What Is Sociology By Alex Inkeles.pdf
Inkeles, Alex, "Making Men Modern" in The American Journal of Sociology,.. Vol.. 75, No.. 2, September 1969, pp.. 208-225, tables. Zeallsoft Super Screen Recorder 4.3 Full Crackalex inkeles what is sociology1.
What Is Sociology By Alex Inkeles.pdf
In his presentation of alternative conceptual formulations,Inkeles is eclectic, almost to the point of pedantry. Yet lecturerswho employ the action frame of reference will find the text farmore con- genial than will those who do not. Inkeles is scholarlyand scrupulously fair in his attempt to portray the discipline as awhole, but simply less skillful in presenting the goals,theoretical postures and approaches of either quantitatively or em-pirically oriented sociology. For example, his use of the term"model" to mean vague theory or proto- type of theory, thoughwidespread, is unfortunate in view of its prominence in the text.Students who have learned what physical scientists meanl by theterm must surely be confused. As an introduction to "models" itwill mislead students who will en- counter models (mathematical orotherwise) gen- erated by theories in more advanced sociologycourses.
However far the authors may digress, the focus of each paper ison Academia. Page notes that although sociology in America began inthe Ivy colleges, with Sumner at Yale, Giddings at Co- lumbia, andWard at Brown, these institutilons have been slowest to recognizethe full stature of the subj ect. Princeton yielded only in 1960,and Amherst and Williams still have no sociology. (Riesman alludesto "the tiresome contempt for sociology in the Ivy schools.") Pagealso sug- gests that "sociologists in the Ivy centers are apt to beprimarily concerned with sociology," while those in what he calls"frontier institutions" are chiefly concerned with society.
Bierstedt thinks that sociology, much more than history, canliberate the mind, and he enlarges upon seven distinct advantagessociology has in its mission. His essay is a healthy antidote tothe current rage for what might be called "IBM soci- ology." Heeven surprises the reader by claiming that sociologists can, andoften do, write well. He cites as evidence Znaniecki and Tarde; hemight have done much better to cite his own writing and that of hiscolleagues in this book.
Sociology and its derivatives are mentioned with increasing frequency in the press, on the radio, in public lectures, and in all forms of literature; but, still, most people have a very unclear idea of what scientific sociology is. The ill-informed often confuse sociology with socialism, social work, social reform, birth control and divorce, the coddling of criminals, or whatever they may favour or condemn. In short, sociology is more often used as a laudatory or derogatory term than as a descriptive name for a scientific discipline.