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

112 P. F. Lazarsfeld
before Hitler came to power they undertook a number of studies the results
of which suggested that the German working class probably would not resist
the Hitler movement because the German family fostered submission to
auth~rity.~s In I932 the Institute began to publish a journal which brought to
public attention a number of younger men, all of whom were to make their
mark: Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Erich Fromm, Herbert Marcuse. The
introduction to the first issue emphasized that the journal would cover all
social sciences because the group was striving for an ‘understanding’ of the total
course of history. The titles of the papers in this; first issue were somewhat
more significant. An economist discussed with approval the Marxian theory of
prices, and two other papers dealt with the societal determinants of literature
and music respectively.
The ‘Gesellschaftliche Lage der Musik’ by Adorno is an article on music (44
pages long with a sequel of equal length in the next issue) which, in retrospect,
set the direction for the programme. A translation of the first three sentences
will be helpful :
Whenever music sounds today it reflects the contradiction and crevices which split
contemporary society; at the same time the deepest gap separates music from just that
society which creates it and its atomization, a society unable to absorb from its music
more than its rubble and wreckage. The role of music in its societal setting is exclu-
sively that of merchandise; its value is determined by the market. Music doesn’t serve
any more immediate needs and use but submits itself like any other merchandise to the
constraints of the market.86
When Hitler came to power the Institute left Germany for the United States.
Because of this interruption, it took several years before a programmatic
statement was available. It appeared in 1937 in an article by Horkheimer entitled
‘Traditional and Critical The0ry’.~7
The paper has three themes. First, the structure of modern science is described
as one element in the rise of the middle class out of the pre-capitalist world. This
is a summary of the well known Marxist position. The notion of a pure science
following its own course had a liberating effect in the 19th century; today it
implies the acceptance of monopoly capitalism.
The second theme concerns the nature of this new world. Here Marxist
theory is treated more selectively. Poverty, unemployment and even exploita-
tion are barely mentioned. The emphasis is on alienation, fetishism and false
consciousness. People today still believe that they act on the basis of individual
decisions, while actually, however, their behaviour is molded by social mecha-
nisms (p. 253). Their destiny is determined, not by the competition of independ-
ent individuals, but rather by national and international conflicts between ruling
cliques in government and the economic system (p. 259). No one has ideas of
his own any longer; so-called public opinion is a product of the ruling private
and public bureaucracies (p. 287). Human solidarity is more likely to be found
in criminal gangs than in established society (p. 291).
Sociological analysis practised against this background of necessity becomes
critical theory; this is the third and essential theme. As a matter of course,
social analysis should point to the elements just mentioned. But it should not