Sorokin
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Crisis of Our Age
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Publisher's press release about Sorokin's book, The Crisis of Our Age, published by Dutton Books Autumn 1941
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Crisis of Our Age (review)
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Review about Sorokin's book Crisis of Our Age. Evidence collected for Social and Cultural Dynamics concerning fluctuations in all aspects of social and cultural life is reproduced in Crisis of Our Age in a condensed version. According to Sorokin the evidence establishes the decline of creative forces in modern sensate culture. A majority of American sociologists oppose Sorokin's ideas. Published in Thought, December, 1941
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Establishment of Cultural Sociology (review of Social and Cultural Dynamics)
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Several book reviews bound together in a red book entitled Sorokin Reviews (no.31), Editorialversant with the principles of historiealeriticism.He does not hesitate toemploy ps)' ehologieal analysis andcarcful qualitative logical reasoningwherever they are of aid.Thus this great work justifies to ace'rt8. inextenttbetitleofthiseditoriaLIt shows ooyond a doubt that everycivilization must 00 understoodthroughitshistoriealdevelopmentandthatthisistrueevenofsuchaeomplexculture as ' Western civilization. Itshows, too, how the fluctuations in thevsriousculturaltraditionsaccountforthe general condition of hlllnan societyat any SpeciJill time, for its unity andharnlOny, and for its disturbances andwau. It showa, too, that these f1uctua_tions in the various llulhlral traditionsfurnish the most fruitful approach tothe understanding or human relationshipsand interactions. Negative_ly, Professor Sorolrin's monumentalstudylea\' es theone- sided sociologies,such as behaviorism, eoonomicdeter_miniam, and fonnal interaetionismwithout any adequate scientific basis.We belicve that as a result of ProfessorSorokin'swork,theseone_ sidedso_cial philosophies will be less numerous~ thh~ Dt~~::~ ~~~ h~ iFei~~ t~~ i~ t~~~~ ft~~ i~ 1 both n dynamic and aIn the sentence before the laat wehave anticipated the criticism whichwill undoubtedly be levclJed at this newwork; and that is, that it is social phi_l< » . ophy rather than social science.Both the publishers and Prof. Sorokinhimself, anticipate thi. s oriticism.While they speak of Social and CId-: rrf/~~ iai~ hiio~~~ i;~ Of! dt~ d~ si~would seem to the writer to be both.The pubUaher. s also call the work " AnEncyclopedic Philosophy of lIistory."That i. s perhaps also correet. but itshould not 00 confused with the workproduced by ! Dch writers as Man: or497~ r~~ c~~ i~ tD~~ fi~ p~~ de: h~~ t~ er;: d~ r.ways close to social facts. Ir. someof~ f: n~;~ f~~\~ t~~~ tm~ r: h~~~ a':~: b~~ o~ d~~;~ tSn: ei:~~:: t: U~~ u~: f~:~ 1~~: otre:::~: l~ y~~~ i~ mth: th~~workleaDssomewhattotheconserva ·tive side and discredits revolutiongasa method of social advance. But so faras we can see, Professor Sorokin'. sinterpretation here does not go beyondhis social facts. Finally, the devoteesof crass empiricism in science, and ofhedonism in social ethics, will sllTlllyfind that this work has a metaphysieat,even perhaps, a theological bias; for itshows that the scienee which is built~~ n~ ei~~ r::~ i~ n~ i~ t~~ e~~~ i;~~~~ ~~our general " Sensate" or Epicureanculture. and that this culture inevita_bly leads tosueh a crisis as the worldis now undergoing. Professor Sorokinconcludes that if we eannot transfonnfi~~~ fin! u~~~~ tet~~~ ur:~ I~ odis~~:;awaits us. He remarks that he himself,like most of us, i8 prejodioedin favorof our Epicurean culture, but he sees,as a social scientist, that itis unstablelind must lead to disaster. He leavesus, however, with a ray cf hope, withthe prediction that " the dawn of a new~.: ei~~ n~ d~: t~:~ ~~ t~~ nisor~~} xture."It ia impossible to do justice to such~ e: i~~ : O: I~ r~~: i~~ ic:. s~~ l~~~~~:in itself. However, we Cllnnot close thenotice without giving the readers ofSoci< dScitflCe a taste of this remarkablework. We shall, therefore, quotetwo of the concluding paragraphs inthe Third Volume:" Maukind should be grateful to theSensate [ or Epicurean] cultureforit. s.98 fIOCUL IOllUIClI .. 01 OOTOau" 1937wonderlll1 achievement-.. But now... ben it ia in agony i when ita productU: poiton gq rather tha. n fresh air;" ben through its achievemenu it hu~: D:: n1u:';~~ e: n~~"~: f~~ r~ e:: iltro;:~ o~~tionl ADd pauiofl3, lIeos. ttl appetitesand lOIla- now, in the handa of nch •man, with all it, achievements of acieaceand teebnology, it is becominginol1! a. ingly dangllrous to mankind itlelflndto all iiJI valuel. And fortbesame relllOD, for wbich a bomb or gunin the hand. of a child or an imbeCileit dangllrous for himaeJf and forothen." The mOllt grgent need of our time illthe man who tan ccmtrol hinue. lf andhit lUlU, who ill oompauionate to aUhit fellow men, who can see and seekfor the eternal value. of culture and=~' re::: naf~ ti~: Pgia~~~UthecoDqtlestoftheforc: elofnatareis the main funetion of the Senute eul.tare, the taming of man, his ' bwnanization,'his ennoblement as the par_: 1\ 1tieipant In the Divme Absolute, haaalway. been the fuetiOD mainly of theIdeational cultun!. The Sensate enltDredid iill beel in the .... y of dl'gndiD&man to the level of. mere relies meeh ·:~ iea:~~ ni~=: l,~logicaJ organiam, devoid of aoy divine ;.', park, of any absolute value, of any. .thing noble and sacred. Such • debue-i~~~ln~: r~ s:~::: e~ i:~ rma~ I~:See::: ti~': ~ r~ d~~ li~~ 8~~~ hfi:~~ rfb~:~ D\~~ i: r::~ l~~ n~ E~~~Dr. Sorokin tell, UI, " 10 Volume Four~~ tJi;. Ie~~ ieair~ n:. ni.~~~atie theory of & OciaI and eulturalchanges, .. weU u • formulatioD ofthe piding principletl of BGcioJogiealmethodology." The 5Ociologicalworldawait. this fourth volume with muchintertlt.- Cll. UJAaA. EI.. l. wOODSkyKt'apuSkyward- IflnlItllimm OII. w- of Iftl""" bIllod,C~~. t"', I: yt( nJJltf', t< lft4tl- abt. to ll",", er, raitl,_,AlldtleM" Meu""" torT'fI<' lI 0ftlelULt · / ih-... ttbdmrol, Social and Cultural Dynamics is a survey of the cultural development of the Western civilization for the past 25 hundred years. Sorokin's work shows beyond a doubt that every civilization must be understood through its historical development. How fluctuations in some cultural traditions explain the general condition of human society at any specific time. Fluctuations supply abundant approaches to understanding human associations and relations. Published in Social Science, October 1937
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General: Book Review
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Review of Sorokin's book, "The Crisis of Our Age: The Social and Cultural Outlook, " published in General, October [1941]
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