl
stream from which the interpreter is constructing the spirit of the epoch
under examination |
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The act of cognition must not be regarded as the effort of a purely
theoretical consciousness because the human consciousness is permeated
by non theoretical elements |
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The non theoretical elements in people's consciousness arise both from
people's participation in social life & in the streams & tendencies
of 'willing' which work themselves out contemporaneously in that life |
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The Hellenic or Shakespearean spirit presents itself in different ways
to different generations |
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The problem of the spatio temporal location of the interpreter does
not mean that knowledge is relative, rather it means that it is different
from histl knowledge |
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Contrary to historians, social scientists grasp the meaning & structure
of histl understanding in its specificity rather than reject it because
it does not have the positivist truth criteria sanctioned by natural science |
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Internal
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Outline on Mannheim
on Historicism
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External
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HISTORICISM IS A SOCIO HISTL ANALYSIS WRITTEN FROM A PARTICULAR
PERSPECTIVE |
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Historicism is the writing of history under the influence of that weltanschauung |
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Historicism is the interpretation of history primarily from the point
of view in which the writing of the history is done |
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"We have historicism only when history itself is written from the historistic
weltanschauung" |
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Weltanschauung is a comprehensive conception or image of the universe
and of humanity's relation to it; a world view |
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Historicism is an aspect of weltanschauung that emerged in response
to definite histl conditions |
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It is no accident that concepts such as movement, process, flux, etc.
first appeared in a definitive histl period |
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Under weltanschauung historians view human life, its institutions,
customs, art, etc., either developmentally or organically |
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TWO TYPES OF HISTORICAL ANALYSIS: VERTICAL (TOPICAL) &
HORIZONTAL (TIMELINE) |
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The structure of history, its ordering principle, may be studied via
a vertical / topical socio histl analysis, or via the horizontal / timeline
socio histl analysis |
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Link
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The Table on Vertical & Horizontal
Socio Historical Analyses demonstrates that histl social life may be
examined by topic or by an overview of all histl events via vertical &
horizontal socio histl analysis, respectively |
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Vertical histl analysis makes any social institution or cultural phenomenon
& traces it back sowing how each later form develops continuously,
organically from the earlier |
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If vert histl analysis is extended to all spheres of life, then one
obtains a 'bundle of isolated evolutionary lines' |
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Because w/ vertical socio histl analysis explores each of the lines
or spheres are isolated & disconnected w/o any recognizable relationship
among them, a horz socio histl analysis is necessary |
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The horz socio histl analysis is necessary to show how at one temporal
stage, the motifs, which have just been observed in isolation, are also
organically bound up w/ one another |
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MANNHEIM, HEGEL, ET AL HOLD THAT 'REASON' IS UNFOLDING IN HISTORY |
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The Hegelian notion of Spirits or Idea as the real subject of hist
is useful for the study of the history of the separate motifs, i.e. the
manner in which a given topic such as gender or race relations are part
of the larger culture in a given society in a given epoch, i.e. weltanschauung,
are |
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The separate motifs of vertical socio histl analysis must be examined
in a horz socio histl analysis because the motifs are conditioned at the
successive stage of evolution by the rest of culture & are components
& functions of an ultimate basic process which is the real 'subject'
undergoing change |
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For Mannheim, Hegel, Weber, Marx, etc. histl processes are permeated
by 'reason' & 'form giving categories' & a higher, all embracing
totality that imparts meaning & unity to the apparently separate events |
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Present day systems & conclusions of phil are based on a reality
not yet know to earlier system |
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The earlier systems are not false but incomplete |
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One must eschew an out & out rejection of previous systems by attempting
to incorporate them in the new systems because old systems contain part
of 'the truth' |
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For Mannheim, there is a greater truth & validity embodied in the
thought of a later hist stage |
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ENLIGHTENMENT THINKERS, WRONGLY, HELD THAT REASON WAS STATIC |
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Mannheim believed that the Enlightenment thinkers held an ahistorical
conception of Reason & therefore rejected the the later, histl, organic,
developmental conception of reason |
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The Enlightenment thinkers failed to see that the most general definitions
of Reason vary & undergo a process of alterations of meaning, along
w/ every other concept, in the course of hist |
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The Enlightenment thinkers embraced a static concept of reason &
thus closed themselves off from the insights derived from a dynamic organic
model |
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Our understanding of such concepts as reason, gender, race, the env,
work, leisure, etc. all change in relation to the general transformation
taking place in the social structure |
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The changed socio hist situation is the basis for the emergence of
a new theoretical superstructure |
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A socio histl analysis rejects the rigid alternative of true &
false & seeks instead the 'truth in history itself' |
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THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES STRIVE FOR THE PERSPECTIVE OF OBJECTIVITY;
THE SOCIAL SCIENCES STRIVE FOR UNDERSTANDING FROM THE POSITION OF
A PARADIGM |
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In the physical sciences the histl & social position of the knowing
subject & that person's corresponding value orientations do not penetrate
the scientific content |
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The physical sciences attempt to maintain a distance btwn the known
& the knower, i.e. they strive for objectivity in the sense of no personal
involvement or commitment to any outcome |
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In the social sciences depending on whether one is positivist, hegelian,
Marxist, etc. the principles of selection, the direction of the study,
& the categories of meaning differ |
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One cannot posit an abstract, impartial knowing subject in the study
of society, history, culture, psychology, etc. |
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There is no impartial knowing subject in the social sciences because
knowledge is only possible from an ascertainable intellectual location,
i.e. a paradigmatic position |
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A paradigmatic position presupposes a subject harboring definite aspirations
regarding the future & actively striving to achieve them |
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Only out of an interest in the present & the future does the observation
of the past become possible |
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The histl picture changes w/ every epoch because the knower comes from
a different paradigmatic position & they have different interest in
the present & future |
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SOCIO HISTL ANALYSIS IS NOT RELATIVISTIC, BUT PERSPECTIVAL |
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Yet for Mannheim, historicism veers away from relative because histl
knowledge is not relative but perspectival & relational |
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Marx's histl materialism offered one perspective of the rise of capitalism
during the late Middle Ages which held that capitalism arose as a result
of changes in the mode of production when craft production began to replace
the old feudal mode of production |
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Weber later developed his theory of the Protestant work ethic which
examined the role of religious & cultural changes on the rise of capitalism |
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Weber grounds his theory of the Protestant work ethic which is a cultural
analysis grounded in histl materialism |
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Weber's cultural analysis is not a contradiction of Marx's theory of
histl material, rather it complements it |
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Histl materialism & cultural analysis are not mutually right &
wrong, rather they are different perspectives of a given reality &
our knowledge of that reality became more adequate as a result of the additional
perspective added by Weber |
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Perspectivism does not imply relativism rather it led to widening of
our concept of truth |
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Perspectivism does not impugn the validity of an insight, it merely
draws attn to the fact that the insight is dependent upon & confined
w/in a specific socio histl situation |
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Perspectivism shifts the relativity, & does not remove it |
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Every social histl situation is located at a specific pt along a unilinear,
ever progressing & never returning temporal continuum: hist |
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A wider concept of truth saves us from being barred from the exploration
of these fields in which both the nature of the object to be known &
that of the knowing subject makes only perspectivistic knowledge possible |
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NEW HISTORICISM IS BASED ON POST MODERN THEORIES |
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Post modernism generally denies any conception of rationality or the
development of a histl 'spirit' in hist |
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Rather, hist is merely a series of stories w/ open multitudes of interpretations,
none of which is more valid than another |
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New historicism, based on the theories of French philosopher Michel
Foucault & American anthropologist Clifford Geertz, emphasizes the
histl analysis of literature |
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New historicism insists that hist, like literature, is not a matter
of "hard facts," but of texts that need to be interpreted to be understood |
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Table
on Vertical & Horizontal Socio Historical Analyses
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External
Links
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| VERTICAL SOCIAL HISTORIES |
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| A Socio Historical Analysis
of Gender Relations |
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| A Socio Historical Analysis
of Race Relations |
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| A Marxist Socio Historical
Analysis |
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| A Weberian Socio
Historical Analysis |
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| A Socio Historical Analysis
of the Agricultural Revolutions |
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A Socio Historical Analysis of Subsistence Agriculture |
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| A HORIZONTAL SOCIO HISTORICAL
ANALYSIS: |
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Geologic Time |
15 bb BC -
5 mm BC |
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Pre Human Evolution |
5 mm BC - 1.5 mm BC |
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Hunter Gatherer Society |
1.5 mm BC - 10 K BC |
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| The Human Time-Line of History |
blank |
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The Pre Empire Era |
10 K BC - 3 K BC |
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The Era of the Early Empires |
3 K BC - 200 BC |
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The Era of the Roman Empire |
200 BC - 500 AD |
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The Middle Ages |
500 -
1300 |
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The Early Industrial Age |
1300 - 1700 |
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The Industrial Age |
1700 - present |
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The Era of Global Capitalism |
1910 - present |
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The Post-Industrial Age |
1970 - present |
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| The Table on Vertical & Horizontal Socio
Historical Analyses demonstrates that histl social life may be examined
by topic or by an overview of all histl events via vertical & horizontal
socio histl analysis, respectively |
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Internal
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Top
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Outline on Mannheim
on Conservative Thought
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External
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INTRO: CONSERVATIVE THOUGHT CREATES IDEOLOGY; THOUGHT
CREATES UTOPIAN IDEALS |
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Conservation of the status quo tends to produce 'ideologies' to falsify
thought by excessive idealizaiton of the past & overemphasis on the
factors making for stability |
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Intentness on change is apt to produce 'utopias,' which overvalue both
the future & factors leading to change |
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EXISTENCE INFLUENCES FORMS OF THOUGHT, I.E. IDEOLOGY |
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Mannheim examines the styles of thought, their relationship to one
another, & their place in the larger cultural context, as well as the
social basis of a given mvmt of thought, the conservative mvmt |
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The key to understanding the changes in ideas is found in the changing
social background, mainly the fate of the social grps or classes which
are the 'carriers' of these styles of thought |
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Mannheim uses a Marxian approach as well as utilizing elements derived
from Hegel & Weber |
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Mannheim examines the conservative mvmt to demonstrate the relationship
btwn forms of thought & the existence & fate of social grps, e.g.
German conservatism after the Fr Rev |
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Mannheim examines the styles & mvmts of thought which are predominantly
political, approximating what he later calls ideologies |
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All knowledge is situation bound in that it is creatd in a given socio
histl context |
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Each age devleops its own style of thought & comparisons btwn
these styles are impossible sicne each postis a different basic sphere |
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Within each age there are conflicting tendencies toward conservation,
on the one hand , & toward change on the other |
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Mannheim believes that the study of conservative thought implies that
one must study liberal thought & even socialist thought which in each
case is developed along class & party lines |
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CONSERVATIVES IN POST FR REV GER PREFERRED FEUDALISM OVER CAPITALISM |
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To understand conservative thought one must begin w/ rationalism, or
the phil of the Enlightenment |
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The capitalist bourgeoisie accounted for the growth of modern rationalism |
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Quantitative rationalism, as it appeared in math, phil, & the nat
sciences had its parallel in the growth of the cap econ system |
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Commodity production replaced the subsistence econ, exchange value
replaced use value, & the formerly qual attitude toward things &
people became increasingly quantitative |
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As Marx observing, using Carlyle's phrase, it was now the callous 'cash
nexus' which related person to person |
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The cash nexus ideology came to include all forms of human experience |
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Within the capitalist ideology even the other person is experienced
abstractly |
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What Marx explained as alienation stood in sharp contrast to Gemeinschaft
of the Mid Ages in which the social relationships of persons engaged in
production appear as their own personal relationships, & not disguised
as social relations of things, of products of labor |
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Conservatism wa the political & intellectual reaction against the
continuing process which was destroying the older world |
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Conservatism called for a restoration of that world, for a return to
the status quo ante |
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CONSERVATISM IS TRADITIONALISM THAT DEVELOPS AN IDEOLOGY |
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The social carriers of the post Fr Rev conservative ideology are those
of the social & intellectual strata that remained outside of the capitalistic
process of rationalization |
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Post Fr Rev conservatives included the peasants, the small bourgeoisie,
& the landed aristocracy |
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The conservatives kept the older, pre capitalist relationships &
traditions alive |
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The conservatives opposed the phil of the Enlighten, esp the intellectual
tendencies that accompanied bourgeois capitalism |
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Romantic Conservatives sought to salvage the older way of life &
its values when they set 'community' up against 'society,' family against
contract, intuitive certainty against reason, spiritual against material
existence |
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Thus it was the conservatives, not the socialists, who were the first
opponents & critics of capitalism |
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Conservatism, then like socialism, is a new or modern phenomenon which
arose as a conscious reflective reaction against the advance of capitalism |
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Conservatism is different from traditionalism because the latter is
the intellectual, political ideological expression of class interests &
values in a dynamic histl situation |
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Traditionalism can only become conservatism in a society in which change
occurs through the medium of class conflict in a class society |
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The conservatives express their ideology by positively emphasizing
all those aspects of life & thought which are antagonistic to the life
& thought of bourgeois society |
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THE CONSERVATIVE IDEOLOGY EMBRACES THE QUALITATIVE, PROPERTY &
GRPS |
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With conservative ideology:
a. the qualitative & concrete are opposed to the quantitative
& the abstract
b. landed property, not the individual is the basis of
history
c. organic grps, not 'classes' are regarded as the real
units of society & history |
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In the post Fr Rev era, conservatism looks to the past, liberalism
to the present, & socialism to the future |
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The conservative mvmt arose in conscious opposition to capitalist conditions |
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NAT LAW DERIVED FROM THE ENLIGHTENMENT & FOSTERED THE AM, FR
& OTHER REVS |
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Post Fr Rev conservatism is a repudiation of natural law philosophy,
the mode of thought most characteristic of the bourgeois revolutionary
epoch |
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Nat law phil included the concepts of :
a. the state of nature
b. social contract
c. popular sovereignty
d. inalienable 'rights of man' |
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The principles of nat law phil were that |
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1. rationalism was a method of solving problems |
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2. deductive procedures encompassed everything from general
principle to particular cases |
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3. nat law had universal validity for every individual |
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4. nat law had universal applicability to all histl &
social units |
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5. one views existence atomistically & mechanistically
in that collective units, i.e. the state, the law, etc., are constructed
out of isolated, individual factors |
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6. static thinking & right reason is conceived as
a self sufficient, autonomous sphere unaffected by hist |
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CONSERVATIVES' IDEOLOGY WAS 'ROMANTIC' IN THAT IT WAS
NON RATIONAL, NON UNIVERSAL, ORGANIC, & EVOLUTIONARY |
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The conservatives attacked nat law & replaced reason & the
deductive method w/ history, life, the nation & the irrationality of
reality |
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The conservatives repudiated the claim of universal validity &
posited instead the historically unique character of each society |
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For the mechanical conception of political & social instits, conservatives
embraced the organic conception whereby political instits could not be
mechanically transposed from nation to nation |
|
| |
While the nat law liberals held that society was atomistic, mechanical,
the conservatives insisted that society was an organic unified whole |
|
| |
Conservatives attacked the doctrine of static reason because the norms
of reason are in a process of continual histl development |
|
| |
CONSERVATISM IN GER WAS IDEALISTIC NOT MATERIALISTIC IN THAT IT
WAS THEORETICAL & NOT ACTIVIST |
|
| |
Marx observed that Germany experienced the Fr Rev on the phil plane
while in Fr the conservatives related to actual revolutionary events |
|
| |
What was being fought out was accompanied by a political & ideological
conflict |
|
| |
In Germany, the struggle was of a purely intellectual character |
|
| |
In Germany, because of a lack of a mid class, conservatism was pushed
to a logical extreme |
|
| |
The UK & Fr developed a liberal party & ideology which mediated
btwn the existing political extremes, but Ger had no mediating mid class |
|
| |
For Mannheim, all phil is nothing but an elaboration of a kind of action |
|
| |
To understand a phil, one has to understand the nature of the action
which lies at the bottom of it |
|
| |
An 'action' is specific to each particular grp which penetrates social
reality, & takes on its most tangible form in politics |
|
| |
The political struggle expresses the aims & purposes which are
unconsciously but coherently at work in all the conscious & half conscious
interpretations of the world characteristic of the grp |
|
| |
GER ECON BACKWARDNESS LIMITED THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MID CLASS,
& THUS CAPITALIST IDEOLOGY |
|
| |
Mannheim explains the specific form of German conservatism on the basis
of Ger econ backwardness |
|
| |
Capitalist development in Ger lagged behind the West & Marx estimated
that Ger econ development in 1843 was like that of Fr in 1789 |
|
| |
Because of its econ non development, Ger lacked any real bourgeoisie
or proletariat & this was still evident, as Engels noted, in Ger's
failure to have a rev |
|
| |
The Ger mid class had such a wide variety of interests that it could
not carry out concerted political action |
|
| |
The mid class' response to the Fr Rev in Ger was purely ideological |
|
| |
In Ger, the only strata capable of pol action were the nobility &
the bureaucracy |
|
| |
In Fr, the bourgeoisie mobilized their 3rd & 4th estates (peasants
& intellectuals?) against the Church, the monarchy, & the nobility |
|
| |
In Ger, the lack of public pressure weakened the ties of the nobility
& the bureaucracy so that capitalist reforms empowered a romantic,
feudal, ideological reaction |
|
| |
The econ, e.g. class structure of Ger led to the situation where the
bureaucracy employed rationality as an ideological weapon against the nobility,
while the nobility sought to preserve its feudal privileges & the organic,
corporative structure of medieval society |
|
| |
The outcome of the struggle of the Ger bureaucracy & nobility was
a Romantic historicist ideology which was so influential that even its
opponents never freed themselves from it |
|
Internal
Links
Top
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|
Outline on Class
Location
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External
Links
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Analysis of class location examines how & why people, analysts,
politicians & the people themselves view themselves & others as
belonging to a particular class |
|
|
|
For Kerbo, there are SIX variables that describe a particular
class location including realism, nominalism, subjectivism, objectivism,
continuity of ranking, & discontinuous ranking |
|
| |
1. REALIST: CLASS LOCATION BASED ON WHO ONE ASSOCIATES
WITH |
|
|
|
The realist analysis of class location is based primarily on
who one associates with |
|
|
|
The realist analysis holds that an analysis of associations can identify
clear class boundaries, though many dispute this |
|
| |
Most people do associate w/ people of the same class, status, etc.,
however a certain percentage of people do have associates of a different
ranking, & a certain amount of people will say / believe they have
friends of a different ranking |
|
| |
An example of the realist position is that most people marry w/in their
rank & w/in rank marriages have a greater chance of success |
|
|
|
The realist analysis is primarily a subjective form of identification |
|
| |
2. NOMINALIST: INDEPENDENT CRITERIA ON CLASS |
|
|
|
The nominalist analysis of class location is based primarily
on objective criteria based on independently constructed criteria |
|
|
|
The most important class determinants of the nominalist analysis of
class location are the common characteristics of people such as Weber's
life chances, membership in prep schools, inclusion on the social register,
etc. |
|
| |
3. SUBJECTIVE: SELF IDENTIFICATION OF CLASS |
|
|
|
The subjective analysis of class location is based primarily
on self identification or whether a class identity has meaning for the
individuals themselves |
|
| |
When people are asked to self identify which class they are in, most
people place themselves in the middle or working class |
|
| |
4. OBJECTIVE: ACCEPTED CRITERIA ON CLASS |
|
| |
The objective analysis of class location is based primarily
on definition of class emphasizes observable, widely available factors
such as wealth, income, status as measured by a well known survey, etc. |
|
| |
The obj analysis of class location is based on rewards from society
as objectively determined by education, status, power, whether or not a
person recognizes it |
|
| |
The objective analysis of class location is used by social analysts
from Marx to Wright |
|
| |
5. CONTINUOUS CLASS RANKING: SCALES OF SUBCLASSES |
|
| |
The continuous class ranking analysis of class location ranks
subclasses on a scale based on several objective, weighted factors which
are used to create a range of class membership |
|
| |
6. DISCONTINUOUS CLASS RANKING: SCALES OF SUBCLASSES
W/ CLEAR BREAKS |
|
| |
The discontinuous class ranking analysis of class location ranks
subclasses in a discontinuous system when there are clear breaks, recognizing
that a continuous class ranking may be possible when there are no clear
breaks |
|
| |
Kerbo believes there are THREE dimensions of class location:
occupational structure, bureaucratic authority divisions, & property
structure
( Not to be confused w/ the 3 dimensions of stratification systems:
class, status, & power or the 6 variables that describe a particular
class
location ) |
|
| |
A. OCCUPATIONAL STRUCTURE IS ONE'S RELATIONSHIP TO THE MARKET |
|
| |
i. primarily based on skill |
|
| |
ii. & thus reward & skill are not directly correlated |
|
| |
iii. & one's contribution to society is not primary
factor in determining pay, etc. |
|
| |
iv. where dominant groups shape the occupational reward
structure |
|
| |
Economy: MOP: ROF &
FOP |
|
| |
Marx's analysis of class & consciousness holds that they are influenced
by the base of society; i.e. the larger economic system |
|
| |
B. BUREAUCRATIC AUTHORITY DIVISIONS STRATIFY PEOPLE ON CONTROL
OF RESOURCES & PEOPLE |
|
| |
Bureaucratic authority divisions are organizations (e.g. Weber
& Dahrendorf's imperatively coordinated associations (ICAs) ) each
have their own unique power structure, w/ many similarities which stratify
people on control of resources & control of other people |
|
| |
C. PROPERTY STRUCTURE WAS A CLEAR INDICATOR OF CLASS IN THE PAST,
BUT IS NOT TODAY |
|
| |
For most of the industrialized world, as recently as 200 yrs. ago,
property ownership was a clear indicator of class position |
|
| |
In the past, aristocrats owned nearly all the property while the proletariat
owned almost nothing |
|
| |
Today the concept of property is much more complicated & is not
a clear indicator of class location |
|
| |
Property structure includes real property & paper property such
as stocks, bonds, trusts |
|
| |
For Kerbo, the property structure method of class location is problematic
because many in middle class own stock & so "own" the means of production
(MOP), but have no control over the MOP |
|
| |
In practice middle class stock holders own the MOP, but they do not
control the MOP |
|
| |
On the other hand, farmers & small business people are middle or
lower class & own relatively large swatches of property |
|
| |
The top 10 % of the US population own over 88 % of all stocks,
bonds, & trusts & thus 90 % of the population own less that
12 % |
|
Internal
Links
Top
|
|
Outline on Mannheim
on Generations
|
|
External
Links
|
| |
THE ANALYSIS OF GENERATIONS IS DERIVED FROM THE ANALYSIS OF CLASS |
|
| |
In exploring generations, Mannheim generalized Marx's concept of class
& formulated a sociological conception of a generation |
|
| |
A generation is not a group, but a category |
|
| |
A grp cannot exist w/o its members having knowledge of each other &
it ceases to exist as a mental & spiritual unit when physical proximity
is destroyed |
|
| |
General is a social category where the members share a class position |
|
| |
Class position is not the common location people hold in the econ &
power structure |
|
| |
A class is not a concrete group like a community |
|
| |
Class position is an object fact whether a person knows their class
position or not |
|
| |
Class consciousness does not necessarily accompany a class position
although class can give rise to consciousness |
|
| |
Generations is similar to class in that a number of people have a similar
location in the social structure & culture of a society |
|
| |
For a generation, the similar location is based on the biological rhythms
of humanity while w/ class, the similar location is based on a common relationship
to the means of production |
|
| |
SPATIO TEMPORAL EXPERIENCE IS DIFFERENT FOR EACH GEN |
|
| |
Social location of class & generations refers to the limitation
imposed by that spatio temporal experience |
|
| |
People are exposed to a specific range of potential & actual experiences
& excluded from others |
|
| |
Just as the experiential, intellectual, & emotional data differ
for each class, they also differ for each gen |
|
| |
Stratification also affects gens as seen in the fact that the Baby
Boomers as a gen are not as well off as the WW2 gen, & if current trends
continue, Gen X will not be as well off as the Baby Boomers |
|
| |
Even the 'mental climate' or ideology varies according to class &
gen as seen in the different consciousness of the theologizing cleric,
a knight, or a monk, in the Mid Ages |
|
| |
CHARACTERISTICS OF A GEN: EMERGENCE, DISAPPEARANCE, LIMITED,
TRANSMISSION, CONTINUOUS TRANS |
|
| |
The characteristics of a gen are that: |
|
| |
a. new participants in the culture are always emerging |
|
| |
b. former participants in culture are continually disappearing |
|
|
|
c. members of any one gen can participate only in a temporally
limited section of the histl process |
|
| |
d. gens continually transmit their accumulated cultural
heritage |
|
| |
e. the transition from gen to gen is a continuous process |
|
| |
GENS HAVE SUBJECTIVE, I.E. POTENTIAL, & OBJECTIVE, I.E. ACTUAL
CHARACTERISTICS |
|
| |
The subjective aspects of a gen, or class, are that because members
share a socio histl location, that location contains potentialities which
may materialize or be suppressed |
|
| |
What a person does is objective, what they might have done is subjective;
& so it is w/ a gen, what they might have done, their potential, is
subjective |
|
| |
The objective form of a gen comes about only as a result of their actual
activities |
|
| |
Whether peasants & urban youth become a gen depends on whether
they participate in a common destiny of some socio histl unit |
|
| |
A gen is an actuality only when a concrete bond is created by exposure
to the social & intellectual symptoms of a process of dynamic destabilization,
i.e. a common historic event |
|
| |
A grp of people of the same age has the potential of becoming a gen
because of the potential of being sucked into the vortex of social change |
|
| |
GEN UNITS ARE SUB GRPS OF GENS W/ COMMON EXPERIENCES |
|
| |
Even w/in the same gen, separate units which emerge in response to
a historical stimulus experience by all |
|
| |
The generational unit represents a more concrete bond than the typical
gen |
|
| |
The genl unit is not necessarily a grp since members may not come into
contact w/ each other |
|
| |
Members of a genl unit respond similarly to the situations in which
they participate & share an affinity for certain ideas & ways of
viewing their world |
|
| |
Within any gen there exists a number of differentiated & antagonistic
gen units |
|
| |
Thus a soc analysis explores the mutual relationship of class, ideology,
& gen |
|
Internal
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Top
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External
Links
|
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AN IDEOLOGY IS A WAY OF THINKING, A WORLDVIEW |
|
| |
An ideology is a particular system of ideas, a characteristic
way of thinking of a people, a group, or a person especially on social
& political topics |
|
| |
An ideology is a system of thought based on related assumptions, beliefs,
& explanations of social movements or policies |
|
| |
Ideologies are mental systems of beliefs about reality |
|
| |
An ideology may be understood as a "world view" |
|
| |
Ideology & culture are very similar in meaning. The definition
for ideology asserts that the knowledge, beliefs, & values shared by
a society give legitimacy to the social structure |
|
| |
An ideology is a system of ideas that is pre conscious that often embodies
a rationalization of motivations |
|
| |
IDEOLOGIES COMBINE ALL FACETS OF SOCIAL EXISTENCE |
|
| |
An ideology's content may be economic, political, philosophical, or
religious |
|
| |
Some ideologies, such as communism & socialism, refer to econ &
political systems |
|
| |
Other ideologies are capitalism, democracy, fascism, feminism, Protestantism,
racism, Roman Catholicism, totalitarianism, & more |
|
| |
Ideologies do not rely equally on factual info in supporting their
beliefs |
|
| |
People who accept an entire thought system usually reject all other
systems concerned w/ the same content |
|
| |
To such people, only conclusions based on their ideology seem logical
& correct |
|
| |
people strongly committed to an ideology have difficulty understanding
& communicating w/ supporters of a conflicting ideology |
|
| |
Conflicting ideologies held by various nations, social classes, or
religious groups have led to the world's greatest & most dangerous
controversies |
|
| |
For example, World War 2 was largely a struggle btwn democratic &
totalitarian nations |
|
| |
IDEOLOGIES HAVE SOCIAL POSITIONS, I.E. EXIST IN A HISTL
CONTEXT |
|
| |
Ideologies have a "social position" in that they often support
or justify a party, class, or group |
|
| |
Ideology & contextual knowledge: Because we all have an ideology,
& our own personal historical context true knowledge is impossible |
|
| |
Epistemology is the sociology of knowledge or how knowledge
is socially created |
|
| |
Conflict theorists, Marxists, etc. believe that, narrowly speaking,
consciousness, or broadly speaking, ideology, is shaped by the interaction
of material ( working ) conditions & the dominant culture in which
one finds oneself |
|
| |
A major focus of conflict theory is the examination of ideology which
is a world view, including knowledge, opinions, etc. |
|
| |
For conflict theorists, our ideology is that part of our culture of
which we are generally, but not specifically aware |
|
| |
Ideology is important to conflict theorists because they seek an end
to class domination, & to achieve that end, people must first understand
that they are exploited, & desire to end that exploitation |
|
|
|
Social scientists know that their is an interaction of ideology &
social position, but they do not agree on how that interaction operates |
i
|
|
|
The materialists believe that one's social position determines
ideology |
|
|
|
The idealists believe that one's ideology determines social
position |
|
| |
The conflict theorist / Marxist view is that social position determines
one's view of society, i.e., one's world view or ideology |
|
| |
Montesquieu first developed the concept of the "contextualization"
of knowledge as seen in many contemporary theories of ideology |
|
| |
MARX: CLASS DETERMINES CONSCIOUSNESS |
|
| |
Marx developed an analysis which held that class determines
consciousness through a process that follows FOUR steps |
|
| |
a. labor determines class |
|
| |
b. labor & class determine consciousness |
|
| |
c. what you do, determines how you think |
|
| |
d. you are what you do |
|
| |
Marx developed an analysis which held that through the creative process
of our labor, we develop an ideology which embodies the adage that "you
are what you do" |
|
| |
CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS IS AN UNDERSTANDING OF YOUR OWN BEST
INTEREST |
|
| |
Class consciousness occurs when a group of people w/ a common
self interest correctly perceive that interest & develop beliefs, values,
& norms consistent w/ advancing that interest |
|
| |
Class consciousness occurs when subordinate groups do
not accept ideology of the dominant group, but accept ideology
relevant to their own interests |
|
| |
THE DOMINANT CLASS' IDEOLOGY USUALLY DOMINANTS |
|
| |
The ideology of the dominant group or class is often the most prominent
ideology |
|
| |
People accept the ideology of the dominant groups in society &
so accept their values & do not pursue their own self interest |
|
| |
Much of social analysis concerns
a. the nature of the dominant group's ideology
b. why people accept the dominant group's ideology
c. how the dominant group's ideology is disseminated |
|
| |
STRUGGLES OCCUR OVER IDEOLOGY & MATERIAL RESOURCES |
|
| |
For many social theorists, culture, ideology, etc. cause conflict |
|
| |
For many social theorists, cultural belief systems, ideology, ethnicity
& religion, can cause a lot of conflict |
|
| |
Ideological struggle has gone by various names such as:
a. the culture wars
b. the struggle for the hearts & minds
c. religious wars |
|
| |
When analyzing these ideological struggles, one must also examine material
/ economic struggles |
|
|
Link
|
Examples of ideological & material struggles |
|
Examples of ideological
& material struggles
Israeli - Arab conflict: religion & land
Black - White conflict: some amorphous ideology of race/culture
& equal opportunity rights
Catholics & Protestants in No Ireland: religion & land
& equal opportunity rights
PW
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Internal
Links
Top
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External
Links
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|
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A UTOPIA IS A PERFECT WORLD CREATED ON EARTH |
|
| |
Utopia is the name commonly given to an imaginary land where everything
is supposed to be perfect |
|
| |
The name utopia comes from the Greek words meaning no place |
|
| |
The name refers particularly to a society w/ ideal econ & social
conditions |
|
| |
People often apply the word utopian to plans of reform that they consider
impractical & visionary |
|
| |
THOMAS MORE BASES UTOPIA ON A PERFECT GOVT |
|
| |
The word utopia was used as the title of a famous book by Saint Thomas
More |
|
| |
Utopia was first published in Latin in 1516 & was translated
into English in 1551 |
|
| |
The book gives More's views on the ideal govt |
|
| |
But, like most writings on utopias, the book also criticizes social
& economic conditions of More's times |
|
| |
OTHER NARRATIVES OF UTOPIA EXAMINE SOCIAL PERFECTIONS & IMPERFECTIONS |
|
| |
Several other books have presented an imaginary ideal state of society |
|
|
|
One of the first books describing a utopia was Plato's Republic (375
BC) |
|
| |
More recent utopias are described in Samuel Butler's Erewhon (1872),
& Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward (1888) |
|
| |
Several novels have explored imperfect world's, i.e. dystopias |
|
| |
Examples of dystopias include 1984, Animal Farm, etc. |
|
| |
FOR SOCIAL SCIENTISTS UTOPIA IS CREATED THROUGH HUMAN PLANNING /
EFFORTS |
|
|
|
Mannheim believed that both Marxism & Christianity were utopian
doctrines, meaning that he thought they were non pragmatic & not functional
for society |
|
| |
However, Mannheim believed that components of each were rational &
functional, visa vie his conception of the 'New Christianity' which he
observed was emerging in the West in the post WW 2 epoch |
|
| |
The West is so concerned w/ its natural needs, the rejection of both
Marxism & Christianity is due to an opposite construction, to their
subordination of nature to history |
|
| |
People, according to both Marxism & Christianity, live not in nature
but in history |
|
| |
Mannheim awarded Marxism the honor of being the last utopian worldview
of Western culture before the socio genetic analysis of sociology &
psychoanalysis together closed off the future of illusions |
|
Internal
Links
Top
|
|
Outline on Mannheim
on Ideology & Utopia
|
|
External
Links
|
| |
INTRO: CONSERVATIVES & LIBERALS CREATE FLAWED WORLDVIEWS OF
IDEOLOGIES & UTOPIAN IDEAS, RESPECTIVELY |
|
| |
Btwn ideology, the false worldview produced by conservatives, &
utopia, the false worldview produced by liberals, there is at leas the
possibility of completely realistic though that functions w/o friction
w/in the given frameworks of life |
|
|
|
EXISTENCE DETERMINES THOUGHT |
|
| |
Mannheim believes that it is the conditions of people's social existence
which tends to determine their social consciousness |
|
| |
People act w/ & against one another in diversely organized grps,
& while doing so they think w/ & against one another |
|
| |
Depending on the position people occupy in the social structure &
their consciousness of that position, they join grps & strive to either
change or preserve the conditions of their existence |
|
| |
Like Marx, Mannheim protests the separation of thought from action |
|
| |
The unity of theory & action must be recognized & restored
so we gain a fuller consciousness of the consequences of our acts |
|
| |
For Marx, theory was to guide people in changing the world |
|
| |
For Mannheim, theory was to provide scientific guidance for action
directed toward social changer, what what he called planning for freedom |
|
| |
The ultimate determination of truth is found in the investigation of
the object or situation in that in the pragmatic sense, does it work |
|
| |
ANALYSIS OF THE EXISTENCE BASED ORIGINS OF THOUGHT DOES NOT REVEAL
THE TRUTH OF A THOUGHT |
|
| |
Relating people's ideas to the location they occupy in the soc structure
is not to address their truth & validity |
|
| |
Mannheim's theories can explain to us the nature & origin of ideas
but not whether they are true or false |
|
| |
In the modern era w/ the great social mobility & communication
of the capitalist era, a decisive change did take place |
|
| |
Forms of thought & experience, which had earlier developed independently,
enter into one & the same consciousness impelling the mind to discover
the irreconciability of the conflicting conceptions of the world |
|
| |
The greater mobility, communication, & conflict which accompanied
capitalist development brought democratization |
|
| |
Democratization gave the thinking of the lower strata a greater public
significance |
|
| |
Pragmatism is an attempt to formalize the thinking of the lower strata |
|
| |
A new grp today is the 'free intelligentsia who are recruited from
constantly varying social strata & life situations & their mode
of thought is no longer subject to regulation by a caste like org |
|
| |
THE 3 APPROACHES TO UNDERSTANDING KNOWLEDGE & TRUTH ARE:
EPISTEMOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY, & SOCIOLOGY |
|
| |
There are three approaches to understanding knowledge & truth:
the epistemological, the psychological, & the sociological |
|
|
|
Epistemological theories of knowledge are part of the philosophic debates
btwn the idealists & the materialist, the realists & the nominalists,
the empiricists & the rationalists, etc. |
|
| |
Epistemology questioned whether sensory experience as explored by Locke
is the basis of knowledge & truth |
|
| |
Epistemology questioned whether fundamental features of reality such
as time, space, causality, etc. as described by Kant mediates the experiential
basis of knowledge & truth |
|
| |
Mannheim sided w/ Kant except that the qualities that impact our knowledge
& truth are not fundamental universals, but rather social products
that emerge as a result of our class, ideological, generational experiences |
|
| |
The psychological approach emphasizes that biographical data are important
for understanding why we think what we think |
|
| |
But the psych approaches limitations are that it can never fully explain
why a person thinks what they think |
|
| |
To understand thought, one must examine biography, social structure,
& history in a sociological analysis |
|
| |
The merit of sociology is that it sets alongside the individual genesis
of meaning the genesis from the context of grp life |
|
| |
IDEOLOGY IS THE WORLDVIEW OF OPPRESSIONS |
|
| |
The conditions of existence & the conflict of interests btwn oppressors
& oppressed engender antithetical mvmts of thought |
|
| |
For Mannheim the thought forms of the oppressors is ideology |
|
| |
UTOPIA IS THE WORLDVIEW OF THE OPPRESSED |
|
| |
For Mannheim the thought forms of the oppressed is utopia |
|
| |
Early Christian though was utopian in that it expressed the resentment
of the oppressed |
|
| |
The resentment of the Christians was sublimated into a mere psychic
rebellion |
|
| |
IDEOLOGY & UTOPIA ARE SITUATIONALLY DETERMINED |
|
| |
Both ideological thought & utopian thought are thus situationally
determined in the sense that |
|
| |
a. each reflects the different conditions of existence
of rulers & ruled |
|
| |
b. oppressors & oppressed |
|
| |
c. upper & lower strata |
|
| |
d. each reflects the interests of its carriers |
|
| |
PARTICULAR IDEOLOGY IS ONE PERSON'S WORLDVIEW |
|
| |
Ideology has particular & total aspects |
|
| |
Particular ideology refers to the conscious disguises of the real nature
of the situation, the true recognition of which would not be in accord
w/ one's interests |
|
| |
The distortions of the particular ideology range from conscious lies
to half conscious & unwitting disguises; from calculated attempts to
dupe others to self deception |
|
| |
Particular ideology, i.e. psychological ideology deals w/ an individual
& unmasks him / her by discovering the true personal interests he /
she hides or denies |
|
| |
TOTAL IDEOLOGY IS THE WORLDVIEW OF A CLASS |
|
| |
Total ideology refers to the total world view of a class or epoch which
are the ideas & categories of thought which are bound p w/ the existential
conditions of that class or epoch |
|
| |
Total ideology questions the opponents worldview & attempts to
understand these concepts as an outgrowth of the collective life of which
they partake |
|
| |
Examples of total ideology are conservatism, bourgeois liberal ideology,
etc. |
|
| |
When people express these ideas, it is not as a matter of deceit or
interests, but an expression of the outlook of a whole grp whose existential
circumstances they share |
|
| |
SPECIAL SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS DISCOVERS THE ORIGINS OF ONE'S OPPONENTS
WORLDVIEW |
|
| |
Total ideology requires special & general sociological analyses |
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| |
Special soc analysis discovers the situational determination of its
opponents' ideas while remaining unaware that its own thought is also influenced
by the social situation |
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GENERAL SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS DISCOVERS THE ORIGINS OF ONE'S OPPONENTS
& ONE'S OWN WORLDVIEWS |
|
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General soc analysis when one examines both the opponents, & their
own pts of view to analysis |
|
| |
Gen soc analysis investigates all pts of view in a non evaluative manner
w/ judgments suspended |
|
| |
The soc analyst strives to understand other pts of view not from the
absolute location of their own position, but simply in relation to their
own position |
|
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The question of which social standpoint offers the best chance for
reaching an optimum of truth still remains but the social basis of an ideas
& its validity are two separate questions & soc analysis focuses
on the social basis not the truth of though systems |
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All pts of view, including one's own, are partial & one sided so
one must consider many contending view pts which are also related to their
respective social situations |
|
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Through the consideration of multiple pts of view the one sidedness
of ones' own pt of view is counteracted & conflicting intellectual
positions may come to supplement one another |
|
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The gen soc analysis allows one to employ a variety of perspectives |
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MANNHEIM BELIEVES THAT PERSPECTIVES / IDEOLOGIES CAN ALL SUPPLEMENT
EACH OTHER |
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Weber believed that Marx's perspective was useful for understanding
histl change & his own perspective supplemented it |
|
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With Weber & Marx, one partial truth supplemented another |
|
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Gen soc analysis should be based on facts |
|
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However objective an analysis may be, there is always a subjective
evaluation inherent in it, but one stratum of society was more capable
than any other of becoming conscious of its evaluations, & that was
the intelligentsia |
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Internal
Links
Top
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Outline on Mannheim
on the Intelligentsia
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External
Links
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THE INTELLIGENTSIA IS AN AGGREGATE OF INTELLECTUALS THAT HAS THE
CAPACITY TO EMBRACE MULTIPLE VIEW PTS |
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The intelligentsia is the intellectual aggregate w/in a society, where
aggregate implies the isolation or non unity of the grp, as compared to
the unity of a class |
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The more common meaning of intelligentsia is the class or body of persons
representing, or professing to represent, the superior intelligence or
enlightened opinions of the country or public or political questions |
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The intelligentsia in general uses is a grp of persons professing or
affecting special enlightenment in views or principle |
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Only the comparatively uncommitted intelligentsia is likely to approach
nearer the truth |
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From its special & particularly favorable vantage pt, it could,
& should, elaborate a 'total perspective' which would synthesize the
conflicting contemporary world views & thereby neutralize, & to
some extent overcome their one sidedness |
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The dynamic synthesis of the intelligentsia's vantage pt of multiple
/ total perspective is the nearest possible approximation to a truly realistic
attitude, w/in the limitations imposed in a given epoch |
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The intelligentsia is a classless aggregation which became a satellite
of one or another of the existing classes & parties |
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The intelligentsia is not a class because they:
a. have no common interests
b. cannot form a separate party
c. are incapable of common & concerted action
d. do not have a common relationship to the means of production,
e.g. profs, scientists, writers, etc. |
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The intelligentsia are ideologues of this or that class but never speak
for themselves |
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The intelligentsia was btwn, but not above, the classes |
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Intellectuals are not a superior stratum nor does their peculiar social
position assure any grater validity for their perspectives |
|
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Their position does enable them to do something others cannot do which
is ability to view the problems of the day in several perspectives |
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THE INTELLIGENTSIA IS USUALLY PARTISAN |
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From case to case, the intellectual may act as a partisan & align
her or himself w/ a class |
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For Mannheim, the intelligentsia has the the potential to adopt a variety
of perspectives, but that does not mean they will |
|
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The intelligentsia are no better able to overcome their own class interests
than other gps |
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Thus intelligentsia are 'relatively unattached' in that they may or
may not be unattached from their or other grps interests |
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Intelligentsia do not react as uniformly to a situation as, for example,
workers do |
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Certain types of intellectuals have a maximum opportunity to test &
employ the socially available vistas & to experience their inconsistencies |
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THE INTELLIGENTSIA IS NOT A CLASS & IS NOT ORGANICALLY ATTACHED
TO ANY CLASS |
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When Mannheim describes the intelligentsia as 'relatively unattached'
he is emphasizing the fact that after the Mid Ages, the intelligentsia
became increasingly emancipated from the upper class & yet were unaligned
w/ the lower classes |
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Salons & coffee houses were the first institutions where intellectuals
were discernibly free & detached |
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Salons enabled people of different social backgrounds, views, stations,
& allegiances to mingle, & entry to the salon required social acceptability
& was in that sense restricted |
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The coffee houses were open to all & thus became the first centers
of opinion in a partially democratized society |
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Membership & participation were not now determined by rank &
family but by intellectual interests & shared opinions |
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In the modern era, some intellectuals are able to escape a relationship
of dependence on local habitat, institution, class, & party |
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The detachment of the intelligentsia is not absolute in that some writers,
some scholars, some scientists 'enjoy' a relatively uncommitted position |
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The non committal intelligentsia has positive & negative aspects
in that while the intellectual has a potentially wider view, & is potentially
less blinded by particular interests & commitments, he lack the restraints
& experience of real life |
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The intelligentsia is more inclined to generate ideas w/o testing them
in practice |
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The intelligentsia loses touch w/ reality & forgets that a main
purpose of thought is the orientation of action |
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BUREAUCRATIZATION / RATIONALIZATION POSES THREATS TO THE INTELLIGENTSIA |
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Bureaucratization of all aspects of social life, as delineated by Weber,
applied not only to wkrs, but also to scientists & scholars |
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For Mannheim, the dangers of bureaucratization / rationalization include
that: |
|
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a. the intelligentsia is being separated from the means
of production |
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b. the intelligentsia is subject to specialization which
narrows the compass of thought & activity, discourages the will to
dissent & innovate |
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c. more research, thinking, & scholarship is now carried
out in the contest of large orgs, private & governmental |
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Other features of the bureaucratization of the intelligentsia include
the: |
|
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a. commercialization of research |
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b. elimination of the security of freedom of intellectual
exploration via the elimination of tenure |
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c. development of intellectual property rights which are
used to make ideas the property of corps |
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d. consolidation of the publishing industry |
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The bureaucratic / rationalistic control of the intelligentsia is creating
what Mannheim called intellectual desiccation |
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THE ROLE OF THE INTELLIGENTSIA IS POWERLESS YET INFLUENTIAL |
|
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The intelligentsia retains its role of diagnostic, constructive, &
critical thinking |
|
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The intelligentsia's role does not follow naturally from its social
position |
|
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It is only by a conscious & deliberate commitment that the intellectual
can prevent her affiliation w/ parties & orgs from resulting in self
abnegation |
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Intellectuals are powerless & yet they play an influential role
in the preservation of freedom & the reconstruction of society |
|
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The intelligentsia has no power in that they have little direct authority
over the major levers of power in society; in that they generally are not
politicians or govt agents & so have no state power, & they are
not in the UC & so have no power in the econ sector of society |
|
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The intelligentsia has influence well beyond it because of their
education & the scientific authority which expertise conveys on them |
|
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The major holders of power in society, eg the UC, politicians, &
govt agents typically recruit a particular intellectual or their 'think
tank' to support their positions & in this way, the power &
influence of these parties & the chosen intellectual is magnified |
|
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Some intellectuals are so far outside the norm that no one from the
UC, politicians, & govt agents will embrace or utilize their pt of
view |
|
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Some of these radical intellectuals have, never the less, through the
strength & persistence of their intellectual power & arguments,
managed to have significant influence on the world |
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Examples of main stream intellectuals include Daniel Patrick Moynihan
(who was also a Senator) |
|
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Examples of radical intellectuals include Noam Chompsky |
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Internal
Links
Top
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Outline on Mannheim
on Reconstruction
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|
External
Links
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MODERNIZATION MADE IT INCREASING POSSIBLE FOR A SMALL GRP TO CONTROL
SOCIETY |
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Mannheim wrote btwn the decades of the Russian Rev (1917) & the
rise & fall of Nazism 1947 |
|
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Following Weber, Mannheim believed that even in democratic nations,
the growing bureaucratization of crucial sectors of society was an inexorable
process |
|
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Bureaucratization undermined democracy because it separated the people
from the means of power & brought about the dominance of small minorities
under capitalism as well as communism |
|
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In the 1700s & the early 1800s, democracy was based on the military
power of the people |
|
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In the 1900s the growing scale & concentration of military tech
made it possible for large numbers of people to be intimidated, terrorized,
& killed by efficient, large scale means of destruction under the control
of dominant minorities |
|
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The military significance of small arms, barricades, & population
size diminished by the power of the people declined accordingly |
|
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VISA VIE WEBER, BUREAUCRACY ALLOWS FOR A CONCENTRATION OF POWER |
|
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Bureaucracies strive for functional rationality & suppress all
forms of substantial rationality |
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Functional, aka formal rationality requires of the subordination of
one's mind & self to a thing or mechanical process |
|
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Formal rat is the use of organizational structures (usually bureaucracy)
which constrain people to act in a rational manner in their choice of means
to ends |
|
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Substantive rationality requires that people strive to master a situation
& adapt it to their conscious ends |
|
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Substantive rationality is the dominance of norms & values in the
rational choice of means to ends |
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See Also: Rationality |
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The main trend in modern indl society is bureaucratization, or increasing
formal rationalization |
|
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PEOPLE ARE LOSING POWER TO BUREAUCRACY & RATIONALIZATION |
|
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Bureaucratization, & formal rationalization does not raise the
capacity of Everyperson for independent judgment, & is in fact paralyzing
& destroying it |
|
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The average individual has little or no understanding of her condition,
& in effect has turned over to small dominant grps the responsibility
for making decisions |
|
| |
Bureaucratization, rationalization, dominance by a ruling minority
increased the distance btwn the elite & the masses, & increased
the 'appeal to the leader' which has become so widespread |
|
| |
With a reduced capacity for independent thinking, & accustomed
to following blindly, the average person is reduced to a state of 'terrified
helplessness' & impotence when the system collapses |
|
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Given little capacity for independent thinking & blind followership
create widespread eruptions of irrational behavior whenever their is a
disruption of the social system such as an econ recession or a major storm |
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For Mannheim, people are inherently neither rational nor irrational
& which type of conduct will prevail depends on the situational context |
|
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Uncontrolled outbursts & psychic regression were more likely to
occur in the mass indl society than in small grps |
|
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Formal rat of human behavior in indl society brings a series of repressions
& renunciations of impulsive satisfaction which remain repressed so
long as the system works smoothly |
|
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With any breakdown of society, the repress impulses assert themselves
as wild & powerful irrational outbursts which yield people nothing
but which are successfully harnessed by the leaders |
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THE SOLUTION TO DISEMPOWERMENT IS SOCIAL PLANNING |
|
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The solution to the disempowerment of people via bureaucratization
& rationalization which lead to irrational impulses when the system
has problems, & when such impulses are harnessed by the dominant grp
is social, esp econ, planning |
|
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The laissez faire liberal must recognize that their classic doctrine
is flawed in that it is the planlessness of contemporary society that is
the cause of econ crises & the breakdown of the social order |
|
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Mannheim advocates planning, not in the formal sense which tends toward
totalitarianism, but in the democratic planning sense |
|
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Liberals must be made to understand that planning need not take the
totalitarian form |
|
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For Mannheim, Marxists must recognized that class conflict, revolution,
& working class power are not the preconditions for a new society |
|
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Mannheim recognizes that we have progressed so far as to be able to
plan society & even plan people themselves, but this means society
also must plan those who are to do the planning |
|
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The problem of who plans or controls the planners is one of the most
difficult problems of modern society |
|
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Mannheim reluctantly admits that responsible elites need to be involved
in controlling the planners |
|
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The responsible elites should plan for the whole society & then
bear responsibility for it |
|
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The masses always take the form which the creative minority controlling
societies choose to give them |
|
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An elitist conception of democracy is characteristic of all of Mannheim's
work on planning |
|
| |
SOCIETY MUST LEARN FROM TOTALITARIANISM ABOUT HOW TO MAINTAIN DEMOCRATIC
IDEALS |
|
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The hi degree of bureaucratization of the crucial sectors of society
is here to stay |
|
| |
The concentration of power is an irreversible process, though decentralization
here & there may be possible |
|
| |
Periodic econ crises & other crises such as war, terrorist attacks,
major storms, etc. all have weakened the liberal political order |
|
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The working class & its leaders are divided among themselves &
seem incapable of stopping fascism |
|
| |
The unemployed restless masses have come under the sway of dictators
who threaten to envelop the whole world in a devastating war |
|
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The only choice is to learn what one can from the totalitarian states,
namely, planning & other social techniques, & to apply them as
democratically as possible tow the maintenance of order |
|
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Planned persuasion should be used, not for stirring up strife, but
for encouraging behavior on which all our hopes of peace, cooperation,
& understanding |
|
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Mannheim advocates the use of persuasion techniques w/ caution because
a small minority, w/ so much power over all others is dangerous,
but there is no alternative |
|
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INTELLIGENTSIA ARE INDEPENDENT & THEREFORE ARE A SOURCE OF TRUTH
& ALLEGIANCE TO DEMOCRATIC IDEALS |
|
| |
Since intellectual have no power, the only option is for them to become
ideological spokespeople for one or another grp |
|
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The role of the 'relatively unattached intellectual' was to impart
scientific sociological knowledge to the various elites so that they might
govern wisely & benevolently |
|
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The intellectuals would become an integral part of the planning authority |
|
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Mannheim's approach to social change is reminiscent to that of St Simon
which is positivistic, technocratic, paternalistic, & elitist |
|
| |
The planning authority should decide on empirical grounds what influence
to use in a given situation, basing judgments of the scientific study of
society, coupled w/ sociological experiments |
|
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CRITIQUE: MANNHEIM HAS WEAK DEMOCRATIC PROPOSALS |
|
| |
For Zeitlin, Mannheim's proposal for the intelligentsia aiding the
elite to rule in a humane manner has sinister implications |
|
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Mannheim is naively technocratic |
|
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It is naive to believe that planning is simply a matter of applying
scientific knowledge |
|
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Social change require little more than intelligent social engineering |
|
| |
Somehow, science & the good will of the elites would be sufficient
to bring about a higher organic solidarity & Mannheim relies on Durkheim's
thesis for the theoretical support |
|
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A new consensus must emerge planned by the scientific & power elites
& the sole reason social techniques is to influence human behavior
as society thinks fit |
|
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Nowhere does Mannheim make provisions for a genuinely democratic decision
making process by which the members of society may determine their own
fate |
|
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SOCIETY IS MOVING FORWARD & BACKWARD W/ REGARD TO DEMOCRACY |
|
| |
Since Mannheim's time, soc mvmts, NGOs, etc. have arisen which have
imparted more power to the people |
|
| |
Given the 'Reagan Revolution' & defederalization, i.e. an increase
in state power & the decrease in fed regulatory agencies, there has
been less econ planning |
|
| |
The mid class has never embraced any econ planning that would benefit
them because the upper class has convinced them that the best econ is unregulated,
i.e. a laissez fair econ, while the govt's participation in planning for
the elites remains out of the picture |
|
| |
The elites still embrace econ planning, when it is in their own interest
as seen in 2008 when the Fed Res Bank offers profit guarantees to JP Morgan
in its buyout of Bear Sterns |
|
Internal
Links
Top
|
|
Outline on Mannheim
on a Diagnosis of Our Time
|
|
External
Links
|
| |
- Project: The Third Way |
Link
|
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THERE IS A NEW, NON UTOPIAN PATH FOR SOCIETY TO ADVANCE |
|
| |
Because conservatives have a distorted worldview as embodied in ideology,
& because liberals have a distorted worldview as embodied in utopian
ideas, Mannheim forges a third way where realistic thought functions w/o
friction w/in the contemporary context |
|
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The third way is set neither on pushing forward nor on holding back
the development of society |
|
| |
There is a strong tendency toward the polarization of society into
hostile camps & only the comparatively uncommitted intelligentsia is
likely to approach nearer the truth |
|
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HISTL EVENTS HAVE THEIR 'MOMENT' & THIS IS THE MOMENT FOR A
NEW SOCIETY TO EMERGE |
|
|
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Mannheim held that just as the revolutionary waits for his hour, the
reformer whose concern it is to remold society by peaceful means must seize
his passing chance |
|
| |
Mannheim believe that post WW2 England had the chance & the mission
to develop a new pattern of society |
|
| |
The concentration of power & the growing scale of organization
were an undeniable tendency in all spheres of society including the econ,
political, military, the media, & communications |
|
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SOCIAL TECHNIQUES ARE METHODS TO GUIDE, DEVELOP, EDUCATE, LEAD,
CONTROL, ETC., THE PEOPLE |
|
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Mannheim refereed to 'social techniques' to describe the various political
& social techniques of social control that had developed since WW1 |
|
| |
The new means of social control now allowed small grps in key positions
of power to control large masses of people |
|
| |
A few people strategically placed could make decisions affecting the
lives & fate of the vast majority |
|
| |
Social techniques had acquired a fundamental importance, perhaps even
more fundamental to society than the econ structure or the social strat
of a given order |
|
| |
Social techniques can hamper or remodel the working of the econ system,
destroy social classes & set others in their place |
|
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LAISSEZ FAIRE SOCIETY WAS APT TO EVOLVE TO TOTALITARIANISM |
|
| |
After he immigrated to the UK in 1933, Mannheim argues that a completely
unregulated society, such as he thought liberalism had created in Germany
& the rest of the West, was apt to produce its own opposite, totalitarian
dictatorship |
|
| |
To secure the values of democracy, it was necessary to avoid the weaknesses
of both totalitarianism & liberalism, the first & second ways |
|
| |
As a viable synthesis, Mannheim advocated "planning for freedom," which
he called the third way |
|
| |
The third way proposed a social system which would insure econ stability
by regulating the more objective aspects of life, such as production, but
at the same time grant freedom to people's subjective strivings, for example,
in matters of taste, thereby releasing cultural creativity |
|
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In relation to regulating the more objective aspects of life, Mannheim
became interested in education as the prime means of radical democratization |
|
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SOCIETY CANNOT RETURN TO THE PAST, OR ACCEPT TOTALITARIANISM, &
THUS PLANNING FOR FREEDOM IS THE WAY |
|
| |
Society cannot go back to the decentralized, small scale social org
of the past |
|
| |
The concentration of power accompanying modern developments fostered
oligarchy & even dictatorship, but these are not necessary outcomes |
|
| |
The periodic breakdowns of the econ system & the resulting social
upheavals make it evident that social life in modern mass society requires
planning |
|
| |
The partial planning in effect in the formal rationalization of many
areas of social life is clearly not what is require |
|
| |
Planning must be democratic & guided by substantial rationality
Mannheim tried to persuade the public that laissez faire policy was now
a useless & even dangerous doctrine & that planning need not be
totalitarian |
|
| |
SOCIAL CONTROL TECHNIQUES CAN BE USED TO FOSTER TOTALITARIANISM
OR
FREEDOM |
|
| |
The third way, using social control techniques for the benevolent mgt
of society, is compatible w/ democracy & freedom |
|
| |
Mannheim's third way is a mixture of Keynesian & social democratic
measures |
|
| |
Mannheim is hoping that the elites will recognize their wisdom &
act upon them |
|
| |
It was clearer than ever that when 'left alone,' the econ system generated
greater inequalities in wealth & income, or in 'life chances' than
ever before |
|
|
|
Not only was the laissez faire econ sys unjust, it lead to social tension,
conflict, revolutionary upheavals, & dictatorship |
|
| |
Social justice as well as class cooperation & social peace could
be achieved by a conscious & deliberate diminution of differences in
wealth & opportunity |
|
| |
The wealthy & advantaged have to be enlightened enough to make
some sacrifices |
|
| |
If the elites embrace the third way, they may be able to hold onto
a reasonable amt of their wealth |
|
| |
If the elites do not embrace the third way, they may lose it all |
|
| |
JUSTICE CAN BE ACHIEVED THROUGH THE USE OF EXISTING TECHNIQUES |
|
| |
The move to justice has the advantage that it can be achieved by the
existing means of reform, through taxation, control of investment, public
works, & the radical extension of social services |
|
| |
The third way does not call for revolutionary interference, which would
lead at once to dictatorship |
|
| |
With such means, & the active cooperation of the liberal &
conservative intelligentsia, & the Church could be enlisted |
|
| |
The third way requires the militant & systematic inclusion of basic
values of Western society of social justice, freedom, neighborly love,
mutual help, decency, respect of the individual, etc. |
|
| |
THE THIRD WAY REQUIRES BUY IN FROM ALL CLASSES |
|
| |
The third way requires more than just the assent of the elites, it
also required the support of the working class & its leaders |
|
| |
Mannheim shared the illusion of his time that wartime class cooperation
would continue after the war, but this proved not to be true |
|
| |
The Great Depression & WW2 had encouraged a strong sense of cooperation
& fear of totalitarianism & Mannheim hoped both of these would
grow during the period of reconstruction |
|
| |
Mannheim observed that revolutionary upheavals are more likely to result
in dictatorships than in a good society & therefore social critics
should be reformists, not revolutionaries |
|
| |
The chances of revs & fascism are slight as soon as a united party
has coordinated all the key positions is capable of preventing any
organized resistance |
|
| |
EDUCATION FOR FREEDOM IS REQUIRED, FORMALLY & INFORMALLY,
ON ALL LEVELS OF SOCIETY |
|
| |
Mannheim's proposal for peaceful social changer require
general goodwill, class cooperation, & the rational mobilization of
resources guided by the knowledge of the soc sciences |
|
| |
Soc science knowledge is an aid to those who govern, but it can also
aid the governed |
|
| |
Ed in general, but esp in the science of society can help the governed
check the arbitrariness of the leaders |
|
| |
The leaders need to understand that the uneducated & uniformed
masses are a greater danger to the maintenance of order than classes w/
a conscious orientation & reasonable expectation |
|
| |
Ed for democratic planning is essential at all age levels, but esp
for the young |
|
| |
The totalitarian states of Russia, German, Italy, Japan demonstrated
that the point of the ed of the youth is that their great energy can be
guided toward constructive goals |
|
| |
A nationwide youth mvmt could be organized w/ a common worldview that
would cut across class lines |
|
| |
Mannheim called for a new type of awareness, not the partial class
awareness that furthers class conflict, but a total awareness in which
one considers general interests as much as one considers one's special
interests |
|
| |
The new consensus would not preclude class conflict; rather it would
lend it a democratic & peaceful form |
|
| |
Democracy is essentially a method of social change, the institutionalization
of the belief that adjustment to changing reality & the reconciliation
of diverse interests can be brought about by conciliatory means, w/ the
help of discussion, bargaining, integral consensus |
|
| |
Class struggle preserves democracy |
|
| |
To make democracy safe is not to exclusion of social struggle, but
that it should be fought out by methods of reform |
|
| |
The wkrs should realize by now that a society w/o a governing class
is an unrealizable fantasy |
|
| |
The goal should be the improvement of the econ, social, political,
& educational opportunities for people to train themselves for leadership,
& improvement of the method of the selection of the best in the various
fields |
|
| |
SOCIETY CAN MEASURE WHETHER SOCIAL CONTROL TECHNIQUES ARE SUCCEEDING |
|
| |
There are 3 criteria by which one could judge whether a society was
succeeding in the implementation of his proposals: |
|
| |
a. social control, discipline, & repression are steadily
reduced to an absolute minimum |
|
| |
b. controls & prohibitions are democratically decided
upon & are above all 'humane' |
|
| |
c. institutions are designed to help the individual make
his way but also to come to the rescue of those who have failed |
|
|
|
THE THIRD WAY, I.E. REFORM, LIES BTWN THE STATUS QUO & REVOLUTION |
|
| |
Mannheim's third way lies btwn the extremes of the same old routines
& those who demand fundamental social changes |
|
| |
In relation to the status quo, planning counteracts the dangers of
mass society, i.e. social unrest |
|
| |
The elites must embrace their sense of justice & realize that their
long term interests can only be achieved by freeing the masses & involving
them, democratically, in the planning of society |
|
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The socialists must embrace the fact that revolution may have been
appropriate under the conditions of the 1800s, but in the 1900s, w/ the
power of social controls, rev only leads to totalitarianism & therefore
reform not rev is the way forward |
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The withering away of the state is occurs as the absolutist regimes
of feudalism & early cap in the 1800s were giving way to democratic
regimes |
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The econ collapses, revolutions, & the wars of the 1900s demonstrates
that such collapses were followed by a strengthening of the state, not
a withering |
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The social control techniques available to the elites are so efficient
& powerful as to render rev against any totalitarian power nearly hopeless |
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No estbed totalitarian regime, can be broken from wi/in; it takes an
external war to unseat it |
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THE SUCCESS / EXPANSION OF THE MID CLASS IS THE BASE OF SOCIAL PLANNING |
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In the UK, the main social base of planning would be the large
middle class |
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The mid class w/ democratic institutions & traditions makes it
more likely that planning is acceptable to the majority, excluding the
reactionaries / conservatives who want to return to the past & the
radicals / revolutionaries who want a new, socialist regime |
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THE THIRD WAY REQUIRES INTL PEACE |
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Increasing social justice by means of democratic social planning required
intl peace |
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People of Mannheim's era looked forward to the defeat of fascism &
the transformation of the wartime coalitions into a lasting peacetime alliance,
but as hist has shown, this optimistic vision was not to be |
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Mannheim & others were searching for, hoped for what William James
called a moral substitute for war |
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The horrors of the War did launch the UN, but it to proved to be a
weak substitute for the dreams the post War social critics had |
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INTL PEACE CAN BE ACHIEVED THROUGH A BALANCE OF POWER |
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Since the third way is unthinkable under conditions of intl tension
& war, peace must be a priority |
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Mannheim supported the idea in intl relations of the balance of power
btwn the US & the SU |
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Mannheim recognized that small nations could become pawns in the great
power struggle |
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The super powers have a special responsibility to transform imperialist
intl relations into a peaceful order |
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MANNHEIM BELIEVED THE EMERGENT MODERN CHRISTIANITY WAS PROVIDING
A POSITIVE VALUE SYSTEM |
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Mannheim's new society was St Simonian in that it is hierarchical,
organic & guided by scientific indl elites |
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Because even the best planners & the most substantial, or justice
oriented rationality cannot avoid econ decisions that affect some grps
& classes more favorably that other, organic unity requires something
more |
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Just as St Simon proposed a New Christianity, Mannheim now proposed
a New Social Phil based upon Christian values |
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Modernized Christianity holds hope for a new mechanism for the integration
of society's value system, which had become splintered & self contradictory |
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Basic ethical principles which were altruistic & self sacrificing
had to be established |
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In every planned society there will be a body somehow similar to clergy
whose task it will be to watch that certain basic standards are established
& maintained |
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