Alvin Ward Gouldner

Alvin Ward Gouldner, ( * 1920 in New York City, † 1980) was an American sociologist. From 1959 to 1967 Professor of Sociology at the University of New York, in 1962 president of the Society for the Study of Social Problems ( 1962), 1972-76 Professor of Sociology in Amsterdam, he was from 1967 Max Weber Professor of Sociology at the Washington University.

Scientific development

His early works such as Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy (1954 ) and Wildcat Strike (1955 ) develop aspects of the theory of bureaucracy by Max Weber added, based on strikes, management and social control. He emphasized the capabilities of the working class and the fact of industrial conflicts, despite working against the bureaucratic constraints. References to Weber's sociology of religion, one can discover in his writings Technology and Moral Order.

A change of direction before he took in the 1960s. He was working on a project that studies the historical and critical social theory from Plato to Marxism and contemporary sociology brought forth. In these studies, he refused the required value freedom as separation of neutral science, moral discourse and political commitment. His criticisms he summarized in The Coming Crises of Western Sociology - not just a study on functionalism and Marxism, but ever on the former ratio of sociological science and their societies. In 1974 he founded the journal Theory and Society, in which he further expressed his conception of critical sociology to bear.

Gouldner then dealt particularly with the possibilities of progressive social change, especially with the question: What can intellectuals to change their own future and to the rise of a " New Class" to contribute? He called on sociologists to reflect on their theories and their role in society, particularly in terms of the dialectic of ideology and technology.

After his death, was arguing about the respective influences that have shaped his vision of a critical theory. His view of rationality and understanding of critical sociology was influenced by the Frankfurt School, but his style of "radical sociology " and his perspective at least as much by Charles Wright Mills. His interest in bureaucracy, power and knowledge are evidence of his interest in the sociology of Max Weber.

Works

  • The western sociology in crisis. Rowohlt, 1974 ( The coming crisis of Western sociology. Basic Books, 1970)
  • Enter Plato: Classical Greece and the Origins of Social Theory. Basic Books, 1965
  • The intelligence as a new class. Campus, 1980. ISBN 3593326310, 9783593326313
  • Wildcat strike. Antioch Press, 1954
  • For Sociology: Renewal and Critique in Sociology Today.. Allen Lane, 1973 ISBN 0713904461, 9780713904468 ( a selection of essays from this book appeared in German translation: reciprocity and autonomy, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, ​​1984)
  • Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy: Case Study of Modern Factory Administration. Collier Macmillan, 1954. ISBN 0029127300, 9780029127308
  • The Dark Side of the Dialectic. Macmillan, 1980
  • The Two Marxisms: Contradictions and Anomalies in the Development of Theory. Oxford University Press, 1982. ISBN 0195030664, 9780195030662
  • Cosmopolitans and Locals: Toward an Analysis of Latent Social Roles. Bobbs- Merrill, 1958
  • The norm of reciprocity: a preliminary statement: A Preliminary Statement. Bobbs- Merrill, College Division
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