Sociology as Political Education: Karl Mannheim in the University

by Mannheim,Karl

• ISBN13: 9780765800541
• ISBN10: 0765800543
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-05-31
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

German professors and academic intellectuals are often blamed for passivity or complicity in the National Socialist rise to power. Karl Mannheim was a leading representative of a vital minority of university personalities who devoted themselves to making sociology and higher education contribute to democratization. Sociology as Political Education is an illustration of the application of sociological knowledge to the world of practical action. Together with an analytical and historical account of Mannheim's efforts, to be published in a volume authored by Loader and Kettler forthcoming next season, it comprises a complete record of Karl Mannheim in the university life of the Weimar period.The comparatively new discipline of sociology was looked upon with favor by the Weimar Republic's reformers of higher education. In advancing its methods Mannheim had first to contend with prominent and influential figures who attacked sociology as a mere political device to undermine cultural and national values for the sake of narrow interests and partisanship. He then had to meet the objections of fellow sociologists who were convinced that the discipline could prosper only as an area of specialized study with no claim to educational goals beyond the technical reproduction. Finally, he had to separate himself from proponents of politicized sociology. Sociological thought should be rigorous, critical, and attentive to evidence, but, Mannheim argued, its system had to be open and congruent with the ultimate responsibility of human beings for their acts.Loader and Kettler present Mannheim's groundbreaking ideas through previously untranslated Mannheim texts, among them a transcript of his 1930sociology course in which Mannheim answered his critics and clarified his intentions. Sociology as Political Education is not only of historical significance, but also shows Mannheim's relevance for current discussions of acad

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Introduction	ix
An Introduction to Sociology	1	(78)
The Subject Matter, Method and Attitude of Sociology	3	(6)
The ``Experimental Life'' and Distantiation from Life (Lebensdistanzierung)	9	(6)
The Distantiation from Life and Its Origins: Social Differentiation and the ``Sociological Human Type''	15	(8)
Three Phases of Intellectual Reaction to the Crisis of Life: Utopianism, Romanticism and Existentialism	23	(7)
The Phenomenon of Reprimitivization as a Consequence of Distantiation from Life: Evasion or Solution?	30	(7)
Forms of Reprimitivization I: Deliberate Reversal of the Intellect in Fascism	37	(8)
Forms of Reprimitivization II: The Standstill in Orthodox Marxist Thought	45	(7)
The Ideal of Dynamic Thought: Orthodox Thinking as a Type	52	(8)
Immobile and Dynamic Thinking---Orthodoxy and the Intellectuals	60	(8)
The Role of the Intellectuals in the Present Situation: The Attitude, Subject Matter and Method of Sociology (a Reopening)	68	(8)
Supplement: Sociological Method	76	(3)
Heidelberg Letters: Soul and Culture in Germany	79	(20)
Science and Youth	99	(6)
On the Incorporation of Research in the Journalistic Medium (Zeitungswesen) into University Science	105	(4)
The Intellectualism Dispute	109	(24)
Protocols of the Joint Meetings of the Seminars of Prof. Weber and Dr. Mannheim	109	(1)
Protocol of the First Meeting of the Joint Seminars of Prof. Weber and Dr. Mannheim	110	(9)
Protocol of the Second Meeting of the Joint Seminars of Prof. Weber and Dr. Mannheim	119	(11)
Appendix: Karl Mannheim to Alfred Weber (July 25, 1938)	130	(3)
On Religious Experience and Rationalization	133	(8)
On the Historical Character of Concepts	141	(4)
The Contemporary Tasks of Sociology: Cultivation and the Curriculum	145	(24)
Appendix: Lectures on Method	158	(1)
Introduction to ``The Social Forms of the Present and their History''	159	(4)
Introduction to ``Theory and History of Social Classes, Problems of Upward Mobility and the Cultivated Stratum''	163	(6)
The Spiritual Crisis in the Light of Sociology	169	(6)
In Defense of Functional Reason	175	(20)
Notes	195	(10)
Index	205