Editorial Statement

The theory of stereotyping in Psychology, of ideology in Political Science, and of the Sociology of Knowledge all stress this one fundamental point.

Max Weber , The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, London , Unwin University Books, 1968, pp. 98ff.

R.H. Tawney , Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, Harmondsworth , Penguin, 1948, p. xi.

See C. Wright Mills , The Sociological Imagination, Oxford, 1959, pp. 25-75.

Karl Popper , The Logic of Scientific Discovery, London, Hutchinson, 1959, p. 38.

Alfred North Whitehead , Science and the Modern World, London, MacMillan, 1925, pp. 60-1.

The transformation of such models into empirically-oriented propositions or hypotheses is discussed in a recent book. See Harold Fallding , The Sociological Task, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall , 1968, pp. 24-34.

Quoted by Arthur Koestler , The Act of Creation, London, Hutchinson , 1964, p. 242.

Emile Durkheim , The Division of Labour in Society, London, MacMillan, 1933, p. 37.

Max Weber , The Methodology of the Social Sciences, Glencoe, Ill., Free Press, 1949, p. 104.

A survey of American graduate students in Sociology suggested that 'because it is convenient to teach theory in one class-room and empirical methods in another, only those students whose own curiosity leads them beyond the required minimum of "knowledge about" sociological theories come really to see that data without a unifying theoretical framework do not make a science'. Elbridge Sibley , The Education of Sociologists in the United States, New York, Russell Sage Foundation, 1963 , p. 116.

Sibley, p. 117.

The decline and fall of Philosophy from its once pre-eminent position in the study of politics is marked by its dismissal as a 'tool subject' of Political Science, in contradistinction to those fields, a knowledge of which 'is essential to the student of Political Science to enable him to master the subject'. See W.A. Robson , The University Teaching of Social Science: Political Science, Paris, UNESCO , 1955, p. 59.

That this frequently is what is maintained would appear to be the only explanation for some of the earth-shattering discoveries' published in contemporary journals. Thus: 'Clearly the thinkers are also doers; those who have an interest in politics and tend to pay attention to political matters in the mass media and discuss political matters with their friends and relatives are also more likely to be active in political affairs than those who pay little attention to, and have little involvement in, matters political.' It is interesting to note that not merely was the survey of which this was a result intended to be a contribution to knowledge, but was also a means of training Political Sociology students in social research. Whether or not it succeeded in this latter aim, it almost certainly impressed upon the students the manner in which the contemporary social scientist is committed to pushing back the frontiers of knowledge. See Paul R. Wilson , and J.S. Western , 'Participation in Politics: A Preliminary Analysis', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology, 1968, Vol. 4, Part 2, p. 105.

Robert K. Merton , Social Theory and Social Structure, Glencoe, Ill., Free Press, 1963, pp. 103 ff.

Percy C. Cohen , Modern Social Theory, London , Heinemann, 1968, p. 10.

P.A.M. Dirac , in Scientific American, Vol. 208, No. 5, May 1963.

Lewis A. Coser (ed.), Sociology Through Literature, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1963, p. 3. Coser's introduction to this collection of literary extracts makes many of the points noted in this section, although there is perhaps a greater tendency to concentrate on the literary artist s acute eye in describing reality, rather than his ability to draw attention to novel relationships between the differing aspects of that reality.

On the concept of the vulnerability of insight see Bernard Lonergan , Insight: A Study of Human Understanding, London, Longmans, 1958, pp. 279ff.

Robert Bierstadt , 'Sociology and General Education' in C. H. Page (ed.), Sociology and Contemporary Education, New York, Random House , 1963, pp. 44-5.

Martin Esslin , in his introduction to Henrik Ibsen , An Enemy of the People, London, Heinemann, 1967, p. xi.

Henry Fielding , New York, New American Library 1963, p. 116.

The most frequently reported deficiency in training reported by American recipients of Ph.D. degrees in Sociology was in the area of cognate social disciplines. Sibley, p. 164.

On this latter point see Morris Rosenberg , Occupations and Values, Glencoe, Ill., Free Press, 1957, pp. 20ff.

Some of the 'New Universities' in England have attempted to instil an interdisciplinary approach, but the author's personal observations lead him to believe that it takes only a very few years for departmentalism to reassert itself.

That difficulties of this kind arise is largely due to the fact that the only objective criteria of 'eminence' in teachers refer to research ability. See P.F. Lazarsfeld , and W. Thielens , Jr., The Academic Mind, Glencoe, Ill., Free Press, 1958. That academic promotion is usually based on such criteria alone can lead to the extraordinary position chronicled by Robert A. Nisbet: 'As one candid and cunning assistant put the matter to me in a letter: "I hope I never get tagged in any student election or faculty rating as a good man with undergraduates. Until my research record is strong and unchallengeable. I am sure I can get farther by mediocre or dull teaching of undergraduates because this will at least leave open the possibility that my research promise may therefore be high".' Cited in Robert A. Nisbet , 'Sociology in the Academy' in C. H. Page (ed.), p. 64.

The degree of such insecurity and the consequent tendency to make all possible efforts to gain 'scientific' status varies considerably. For a comparison of American Political Science and British Political Studies in this respect see A.H. Hanson , Political Philosophy or Political Science, Leeds University Press, 1965.

Robert Oppenheimer , 'Tradition and Discovery', ACLS Newsletter, Oct., 1959.