Sociology as Political Education: Karl Mannheim in the University

by Karl Mannheim

Overview

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 both an analytical account of Mannheim's efforts as well as an illustration of the application of sociological knowledge to the world of practical action. Together with a second biographical volume by the editors, forthcoming next season, it comprisesa 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 first 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 supplement Mannheim's groundbreaking volume with previously untranslated Mannheim texts, among them a transcript of his 1930 sociology 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 academic integrity and politicization. This volume will be of interest to sociologists, cultural historians, and political scientists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138514850
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/16/2018
Pages:	222
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Karl Mannheim (1893-1947) held academic posts at the universities of Heidelberg, Frankfurt, and London. His major works include Ideology and Utopia, Man and Society in an Age of Reconstruction, Diagnosis of Our Time, Essays on the Sociology of Culture, Freedom, Power and Democratic Planning, Structures of Thinking, and Conservatism.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Introduction ix

1 An Introduction to Sociology 1

The Subject Matter, Method and Attitude of Sociology 3

The "Experimental Life" and Distantiation from Life (Lebensdistanzierung) 9

The Distantiation from Life and Its Origins: Social Differentiation and the "Sociological Human Type" 15

Three Phases of Intellectual Reaction to the Crisis of Life: Utopianism, Romanticism and Existentialism 23

The Phenomenon of Reprimitivization as a Consequence of Distantiation from Life: Evasion or Solution? 30

Forms of Reprimitivization I: Deliberate Reversal of the Intellect in Fascism 37

Forms of Reprimitivization II: The Standstill in Orthodox Marxist Thought 45

The Ideal of Dynamic Thought: Orthodox Thinking as a Type 52

Immobile and Dynamic Thinking-Orthodoxy and the Intellectuals 60

The Role of the Intellectuals in the Present Situation: The Attitude, Subject Matter and Method of Sociology (a Reopening) 68

Supplement: Sociological Method 76

2 Heidelberg Letters: Soul and Culture in Germany 79

3 Science and Youth 99

4 On the Incorporation of Research in the Journalistic Medium (Zeitungswesen) into University Science 105

5 The Intellectualism Dispute 109

Protocols of the Joint Meetings of the Seminars of Prof. Weber and Dr. Mannheim 109

Protocol of the First Meeting of the Joint Seminars of Prof. Weber and Dr. Mannheim 110

Protocol of the Second Meeting of the Joint Seminars of Prof. Weber and Dr. Mannheim 119

Appendix: Karl Mannheim to Alfred Weber (July 25, 1938) 130

6 On Religious Experience and Rationalization 133

7 On the Historical Character of Concepts 141

8 The Contemporary Tasks of Sociology: Cultivation and the Curriculum 145

Appendix: Lectures on Method 158

Introduction to "The Social Forms of the Present and their History" 159

Introduction to "Theory and History of Social Classes, Problems of Upward Mobility and the Cultivated Stratum" 163

9 The Spiritual Crisis in the Light of Sociology 169

10 In Defense of Functional Reason 175

Notes 195

Index 205