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Sorokin and Parsons at Harvard: Institutional conflict and the origin of a hegemonic tradition
Author(s) -
Johnston Barry
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
journal of the history of the behavioral sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.216
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1520-6696
pISSN - 0022-5061
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6696(198604)22:2<107::aid-jhbs2300220203>3.0.co;2-a
Subject(s) - hegemony , sociology , power (physics) , personality psychology , social science , historical sociology , trace (psycholinguistics) , epistemology , personality , psychoanalysis , law , philosophy , political science , psychology , linguistics , physics , quantum mechanics , politics
The early history of Harvard sociology is closely entwined with the careers and personalities of Pitirim Sorokin and Talcott Parsons. The processes and conditions that led to Parsons's rise and Sorokin's decline are essential to understanding the development of Harvard sociology. Edward Tiryakian's work on theory schools and hegemonic traditions in the social sciences is a useful framework for analyzing and discussing these developments. Following Tiryakian, one can simultaneously trace the operating factors in Sorokin's failure to achieve lasting power and the development of a Parsonian sociology which would vie for hegemony in the discipline. Personality, milieu, forms of theorizing, and sociology's movement toward maturation are keys to the major changes in Harvard sociology during the 1940s. Analysis of this case deepens understanding of the conditions that contribute to the emergence of important intellectual traditions.