Main trends of research in the social and human ... - unesdoc - Unesco

Sociology 95
c. Communist countries are a new historical phenomenon which deserve to be
studied in their own right.
d. There is no contradiction between Marxist tradition and concrete sociology.
This is partly supported by a series of quotations from Marxist classics;
partly it is argued that Man: always refused to predict in detail what a Com-
munist society would look like. He gave an astute analysis of the capitalist
system as it existed in his time; it is now permissible to analyse what happens
in the countries which are governed in the spirit of his general ideas,
It is the younger generation of Communist scholars which promotes and carries
out work in concrete sociology. The so-called de-Stalinization accounts for
much of this development, although increasing contact withwestern sociologists
plays a role. At the moment a number of Communist governments give relatively
more support to empirical social research than do some Western countries.
The task of the present trend report is to assess the effect on sociology of this
conjunction of Western empirical social research, historical materialism as a
system of thought, and Communist countries as a social reality.ao I shall organize
my observations along the following lines :
I. Attitude research
2. Analysis of work
3. Small group research
4. Problems of systematics
5. Trends toward interpenetrati~n~l
Because I do not speak or read a Slavic language, I shall be specific about the
sources I have used. A number of Communist publications were available in
French, especially the extensive set of statements on Soviet sociology distributed
at the Sixth World Congress of Sociology at Evian (September 1966).3~ Sociologists
in Eastern Germany provide extensive literature which I studied rather
carefully. The work of Polish and Rumanian sociologists is available in numerous
French and English journal articles. Especially important for my purpose is
J. Szczepanski’s article on ‘La Sociologie Marxiste Empirique’.33 A number of
Western reports are not polemical and can be used as sources, expecially the
monographs by Gabor Kiss34 and by Hellmuth G. Biitow.35 Inversely, Communist
surveys of Western sociology give leads, for instance, J. Klovac - V.
Tl~sty.3~ My Columbia colleague, George Fischer, has published numerous
summaries and analyses of Russian studies. Over the years I have had personal
contacts with sociologists from every Communist country.37
I. Attit~des.3~
Public opinion polls are now a commonplace in several Com-
munist countries, and they seem to vary little from the Western tradition in
their methodology. There are, of course, differences in the questions which are
asked or not asked, but these are due primarily to political considerations. Not
surprisingly, a larger number of detailed studies are devoted to workers’
attitudes.
The research interest of Soviet scientists in men’s spiritual life (vie spirituelle) and
especially the worker’s is closely related to the desire to find means for the solution of
urgent contemporary problems including the spiritual enrichment of personalities ...