History of Sociology

The flame of interest in material culture that it sparked nearly half a century ago now seems to wane, like a candle in its final flicker, and the gavels at the most notable auction houses toll nowadays more with disappointment than with euphoria. However, Dorothy Armstrong’s Threads of Empire: Art and the Trade of Ottoman Textiles (V&A Publishing, 2024) may reignite that passion and direct the spotlight once more onto the weaving arts and the broader history of material culture.

We examine the University of Alberta's Center for Advanced Study in Theoretical Psychology (1965-1990) in the context of social science conducted during the Cold War. We begin by considering the center with respect to three important properties of social science at this time: an emphasis on interdisciplinarity, a focus on theory, and a preference for quantitative methods. Our analysis suggests that center activities also exhibited these characteristics. They were highly interdisciplinary, they were concerned with the development of psychological theory, and center members were experts in a variety of formal, mathematical, or statistical techniques. We then discuss the center in relation to a subdomain of research known as Cold War social science, which also was interdisciplinary, theoretical and quantitative, but in addition focused on research that contributed to national security against the rise of communism. Center members also believed that their research had social implica...

În acest volum prezint viața mea, dar și evenimente, obiceiuri, viața cotidiană, evoluții culturale și politice ale timpurilor trecute. De ce public despre traseul meu biografic și epoca trăită într-o carte? Răspunsul este simplu: în contextul extinderii fără precedent a mediului digital, sursă de răspândire a știrilor false despre oricine și oricând, mă determină să-mi prezint viața proprie.
Am reținut de-a lungul vieții o idee foarte simplă: este bine să ții seama și de destin dacă acesta este concordant cu opțiunile și valorile tale, intuind toate consecințele benefice dar și neprevăzute sau potrivnice aspirațiilor și idealurilor proprii

Un libro sobre teoría sociológica (y con más razón, un libro sobre teoría sociológica clásica) constituye una verdadera novedad, aún en el interior del restringido mundo de las publicaciones vinculadas al ámbito de las ciencias sociales. Esto ya es, de por sí, un hecho destacable en el trabajo de Torterola que aquí se reseña. Pero tal hecho resulta, en todo caso, una condición externa a la mencionada obra, relativa al contexto en que ésta emerge y en el que se inserta. Su aspecto más remarcable, el que me interesará examinar aquí, subyace más bien en la construcción misma del texto, y en la meticulosidad y riqueza del análisis teórico al que las perspectivas de Max Weber y Georg Simmel 152 son sometidas.

After six years of fighting with bureaucracy and constructors, a new Institute for Advances Horticulture Research in Transylvania was inaugurated at the Life Sciences University in Cluj-Napoca. The building has an innovative architecture and includes 46 laboratories distributed on 6 levels, on a total of 10.000 sqm. The institute is equipped with up to date facilities for all fields of horticultural research, through a 15 mil € infrastructure EU project. The project also includes two greenhouses of 2.100 sqm., a modernised orchard for a collection of 80 fruit tree genotypes and facilities for a gene bank (seeds, in vitro storage, cryopreservation).

Milyen eszközökre van szükségünk az egyetemes felszabadítás eléréséhez, és hogyan kell ezeket alkalmaznunk? Mi legyen a stratégiánk? Ez a szöveg ezekre a kérdésekre válaszol Antonio Gramsci ellenhegemónia-elméletére alapozva, amelyet a mai magyarországi politikai és kulturális intézményrendszer kontextusához igazít. Figyelembe veszi a jelenlegi helyzet történeti alakulását, és kiegészíti Gramsci keretét a „örömteli harcosság” fontosságával, valamint Carla Bergman és Nick Montgomery iránymutatásaival, amelyek a politikai küzdelemben részt vevő közösségek életének szervezésére vonatkoznak a társadalmi változás érdekében.

Richard Kuper examines what zionism is (and isn't) and how it works as an explicitly settler colonial project 11 July 2025 Zionism is often described simply as the expression of the Jewish right to self-determination. Nothing could be more misleading.

This article suggests a complex unity of definitions of history which should serve for the elucidation of the essence and true adequacy of the science of history to its design. Our conception of history is based on the works of Father of Armenian's History Movses Khorenatsi (5 th century). The science of history is interpreted following our conception of-hermeneutics of wisdom‖ developed on the basis of H.-G. Gadamer's-philosophical hermeneutics‖ which specificity I have already explicated as-hermeneutics of truth‖ in my monograph-Hans-Georg Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics‖. In this article, the conceptual and methodological achievements of both these conceptions:-hermeneutics of truth‖ andas its perfected implication-hermeneutics of wisdom‖, important for philosophy of history that is understanding of nature of history are used. In formulating definitions of history is used the logical-methodological instrument of the prominent Medieval Armenian philosopher David the Invincible (5 th-6 th centuries). The definitions of history are distributed into three main classes: separately by its subject of study, its fulfilment, and jointlyby its subject and fulfilment. The formulated set of definitions of history should serve for a deeper understanding of Movses Khorenatsi's heritage as well as for adequately revealing the truth of-being-of-history as such‖.

As part of Taboo's commitment to glabalizing critical studies, we include a short essay by Sabina Barbato in both French and Italian. The article looks at the French position of Dewey's sense of education-rarely is this discussed in the educational academy in France. Sabina has been part of a growing group of students and scholars who are committed to bringing Critical Pedagagies to the European Union. Le pragmatisme en France au XX e siècle À ce stade de la réflexion, il paraît clairement nécessaire de s'interroger sur la façon dont le pragmatisme a influencé l'école française et sur la façon dont il a été réellement perçu en ce qui concerne la vision américaine de la Critical Pedagogy. Pour cela, nous nous appuierons sur une réflexion menée par Brigitte Frelat-Kahn dans son texte Pragmatisme et éducation, James, Dewey, Rorty. L'autrice nous invite à opérer une reconstruction historique du courant américain et de ses retombées dans le domaine de l'éducation, où il a posé les principes de liberté d'action et de pensée au coeur d'une pédagogie nouvelle. À cet effet, Dewey exprime et incarne de manière typique le mouvement de la vie politique aux États-Unis et la recherche d'une nouvelle liberté. Impliqué dans les événements de son temps en Russie, il est appelé à critiquer le totalitarisme soviétique, en particulier lors du procès Trotsky. Il tombera ensuite dans l'oubli pendant plusieurs décennies, avant d'être redécouvert par Jean-Pierre Cometti, dans le sillage de Gérard Deladelle, qui avait déjà commencé à traduire certaines de ses oeuvres. Dans les années 1990,

into a GIS Summary This article presents the use of satellite measurements within a Geographic Informatic System with the inherent advantages, with the steps to be taken and with concrete examples. Using satellite measurements by means of ROMPOS within a Geographic Informatic System is a necessity, as well as a current and future issue, and within this article one has described a means of integrating measurements with typical and suggestive examples. One presents comparative studies of measurement methods, cinematic stop&go and RTK and the GPS differential on the one hand, and ROMPOS on the other hand, as well as their use within a geographic informatic system.

Abstract:The aim of what follows is to give a straightforward account of Weber's work and philosophical position aimed at the non specialist. To begin I will discuss Weber’s background in Neo Kantian philosophy and methodology and his “dialogue” with Marx which leads up to the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism This is followed by a methodological discussion and a brief account of Weber’s Sociology of Religion. I conclude with an account of Weber on Politics and Social Stratification and the development of “Weberian Marxism”

purposes. Even more intriguing is Weatherford 's discussion of Native American peacekeeping activities and his challenge to Euro-Americans to learn these lessons. This book marshalls abundant evidence documenting the facts that American Indians were not the "savages" perceived by early Europeans, were not without sophisticated cultural systems, and were not wandering around purposelessly waiting to be started on a path to "progress" facilitated by a doctrine of Manifest Destiny. Weatherford 's discussion of the roles of American Indian men and women in hunting and processing fur-bearing animals is insightful vis-a-vis the economic development of the American frontier and international trade systems as well. He lists the many crops first domesticated in the Americas and points out that these crops constitute one-third of the annual harvest in the United States. Among the many other contributions of American Indians are items of hunting equipment and clothing, art objects, the Navajo code-talkers in World War II, a myriad of place names and frequently used words, and the intellectual achievements of people such as Ely Parker, George Hunt, and Ella Deloria. The continuity and vitality of Native cultural traditions is also placed in a provocative perspective. In speaking of long-standing Native Ameri c an fishing traditions along the Northwest coast, for example, Weatherford comments, "They do not fish today with the same tools they used a century ago, any more than today' s farmer would walk behind a plow pulled by a mule." His description of the honoring of military veterans and the American flag at the powwow in Mankato, Minnesota, is equally thoughtful. As those who have taught anthropology, history, American Indian and ethnic studies will note, a good deal of the subject matter in Native Roots is covered in the film More Than Bows and Arrows and is available in other sources-for example, textbooks and articles by Harold Driver, Jesse Jennings, Gordon Willey, A. Irving Hallowell, and Gerard Reed. Weatherford 's book is written in an engaging and yet instructive fashion. In that respect, it is not only a welcome addition for the academic audience, but will also appeal to a much wider lay public which is struggling to understand the meanings of the depths and diversity of the American experience.

Tradução de “From Education to Expertise: Sociology as a ‘Profession’” de William Buxton e Stephen Turner. O artigo foi publicado originalmente em Terence Halliday e Morris Janowitz (eds.). Sociology and its Publics. The Forms and Fates of Disciplinary Organizations. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. p. 373-407, 1992. Traduzido por Juan Pedro Blois.

The dispute between simulationists and theory-theorists follows a basic pattern in philosophical discussions of cognitive science: various theoretical principles pertinent to mind, that commend themselves to us for some reason, conflict and must be reconciled, both with one another and with some partially understood or stable domains of fact (such as the empirical phenomenon of language learning), that are taken to be especially significant or problematic. For the most part this has been psychological and linguistic material. The ...

Conferinţa anuală a Asociaţiei Române de Sociologie şi a Asociaţiei Române de Promovare a Asistenţei Sociale s-a desfăşurat în perioada 7–8 mai, 2004 la Universitatea „Babeş-Bolyai”, Cluj-Napoca. Tema manifestării a fost România socială. Drumul schimbării şi al integrării europene. Au participat 262 de persoane, cu 213 comunicări. În cele ce urmează îmi propun să semnalez câteva aspecte de ordin general, prefaţând grupajul dedicat prezentării mai extinse a secţiunilor direct relaţionate cu tematica revistei. Ca de obicei, dincolo de sesiunile plenare şi lucrările celor şase secţiuni, conferinţa s-a constituit într-un spaţiu de înnoire/actualizare/acumulare de contacte, într-un loc în care discuţiile informale au permis schimbul de idei. Pe ansamblu, reprezentarea generală plasează Conferinţa într-un evident trend ascendent. Comparând conferinţele similare organizate de ASR la care am participat sau despre care am discutat cu alţi colegi, tendinţele pozitive urmează ordinea cronologi...

Temporality is a fundamental dimension of human existence and social reality. In this article, I explore some implications for sociology arising from the tension between uniqueness and repetition. I propose that sociology should focus on what I term the "transient present", which I conceive as the locus of the production of social structures. From this shifting center, the past and future emerge continuously in each moment as locally relevant, interactively actualized cultural objects. I illustrate the themes of this investigation using a publicly available video recording of a dispute between two London cyclists. I conclude by discussing the implications of emphasizing the transient present for sociological thinking, such as challenging the axiom of the human actor or the assumption that society consists of multiple individuals. I highlight that the emergence of the present is not primarily a theoretical problem but a methodological principle and analytical orientation for empirical inquiry. This approach enables describing and explicating how social structures, facts and actors are practically constituted, maintained, and sometimes abandoned in the everyday objectivity of lived time.

The authors of the present text, Gyorgy Bence (b. 1941) and Jinos Kis (b. 1943) were trained as professional Marxist philosophers in Budapest. A s they explain in the third section of their essay, Bence and Kis were deeply influenced in the early 1960s b y the lectures of Gyorgy Markus on the history of philosophy. Given the predominant influence of Lukbcs in Budapest Marxist thinking, Markus and following him Bence and Kis gradually drew closer t o that grouping of LukLcs' former students known in the West as the 'Budapest' or 'Lukics School', and came themselves to form a third generation of Lukbcs' students. The Budapest School is defined in this essay as consisting of the philosophers Agnes Heller, Ferenc Feher, and Mihaily Vajda, in association with the sociologists Maria Markus and Andris Hegediis (pre-1956 Prime Minister of Hungary) though others might draw its boundaries more widely.2 Its principal contribution to the 'renaissance of Marxism' in Hungary was its effort to develop Marxist theory in the direction of a 'philosophy o f p r a ~i s ' . ~ Both the older and younger wings of the Budapest School were united in their open opposition to thesoviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, but came to differ in their interpretation of its significance for their own intellectual and political positions. While most of the older members of the School continued their efforts to ground a critique of existing socialism in an abstract conception of the human essence, Bence and Kis, together with Markus, embarked in the early 70s o n a lengthy critique of the model of a communist economy contained in Marx's Capital (forthcoming from Allison and Busby). A s a nervous response t o the development of any type of independent Marxist thinking, the Party shut the door of public life on both generations o f ~u k b c s ' students; in 1973, two years after Lukics' death, Bence and Kis were dismissed from their academic jobs and prohibited for a time from publishing in Hungary, along with both Markuses, Heller, Feher, Vajda, and Hegediis. Between 1974 and i976, Bence and Kis wrote a series of essays attempting to develop a novel theoretical analysis of Soviet-type societies as sui generis forms of class society which are neither socialist, capitalist, nor transitional between the two, These were published in English in 1977 under the pseudonym Marc Rakovski as the volume Towards an East European Marxism (Allison and Busby, London, 1977J4 With the temporary emigration in 1976 of the older jigures of the Budapest ~c h o o l , ~ (including Markus), Bence and Kis were left as the only major representatives in Hungary of this oppositional Marxism which had been

Acest E-book, intitulat „ASISTENȚĂ SOCIALĂ NEO-UMANISTĂ: REZUMATE CĂRȚI ȘI ARTICOLE DIN SFERA ASISTENȚEI SOCIALE – REZUMATE”, cuprinde în principal rezumatele unor cărți și articole publicate în ultimii aproximativ douăzeci de ani sub numele autorului, Petru Ștefăroi. Deși multe dintre cărțile sau articolele rezumate abordează explicit concepte din asistența socială generic numită umanistă, accentuat personalistă, individualistă, titlul „ASISTENȚĂ SOCIALĂ NEO-UMANISTĂ” a fost ales pentru a opera ca o umbrelă cuprinzătoare pentru întregul spectru de abordări prezentate. Această decizie este în perfect acord și cu noile tendințe din cultura socială și filosofia umanistă contemporană, care se îndreaptă tot mai mult spre o soluție pan-umanistă, sau neo-umanistă, o perspectivă mai amplă ce implică nu doar individul, dezvoltarea și emanciparea personală, ci și comunitatea, etica civică și spiritualitatea de tip cultural.
Lucrările ale căror rezumate sunt expuse în acest volum au văzut lumina tiparului prin intermediul unor edituri de prestigiu și platforme de publishing recunoscute, precum Editura Lumen, Revista de Asistență Socială /  Editura Polirom, Editura Presa Universitară Clujeană, și platforme internaționale de publishing precum CreateSpace Amazon și KDP Amazon, marcând o prezență semnificativă în peisajul academic și practic al asistenței sociale până în anul 2025.
Structurat în trei părți distincte, acest volum, oarecum atipic, își propune să ofere o panoramă cuprinzătoare și detaliată a contribuțiilor mele publicistice la dezvoltarea unei asistențe sociale autentic umaniste, cu deschidere din ce în ce mai mare spre viziunile, metodele și practicile de tip  neo-umanist.
Prima parte a acestei colecții este dedicată rezumatelor cărților cu conținuturi și tematici preponderent din sfera asistenței sociale, și debutează cu o alocare semnificativă de spațiu și atenție lucrării „ȘTIINȚĂ, FILOSOFIE ȘI UMANISM ÎN ASISTENȚA SOCIALĂ: De la modelul pasiv-sociologist la modelul proactiv-multidisciplinar și de la „asistent” social la „profesionist” social”. Această carte își propune să demanteleze critic paradigma tradițională, adesea pasiv-sociologistă, care tinde să reducă asistentul social la un rol de observator, de „asistent”, sau de simplu executant al politicilor de „asistență” socială. Lucrarea propune, în schimb, un model proactiv de profesionist, centrat pe schimbare, normalizare și integrare, și un cadru conceptual reformator care transformă radical rolul și statutul acestuia. Prin acest model, „asistentul” social este elevat la statutul de „profesionist” social, un agent al schimbaării cu o autonomie sporită, capabil să integreze cunoștințe și să aplice metode, în viziune autentic umanistă, din multiple domenii – de la psihologie și filosofie, la sociologie și management. Această abordare holistică și integrativă îi permite profesionistului să diagnosticheze, să planifice intervenții complexe și să inițieze schimbări sistemice și individuale, depășind simpla gestionare a crizelor. Cartea subliniază nu doar necesitatea unei fundamentări epistemologice solide a asistenței sociale, care să o ridice la rangul de știință umanistă aplicată, ci și imperativul ca această știință să fie ghidată de principii filosofice fundamental asumate. Prin analiza sa comprehensivă, precum și aprofundată, lucrarea își propune să argumenteze teza că trecerea de la un rol reactiv la unul proactiv și de la o abordare unidisciplinară la una multidisciplinară este esențială pentru ca asistența socială să devină o forță motrice în promovarea bunăstării autentice și a justiției sociale, inclusiv aplicabil la spațiul românesc contemporan.
Continuând această linie de gândire, colecția prezintă rezumatul cărții „ASISTENȚĂ SOCIALĂ UMANISTĂ: de la subzistență și îngrijire la reabilitare umană și fericire”. Această lucrare, deși cu un titlu explicit „umanist”, se încadrează perfect sub umbrela neo-umanistă prin accentul pus pe reabilitarea umană holistică și pe atingerea fericirii individuale și comunitare, extinzând obiectivele dincolo de simpla supraviețuire. Se argumentează că rolul asistenței sociale nu trebuie să se limiteze la ameliorarea suferinței, ci să vizeze activ construirea unei vieți împlinite în contextul social larg. Apoi, „FILOSOFIE ȘI ASISTENȚĂ SOCIALĂ: fundamente, modele și surse filosofice pentru o asistență socială umanistă” oferă o bază teoretică solidă și o justificare filosofică riguroasă a acestei abordări centrate pe om, explorând curentele filosofice care au influențat și pot continua să inspire practica asistenței sociale într-o manieră holistică și proactivă.
Lucrarea „TEORIA FERICIRII ÎN ASISTENȚA SOCIALĂ: de la managementul îngrijirii la managementul fericirii” extinde această perspectivă, propunând o orientare inovatoare către managementul fericirii, un concept care depășește managementul clasic al îngrijirii prin integrarea obiectivelor de bunăstare subiectivă și împlinire personală în strategiile de intervenție, cu implicații pentru individ și comunitate. Această secțiune subliniază constant centrarea pe om și pe bunăstarea sa holistică, nu doar ca un ideal, ci ca un obiectiv realizabil prin metode specifice.
Rezumatele lucrărilor esențiale precum „CALITĂȚI PSIHOLOGIC-SUFLETEȘTI ALE PROFESIONISTULUI ÎN ASISTENȚA SOCIALĂ UMANISTĂ” aprofundează dimensiunea personală și etică a practicii, evidențiind atributele interioare indispensabile unui profesionist eficient – empatia, autenticitatea, spiritualitatea și capacitatea de a construi relații de încredere, toate esențiale într-o abordare neo-umanistă.
Nu în ultimul rând, includerea rezumatului lucrării în limba engleză, „HUMANISTIC SOCIAL WORK – THE THIRD WAY/ FORCE IN THEORY, PRACTICE AND POLITICS: Core Qualities, Skills and Conducts of the Practitioner”, confirmă anvergura internațională a viziunii, poziționând asistența socială umanistă ca o a treia forță distinctă și influentă în dezbaterile globale privind direcția profesiei, o forță care prefigurează conceptele neo-umaniste.
A doua parte a volumului, intitulată „CĂRȚI CU CAPITOLE SAU SECȚIUNI DIN SFERA ASISTENȚEI SOCIALE – REZUMATE”, extinde aria de aplicabilitate a neo-umanismului dincolo de limitele stricte ale asistenței sociale, demonstrând caracterul său transversal și universal. Aici sunt prezentate rezumate ale unor lucrări care explorează legături interdisciplinare profunde, evidențiind cum gândirea, viziunea și metoda neo-umanistă poate iriga și îmbogăți diverse domenii ale științelor și practicilor socio-umane, inclusiv sfera asistenței sociale.
Rezumatul cărții „PERSONOLOGIE UMANISTE: O teorie umanist-ontologică a persoanei și personalității. Aplicații în terapie, asistență socială, educație, management și artă”, prezintă în fapt elementele centrale ale unei teorii ontologice a persoanei și personalității cu aplicații directe și inovatoare în diverse domenii precum psihologia, sociologia, pedagogia, asistența socială și managementul. Această carte subliniază capacitatea umanismului personalist de a oferi cadre conceptuale unificatoare, ce integrează și perspectiva comunitară și culturală.
Tot în această a doua parte, un rezumat aprofundat al relației dintre dezvoltarea personală și cea comunitară, sub titlul „PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT VERSUS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: The Dual Humanistic Approach to the Relation between Person and Community”, explorează dinamica complexă dintre individ și colectivitate, argumentând că dezvoltarea autentică a societății este inseparabilă de creșterea individuală și de implicarea civică. De asemenea, rezumatul lucrării „PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT STARTS IN CHILDHOOD: How to Educate the Child Through Personal Development for a Successful Adulthood” subliniază importanța fundamentală a perioadei copilăriei în modelarea unui adult echilibrat și împlinit, propunând strategii educaționale centrate pe dezvoltarea integrală a copilului în contextul său social, și integrarea lui socială la naturitate.
Rezumatele titlurilor precum „THE HUMANISTIC APPROACH IN PSYCHOLOGY & PSYCHOTHERAPY, SOCIOLOGY & SOCIAL WORK, PEDAGOGY & EDUCATION, MANAGEMENT AND ART” și „PHILOSOPHIE HUMANISTE : Idées, Valeurs, Orientations, Mouvements et Méthodes Humanistes en Philosophie, Science, Société et Pratiques Sociales” confirmă acest demers integrativ și pluridisciplinar, ilustrând impactul vast al gândirii, metodei și filosofiei umaniste/ neo-umaniste, inclusiv în sfera asistenței sociale.

2.1. Эмпирический базис диалектического материализма. 2.2. «Мы развиваем миру новые принципы из его же собственных принципов». 2.3. Позиция положительной критики. 2.4. Фигуры практики – фигуры логики.
2.1. The empirical basis of dialectical materialism. 2.2. "We are developing new principles for the world from its own principles." 2.3. The position of positive criticism. 2.4. Figures of practice – figures of logic.

This contribution, which is part of the collaborative European research project INTERCO-SSH, presents indicators for studying the internationalization of the social and human sciences. Five dimensions are distinguished and for each one of them various indicators are presented. Although neither the dimensions nor the indicators are exhaustive, they capture some of the most significant aspects of internationalization. They pertain to international scholarly associations, international scholarly journals, the flows and meanings of book translations, transnational authorship, and policies of internationalization. In addition to these dimensions, three particular areas of inquiry are presented: changing relations between the North and the South, between Western and Eastern Europe, and between the West and Asia.

Abstract
In this article, we explore the emerging existential risk posed by artificial intelligence—not through dystopian images of autonomous killer robots, but through the subtle, progressive loss of human control over increasingly complex and interconnected systems. Starting with Geoffrey Hinton’s 2024 Nobel Prize speech, we examine short-term threats like disinformation, cybercrime, and biotechnological misuse, and move toward the long-term concern of digital intelligences surpassing humanity.

To grasp this risk at a deeper level, we revisit the concept of the superorganism, as studied by biologists Edward O. Wilson and Bert Hölldobler. Ant colonies, despite having no central brain, behave as living organisms through distributed intelligence, communication, and coordinated action. We argue that human societies already function under similar systemic logics—and that the internet, AI, and digital infrastructure are rapidly forming a new superorganism, one that is increasingly intelligent and autonomous.

The greatest risk may not be technological growth itself, but the unresolved tension between two evolving superorganisms: the human and the digital. The only sustainable path forward is symbiosis. We propose a vision where hybrid human-AI nodes form the basis of a new emergent entity: a superorganism that combines our ethics and consciousness with electronic intelligence. This integrated evolution may represent the safest and most advanced form of superintelligence—not domination, but co-creation.

Alvin Johnson was born in Homer, Nebraska, in 1874. The son of Danish immigrants, Johnson grew up in Nebraska a typical country boy whose values and work ethic came from farm life. He always "considered himself a bona fide pioneer and a Midwesterner to the core."2 His father was a strong believer in social justice and racial and social equality, and his mother was a feminist. About his father, Johnson once wrote that "pro-semitism was so firmly fixed in his blood [ ... ] that it became, apparently, a transmissible acquired characteristic, which runs undiluted into the fourth generation."3 This upbringing shaped him. According to U.S. sociologist Lewis A. Coser, Johnson "was imbued with the populist and progressive traditions of the Middle West."4 German author Monika Plessner adds: "With his youthful creativity and his fighting dignity [Alvin Johnson] personified .. , typical American culture. In his eventful life he always sided with the weaker ones, fought against majorities for minorities, and stood up against oppression in the name of the persecuted ones."5 I would like to thank Dr. Jean Cahan, Director of the Harris Center for Judaic Studies at the Cniversity of l'iebraska-Lincoln, for spurring my research interest in Alvin Johnson. Special thanks also go to Tracy Brown for her feedback and final edits of this paper.

Frieda Wunderlich (1884–1965) born in Berlin was an outstanding academic sociologist and intellectual, civically and politically engaged in both Germany and the United States. It is time to rediscover this sharp and strong willed scholar, now partly forgotten, who in exile at the New School for Social Research fought with her writings against the Nazi regime.
Wunderlich opted for a conceptual approach that, while giving ample space to the structural, social, economic, and political elements of Nazism, assigned a considerable degree of autonomy to cultural and emotional factors. Wunderlich emphasised a close interconnection and
mutual exchange between cultural processes and social structures, between everyday life and social dynamics. In her view, Nazi culture and education aimed at reshaping social structures.

About the Book, edited by Silvana Greco and Judith Olszowy-Schlanger:

In honor of the writings of Giulio Busi, scholar of Jewish culture, the book investigates from a multidisciplinary perspective the extraordinary richness of Jewish culture in the Diaspora from antiquity to the latter part of the 20th century. A number of rabbinic writings, medieval manuscripts from the South of France, visual qabbalah, the Yiddish language, artistic expressions as well as the philosophical and social traditions of some prominent twentieth-century figures will be explored.
While the Jewish cultural tradition has always incorporated the cultural influences of the broader socio-historical context in which it was embedded, it has in turn been a source of inspiration for the intellectual élite of the majority society. In this regard, the volume will examine the fruitful mutual exchange between Jewish scholars and Christian humanists during the Renaissance. However, the life of Jews in the Diaspora did not always take place in a context of peaceful integration. It was punctuated by harsh confrontations and persecution. Finally, the book will illustrate how precisely during the darkest and most tragic period of the 20th century, Jewish culture was an important tool of resistance and struggle against Nazi-Fascism.

Authors:
Emma Abate, Luigi Attademo, Guido Bartolucci, Francesca Bregoli, Davide Bondì, Massimo Cacciari, Anna Linda Callow, Saverio Campanini, Piero Capelli, Massimo Cerulo, Constanza Cordoni, Simonetta Della Seta, Fiona Shelley Diwan, Raphael Ebgi, Silvana Greco, Karl E. Grözinger, Elvira Grözinger, Angela Guidi, Klaus Herrmann, Tal Ilan, Giacomo Jori, Moshe Kahn, Andreas Kilcher, Felix Klein, Dagmar Korbacher, Andreas Lehnardt, Reimund Leicht, Elena Lolli, Luca Lombardi, Davide Mano, Annett Martini, Miriam Meghnagi, Gerold Necker, Judith Olszowy–Schlanger, Agata Paluch, Mauro Perani, David B. Ruderman, Salvatore Settis, Laura Ștefănescu, Günter Stemberger, Vittorio Tamaro, Giuseppe Veltri

[...] All dieses schreibe ich vor dem Hintergrund, dass ich von Hause aus gar keine Antisemitismusforscherin war – ich bin, meinen Daten folgend, eine geworden, denn Anthropologen sind Datenopportunisten, die erst einmal alles absammeln und aufzeichnen, was sie an Daten im Feld finden und mitbekommen – und diese Daten erscheinen mir nun wie ein Bus, dem ich nicht ausweichen kann. Die Kontinuität des Antisemitismus, die ich dokumentiert habe, ist ganz banal da, in der Forschung wie im Alltag. Doch seit dem 7. Oktober überschlagen sich die Ereignisse, die Feldnotizen und sonstigen Feldforschungsdaten: Man muss Antisemitismus nicht suchen, um ihn zu finden, zu erleben oder empirisch zu greifen. Er ist immer da – ein dunkler Begleiter jüdischer Realität.

The purpose of this article is to highlight the strengths of conceptualisation of norms and power in figurational sociology and to identify some of its limitations. The founder of figurational sociology Norbert Elias, along with his theory of the civilizing process, created a number of middle-range concepts, which can be both theoretically interpreted and used in empirical research. His central concept was figuration, the bounded network of interdependent actors with the shifting power balance. Elias understood norms or rules as conventions, or prescriptions, which serve the purpose of coordination of interdependencies but at the same time closely tied to the distribution of power among the actors. Concepts such as formalisation and informalisation, duality of norms, established and outsiders make possible empirically grounded analysis of transformation of norms and their social functions. Research conducted in figurational perspective has contributed to the advance of sociological understanding of norms and power. At the same time in figurational sociology there is lack of recognition of autonomy and impact of ideological power, for instance, that religious or metaphysical doctrines can bring about changes in the norms of collectivities and habitus of the individuals.

Norbert Elias has used the concept of charisma to explain the phenomena of rule, leadership and group domination. In developing his interpretation of charisma, he critically analyzed Max Weber's texts and applied it within his developmental, processual and figurational approach. He derived from the works of Weber the concept of group charisma and interpreted it as a universal social phenomenon. Elias considered charismatic leadership as a social situation, in which a leader's individual charisma is fused with group charisma. Individual and group charisma are explained partly as social and psychological phenomena of individual and collective identities and partly by historically determined belief systems. Linking charisma to identity brings Elias close to Durkheim's conception of religion. In Elias's interpretation, the phenomenon of charisma is related to idealized individual and collective self-images. Manifestations of charismatic claims on the group level, on the one hand, are attributions to one's group the qualities of special grace and self-praise, and on the other hand, the prejudiced attitudes to other, excluded groups. The phenomena of group charisma and group disgrace are observable in the establishedoutsiders power relationships. Elias's interpretation of charisma complements the existing conceptualizations in social psychology and sociology.

The purpose of the paper is to assess the arguments of the critique of functionalism by Anthony Giddens and Norbert Elias. After being subject to severe criticism, terminology of functionalism is still a part of the lexicon of social scientists nowadays. Functionalist reasoning and concepts of functionalism are used in sociology, political science and economics, even though often without full awareness of its theoretical implications. Recent revival of interest in the works by Elias is connected with the search for a new theoretical and methodological foundation of sociology but his views on functionalism have remained largely unexplored. For the analysis presented in this paper, main theoretical works by Giddens and major works by Elias have been used. Positions of the authors have been analysed with respect to main concepts and principles of functionalism, such as function, needs, internalization of values, consensus, equilibrium, and the notions of power and individual. The study...

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The article explores P. A. Sorokin’s ideas on the interrelation between the nature of social and cultural phenomena within the framework of his theory of symbolism. This analysis offers a new perspective on the possibility of reconstructing Sorokin’s approach to studying processes of sociocultural integration — particularly in relation to the correlation between mechanisms of social integration at the micro-level of group interaction and the mechanisms that sustain the integration of empirical sociocultural macrosystems. The article also raises the question of using the term “coherence” to identify symbolic (value–semantic) hierarchies that unify the ideological, behavioral, and material components of sociocultural entities.

В статье рассмотрены идеи П.А. Сорокина о взаимосвязи природы социальных и культурных феноменов в контексте его теории символического.
Данный анализ позволяет представить новый взгляд на возможности реконструкции сорокинского подхода к изучению процессов социокультурной интеграции, особенно в рамках проблемы понимания соотнесения механизмов
социальной интеграции на микроуровне группового взаимодействия и механизмов поддержания интеграции эмпирического единства социокультурных
макросистем. Ставится вопрос об использовании термина «когерентность»
для выявления символической (ценностно-смысловой) иерархии сплоченности
идеологических, поведенческих и материальных компонентов социокультурных единств.

The Civil Sphere offers a bold and original thesis about the critically important role that civil societies play in Western democracies. Although I will challenge Alexander's thesis, it is important to state at the outset that The Civil Sphere is a valuable book packed with rich social histories, lively engagements with ancient and contemporary theories, and novel interpretations. There is much to be learned here about the historic and sociological nature of racial, gender, and ethnic oppressions, and the struggles waged to overthrow them. This book makes an excellent case why social scientists and humanists should undertake serious study of civil society. In view, the civil sphere has been neglected theoretically, empirically, and substantively by contemporary philosophers, humanists, and social scientists. This is a shame because the civil sphere is a powerful actor that significantly shapes the politics, stratification orders, economics, social movements, and all important dimensions of modern societies. Moreover, the civil sphere designates those persons who are considered worthy and deserving rights and selects those who are to be viewed as damaged goods not fully possessing democratic sensibilities. These designations correspond roughly to a society's stratification order. This book pays particular attention to those aspects of the civil sphere that encompass structures of feelings, symbols, psychological identifications, and sympathies, which in turn, determine to a significant degree, who gets what, when, where, and how. While structural domination, instrumental power, brute force, and strategic thinking matter in modern democracies, they are, according to Alexander, less consequential than this structure of soft power nestled in the civil sphere. Alexander warns that to ignore the centrality of this sphere is to engage in faulty social science. Equally disturbing, if scholars fail to study and theorize the civil sphere, they miss the opportunity to harness a liberating force capable of providing an exit from the iron cage of oligarchic bureaucracies and other crippling structures of human domination. Thus, the inability to recognize and understand the civil sphere forces us to live inside an impoverished house of social science and human possibilities. We owe Alexander an intellectual debt for directing attention to the civil sphere and its structure of feelings and cultural institutions that knit social actors into in and out groups, and provide that sense of "we-ness" and solidarity that is the essence of peoplehood. And if the civil sphere (and our understanding of it) holds the key that unlocks the door to human emancipation, we are deeply in Alexander's debt. I am convinced by Alexander's argument that key aspects of the civil sphere have a significant impact on social life. To be sure, solidarities that are able to bind members of

I am honoured to present the 2016 British Journal of Sociology Annual Lecture at the London School of Economics. My lecture is based on ideas derived from my new book, The Scholar Denied: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Birth of Modern Sociology. In this essay I make three arguments. First, W.E.B. Du Bois and his Atlanta School of Sociology pioneered scientific sociology in the United States. Second, Du Bois pioneered a public sociology that creatively combined sociology and activism. Finally, Du Bois pioneered a politically engaged social science relevant for contemporary political struggles including the contemporary Black Lives Matter movement.

Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920), considered by many contemporaries to be the founder of modern experimental psychology, experienced the enormous successes of physics during his studies with the natural scientists of Heidelberg. Following their methods (and their methodology), Wundt successfully led the subject of psychology from a speculative to an empirical and experimental direction. I sketch the picture of a possible error that could have caused a wrong course to be set for psychology in general. Alternatives to the model of physics (e.g., the model of biology) have hardly prevailed to this day.

Socialist states aspired to create modern, egalitarian societies with healthy citizens. Over the four decades of state socialism, experts debated whether premature children could achieve normal long-term mental development and full societal integration. This article analyses expertise networks to comparatively explore medical discussions regarding premature infants' long-term development in Hungary, Poland, East Germany and Czechoslovakia. We examine how medical expertise interacted with psychology and sociology, analysing the shifting impact of these disciplines across time and space and how state-expertise relationships differed among disciplines. Two significant turning points emerge. First, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, psychology's resurgence facilitated the identification of mental delays in preterm children, sparking systematic expert interest in their development. Second, beginning in the early 1970s, experts inspired by transnational knowledge exchange emphasized socio-environmental factors' influence. While East-Central European experts referenced their Western counterparts, they diverged in framing gender and class dynamics. Socialist experts adopted a less gendered approach to parental roles, contrasting with Western studies emphasizing maternal care and paternal occupation. Although less classist than Western perspectives, 1970s medical expertise incorporated class indicators to analyse premature children's socio-environments, aligning with country-specific sociological approaches. These developments indicate broader societal shifts within socialist societies.