Structure and Meaning

Jeffrey C. Alexander has also written:

Twenty Lectures: Sociological Theory

Since World War II

and

Action and Environments: Toward a

New Synthesis
Structure and Meaning

Relinking Classical Sociology

Jeffrey C. Alexander

Columbia University Press

NEW YORK
 LIB R A RY OF C O N G R E S S
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Alexander, Jeffrey C.
Structure and meaning : relinking classical sociology I Jeffrey C.
Alexander.
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Includes bibliographies and index.
ISBN 0-231-06688-0 (alk . paper)
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 Contents

Acknowledgments Vll I ntroduction

ONE Sociology and Discourse: On the Centrality of the Classics 8

TWO The D ialectic of Individuation and Domination:

Weber's Rationalization Theory and Beyond 68

THREE The Cultural G rounds of Rationalization:

Sect Democracy Versus the Iron Cage 1 0 1

FOUR Rethinking D urkheim's Intellectual Development :

On the Complex Origins of a Cultural Sociology 1 23

FIVE Durkheimian Sociology and Cultural Studies Today 1 56

SIX Culture and Political Crisis :

'Watergate' and D urkheimian Sociology 1 74

SEVEN H abermas and Critical Theory :

Beyond the Marxian Dilemma? 217

Index of Names 25 1 Subject Index 255

 Acknowledgments

" Sociology and Discou rse : On the Centrality of the Classics" (chapter I)
first appeared in Anthony Giddens and Jonathan Turners, eds. , Social
Theory Today and is reprinted here by permission of the Polity Presss.

" The Dialectic of Individuation and Domination : Weber's Rationaliza­

tion Theory and Beyond" (chapter 2 ) first appeared in Sam Whimster
and Scott Lash , eds., Max Weber and Rationality and is reprinted here
by permission of Allen and Unwin.

"The Cultural Grounds of Rationalization : Sect Democracy Versus the

I ron Cage" (chapter 3 ) first appeared in Sociological Theory and is re­
printed here by permission of the American Sociological Association.

" Rethinking Durkheim's I ntellectual Development : On the Complex

Origins of a Cultural Sociology" (chapter 4) first appeared in Interna­
tional Sociology and is reprinted here by permission of the I nternational
Sociological Association.

" Durkheimian Sociology and Cultural Studies Today" (chapter 5 ) first

appeared in Jeffrey C. Alexander, ed . , Durkheimian Sociology: Cultural
Studies and is reprinted here by permission of Cambridge University
Press.

" Culture and Political Crisis : 'Watergate' and D urkheimian Sociology"

(chapter 6) first appeared in Jeffrey C. Alexander, ed . , Durkheimian So­
ciology: Cultural Studies and is reprinted here by permission of Cam­
bridge University Press .
Vlll A C K N O W LED G M E N T S

"Habermas and Critical Theory: Beyond the Marxian Dilemma?" (chap­

ter 7) first appeared in the American Journal of Sociology and is re pr inte d
here by p e rm iss ion of the U niversi ty of Chicago Press .

Each of these essays has been revised since their original p u blic a ti on .
Structure and Meaning
 Introduction

These essays concern the relation between structure and meaning within
both sociological theory and modern society.
Sociological theory deals with modernity. First Western, then world
society has undergone a great transformation. What are the costs, and the
gains? Since the nineteenth century there have been strains of liberal and
technocratic theorizing that have emphasized the gains and underempha­
sized the costs. In the period after World War I I , these strains became
particularly pronounced . Classical sociology itself came to be read in this
positive way. In the 1 980s our view of modern society has become more
realistic. Liberal theories of modernity must be reconstituted so they
reflect this new realism ; the classical grounding for contemporary thought
must be reconsidered in a corresponding way.
The great classical figures of modern sociology were , in fact, more
worried about the costs of modernity than they were confident about its
gains . In varying degree , they viewed modernization as an emptying out
of meaning. Throughout the writings of Marx , Weber, Simmel, and
Durkheim we find assertions, and suggestions, that at the end of this
modernizing process only hard and impersonal structures will be left .
The promise of freedom appeared to be either meaningless or essentially
unfulfilled , the hope for community even more remote . I ndustrialization
and secularization, it seemed , had produced more harm than good. The
first allowed structures to develop that were impervious to human
will ; the second prevented the new society from being meaningfully
understood . Today, we know that modernity has been j ust this bad , indeed
that it has exceeded the founding figures' worst nightmares. From
the pessimistic sensibility of classical sociology, therefore, there is still
much to be learned. To explore this dark side sets one agenda for this
book.
2 IN T RODUC T ION

Yet, as this great century of modernity draws to a close, it is important

to stress that we have learned that there is a contrasting, lighter side as
well . Some modern societies have not self-destructed ; even though they
have suffered great strains, they have not only survived but have been
increasingly enriched . Many of the societies that came to naught in the
process of modernization , moreover, have been able to establish new and
much more promising foundations. Modernity, then, has not always been
as bad as the classical figures suggested ; it would appear that there is no
deep structural reason for it eventually to come to ruin. Classical sociolo­
gists conceived ideas in a period of particularly sharp disruption , a period
that, after two world wars and a half-century of crippling instability, we
may now have the luxury of identifying as transitional . It is not surprising
that their critiques betray a certain metaphysical nostalgia for the tradi­
tional world and a corresponding difficulty in seeing the possibilities for a
modernity in a positive light . To demonstrate that there is hope for a
modern society is to confront the dark side of the classical heritage. It is
to demonstrate that meaningless is not the logical deduction from the
death of god and that domination is not the inevitable corollary of indus­
trialization . Freedom and community can survive in a "rational , " postcos­
mological, and industrial world. To explore these more positive possibili­
ties marks this book's other agenda.
The success of this more positive agenda depends on intertwining
structure and meaning in both a formal and a substantive way. Substan­
tively, it must be shown that positive social and cultural resources do
exist. Formally, an analytical theory must be developed that shows how
and why structure and meaning can be combined . The possibility of a
good society cannot be established only by normative argument. There is
a distinctive contribution that sociological theory can make. I f we are to
attain the "reflective equilibrium" that Rawls ( 1 979 : sec. 1.9) has estab­
lished as a precondition not only for j ustice but for theorizing about
justice, we need clear technical ideas about the empirical structures and
real possibilities of social life . We cannot make do with moral reasoning
writ large. This sociological theory, which has formal and substantive
components, must tell us where, in the mundane but by no means entirely
hopeless societies in which we actually live, the modern resources for
meaning, community, and the democratic control of power lie .* In the

* I take this sociological turn to be an implication of the "internalist" moral theorizing that
 I N T R O D U C T I O N J

collection of essays that forms a companion for this volume (Alexander

1988a) , I have addressed these issues through efforts at empirical expla­
nation and systematic theory . " In the current collection I do so by
returning to the classics.
The base line for these reflections is established by "The D ialectic of
Individuation and Domination : Max Weber's Rationalization Theory and
Beyond , " the second essay in this collection. The distinctive tone of
Weber's sweeping but precise account of civilizational history- sober
about imminent danger yet courageously determined to press on- seems
peculiarly appropriate for the tense and contradictory history of modern
times. In the present period, the ebullience of postwar American liberal­
ism seems naively out of place . Modernity is not an end point that will be
imminently achieved . It is a process that, one hopes, will go on without
end . In the early postwar period , the only alternative to early American
optimism seemed to be M arxist critique or existentialist despair. I prefer
Weber to Marx because he is neither millenial nor apocalyptic . By show­
ing that within "bourgeois" society there are significant resources for
moral responsibility, Weber restores a dialectic missing from Marx's work.
H e does not, however, neglect the reality of either domination or despair.
Individual moral courage is the only antidote to these scourges of moder­
nity that Weber can find. In the last pages of this essay I argue that more
properly sociological alternatives exist . The challenge is to expand on the
liberating side of Weber's dialectic without losing sight of modernity's
ever-present dangers and constraints. Durkheim went far beyond Weber
in this regard, as did Parsons , Keynes , Habermas , and Piaget .
The aim of the subsequent essays is to explore the resources for devel­
oping this fuller dialectic, following the traditions of D urkheim, Haber­
mas, and Weber himself. In "The Cultural Grounds of Rationalization :
Sect Democracy and the I ron Cage, " Colin Loader and I reconstruct a
kernel from Weber's giant corpus that has been almost completely ig­
nored. We suggest that in the aftermath of Weber's first and only trip to
America he briefly considered an alternative to the notion that modernity
implied a domination impervious to human control . The source for such
has evolved in reaction to the strains of abstract deduction-the "externalism" -in Rawls'
theory. For social scientists, the most important elaboration of internalism is Michael
Walzer's ( 1 983) work .
• [� a subsequent essay, "The New Theoretical Movement" (Alexander 1 988b) , I argued

that the inte rtwi n i ng of structure , action, and meaning has recently emerged as a leading
theme throughout the schools of contemporary theoretical work.
4 I NT R O D U C T I O N

an alternative, Weber believed, lay in the unique sect organization of

American religious life, which allowed America to secularize and industri­
alize without become "Europeanized . " Rather than rationalization being
presented as a univocal universal theory-the main thrust of his later
comparative and historical work-Weber here suggests that it can take
different paths. The "switchman" that determines which track will be
taken is the religious experience of a nation in its formative years. I f
church has been replaced b y Protestant sect, then there i s some chance
that the modern society which follows can be meaningfully integrated and
democratically controlled .
These unexpected conclusions are premised on the possibility that
religion, and the secular belief systems that follow in its wake, continue
to exert a profound influence on the modern age . In the remaining four
essays, I elaborate and generalize this premise through my interpretations
of Durkheim's and Habermas's work, and I demonstrate its practical
viability by a detailed analysis of Watergate, one of the most prototypi­
cally modern events in recent times.
Weber's unexpected and unpursued premise, I suggest, was at the very
heart of Durkheim's later work. Durkheim's aim from the very beginning
of his intellectual life was to challenge the conceptual necessity for an iron
cage-even if, for what he believed to be transitory historical reasons,
domination tended to be an empirical fact. In the last two decades of his
career, Durkheim believed that he finally had worked out the foundations
for this new conceptual scheme . He developed a "religious sociology" that
could redefine the structures of modern society in terms of symbolic
codes, rituals, and solidarities. Until recently the very existence of this
project was lost to professional social science. In "Rethinking Durkheim's
Intellectual Development : On the Complex Origins of a Cultural Sociol­
ogy," I show how it is now possible, given recent theoretical and scholarly
developments, to set this error right. The problems that Durkheim faced ,
I argue , are not at all dissimilar to those that confront social science. If
we can understand his tentative solutions, we can gain important re­
sources for resolving problems of our own . In the essay that follows,
"Durkheimian Sociology and Cultural Studies Today, " I show that in
important disciplines outside of social science narrowly construed there
have been significant elaborations of Durkheim's late program . These
developments are exemplars for a more culturally sensitive sociology.
In the penultimate essay, "Culture and Political Crisis : 'Watergate' and
 I N T R O D U C T I O N 5

Durkheimian Sociology , " I apply the agenda derived from Weber and
Durkheim to a major crisis in contemporary society, developing in much
more detail a conceptual scheme for the cultural analysis of modern
societies . ... To do so involves much more than mapping the internal logic
of cultural systems, although this is something I certainly try to provide .
It involves also linking the operation of these collective codes to institu­
tions, power, and social actors, and to the contingent aspirations for
rationality that distinguish modern life.
In the concluding essay, "Habermas and Critical Theory : Beyond the
Marxian Dilemma ?" I confront a theorist who is more closely identified
with the project of rational modernity than any contemporary. At an
earlier point in his career, Habermas pursued this project within a revised
version of Marxian thought. In his later work he has tried to find a more
meaning-related, noninstrumental theory within which rationality can be
articulated. He turns on its head Marx's sharp distinction between calcu­
lating means-ends activity and expressive communication. Rather than
accepting calculation as the basis of our theory of contemporary society,
we are urged to consider action from the perspective of communication.
I n doing so, Habermas believes, we must acknowledge that every action
contains an effort at consensual understanding. This movement toward
consensus provides an immanent standard for critical rationality, even
within the confines of "bourgeois" life.
The problem is that in elaborating this communicative theory Haber­
mas reproduces the very dichotomy he has sought to avoid . On the one
hand, he acknowledges that reaching understanding depends on shared
normative criteria. To pursue the latter, he has turned back to the same
traditions that are the object of this book, to Weber and D urkheim , and
also to Parsons and Piaget. He has read these figures to understand the
historical evolution of moral communities and the institutionalization of
values in social systems . On the other hand , Habermas insists that mod­
ern communication not only involves the norm of rationality but that in
empirical practice it can and should be completely transparent, its aims
and terms consciously available for dispute . To pursue this possibility,
Habermas relies on theories that understand communication as pragmatic
speech acts . This move blunts his more cultural turn. In semiotic terms,
in so far as norms and values are important, communication must be

·1 draw here upon the approach I developed in Alexander ( 1 988a):30 1-333.

6 I N T R O D U CTI O N

related to the arbitrary symbolic systems of language, not the situational

and contingent processes of speech. In the end , Habermas has not fully
escaped a radical , dichotomizing understanding of secularization. He can­
not conceive of rationality being pursued without a symbolic world that
remains grounded in some arbitrary and particularistic way. My own
argument in these essays is to the contrary : this is the only way that
rationality can be conceived.
I have introduced these essays by talking about the empirical and
theoretical issues to which they are addressed , ignoring the peculiar me­
dium through which their address is made. This, of course, is the me­
dium of classical work. But while I have ignored this medium , many
readers will not . Ever since Merton crystallized the distinction, empiricist
social science has argued for the strict separation of systematic from
historical approaches to sociological theory. Let historians study, and
interpret, the nature of the classics ; we sociologists will study, and ex­
plain, the nature of society .
These essays take exactly the opposite approach . They talk about mo­
dernity, power, culture, and explanation by interpreting the meaning of
other people's writing. They do not do so by studying empirical society
or even , for the most part, by producing systematic and testable theories
out of studies that have been conducted by others. I establish the plausi­
ble linkage of modernity and domination in the process of "discovering"
the sub-rosa theme of discipline in Weber's historical and comparative
studies. I sketch a counter-theory of democratic control by reconstructing
Weber's seldom noted text on sect religion, and I qualify this optimism
by making explicit and coherent the latent theory of irresponsibility and
flight from the world found in his essays on vocation. My effort to deepen
the cultural dimension of sociological theory-and, indeed, to argue for
the empirical importance of contemporary symbolic codes- begins from
a radical reinterpretation of the phases and meaning of Durkheim's intel­
lectual career.
I n the lengthy first essay of this collection, I develop an explicit justifi­
cation for this merging of history and systematics. This mode seems
peculiar for social science, I suggest, only from a normative perspective
that takes natural science practice as our proximate goal . I t is not peculiar,
however, in any empirical sense ; indeed, merging is normal and typical
of actual social science practice . This is not because the goals of social
science are any less rational than those of the physical sciences. The
 I N TRO D U C TIO N 7

latter's self-consciously empirical focus masks but does not neutralize the
more general metaphysical commitments that lie beneath . Social science
is different, not because it is less rational , but because it is less consensual.
Endemic disagreement makes nonempirical commitments much more
visible. These disagreements occur explicitly at every level of generality ,
and in the process soCial science often takes the form of discursive argu­
ment, rather than empirical explanation.
Discourse demands adjudicating standards that are both outside of
itself and more consensual than any empirical reference can be. This is
where the classics come in. Works become classics by the virtue of the
consensual admiration they engender. Disputation about the meaning of
these classics has at least some chance of being understood by other
members of the disciplinary community. To argue successfully vis-Ii-vis a
classic , therefore, has much the same impact as having argued about the
nature of empirical reality itself.
This is the functional reason for the centrality of the classics. There are
intellectual reasons as well . Sociological insight is an unevenly distributed
gift ; it must be preserved as surely as classical works of art . The thinkers
we have designated as classical sociologists powerfuiIy illuminated the
dangers of modernity ; we return to them also, however, to assess moder­
nity's strengths. It is in classical sociology that the case for structural
domination in contemporary life is most indelibly made; yet it is to the
great classical works that we return to qualify this structural approach in
subjective and cultural ways . If we are to embrace both structure and
meaning, there is no better way to begin than by rethinking the achieve­
ments and limits of our classical works.

R E S O UR C E S

Alexander, Jeffrey C. 1988a . Actzon and Its Environments. New York: Columbia
University Press.
-- 1 988b. "The New Theoretical Movement. " In Neil J. Smelser, ed ., Hand­
book for Sociology. Los Angeles and London : Sage.
Rawls, John. 197 1 . A Theory of Justice. MA : Harvard University Press.
Walzer, Michael . 1983. Spheres of Justice. New York : Basic Books.
 ONE

Sociology and Discourse:

On the Centrality of the Classics

The relationship between social science and the classics is a question

which opens up the deepest issues not only in sociology but in the human
sciences more generally.
In the essay which follows I argue for the centrality of the classics in
contemporary social science . This position is challenged from what, at
first glance, appear to be two entirely different camps. Among social
science practitioners, of course, there has always been skepticism toward
"the classics. " For those of the positivist persuasion , indeed, the very
question of the relation between social science and the classics leads
immediately to another, namely, whether there should be any relationship
at all. Why do disciplines which profess to be oriented to the empirical
world and to the accumulation of objective knowledge about it need
recourse to texts by writers who are long dead and gone ? According to
the canons of empiricism, after all, whatever is scientifically relevant in
these texts should long ago have been either verified and incorporated
into contemporary theory, or falsified and cast into the dustbin of his­
tory.
Yet it is not only "hard" positivists who argue against interrelating the
interpretation of the classics and contemporary social science ; it is human­
ists as well. Recently there has emerged a powerful argument against the
injection of contemporary concerns into the consideration of classical
texts. Classical texts, so this argument goes (e.g . , Skinner 1969 ) , must be
considered in historical terms. This historicist position on the classics
Steve Seidman, David Sciulli, Mark Gould, and Charles Lemert provided helpful com­
ments on earlier drafts.
 S O C I O L O,G Y ,A N D D I S C O U R S E 9

converges with the empiricist , insofar as both camps argue against inter­
mingling the concerns of contemporary social science with the discussion
of historical texts.
To answer the question about the relation between social science and
the classics, then, one must think about exactly what empirical social
science is and how it relates to the science of nature. One must also think
about what it means to analyze the classics and about what relation this
kind of presumptively historical activity might have to the pursuit of
contemporary scientific knowledge.
Before taking these questions up, however, I will offer a pointed defi­
nition of just what a classic is. Classics are earlier works of human
exploration which are given a privileged status vis-a-vis contemporary
explorations in the same field . The concept of privileged status means
that contemporary practitioners of the discipline in question believe that
they can learn as much about their field through understanding this
earlier work as they can from the work of their own contemporaries. To
be accorded such a privileged status, moreover, implies that, in the day­
to-day work of the average practitioner, this deference is accorded without
prior demonstration ; it is accepted as a matter of course that, as a classic,
this work establis hes fundamental criteria in the particular field. It is
because of this privileged position that exegesis and reinterpretation of
classics-within or without a historical context-become conspicuous
currents in various disciplines, for what is perceived to be the "true
meaning" of a classical work has broad repercussions. Western theologians
have taken the Bible as their classic text, as have those who practice the
J udeo-Christian religious disciplines. For students of English literature,
Shakespeare is undoubtedly the author whose work embodies the highest
standards in their field . For 500 years, Aristotle and Plato have been
accorded a classical status in political theory .

The Empiricist Challenge

to the Centrality of the Classics

What stimulates the argument against the classics' centrality from the side
of social science seems obvious enough . As I have defined the term, the
genre of "classics" does not exist today in the natural sciences . Whitehead
( [ 1 9 1 7] 1 974 :115), certainly one of the most sophisticated philosophers
10 S O C I 0 L O G Y A N D D I S C 0 U R S E

of science in this century , wrote that "a science which hesitates to forget
its founders is lost . " This pronouncement seems undeniably true, insofar,
at least, as science is taken in its Anglo-American sense as equivalent to
Naturwissenschaft. As an historian of science has observed, "every college
freshman knows more physics than Galileo knew , whose claim is higher
than any other's to the honor of having founded modern science, and
more too than Newton did, whose mind was the most powerful ever to
have addressed itself to nature" ( Gillispie 1 960 :8) .
This fact is undeniable . The problem is what does it mean? For adher­
ents to the positivist persuasion, it means that in the long run social
science must do without the classics as well. And in the short run,
attention to the classics must be severely delimited . They should be
mined simply for empirical information. Exegesis and commentary­
which are the sure marks of privileged status-have no place in the social
sciences. These conclusions are based on two presumptions. The first is
that the absence of classical texts in natural science indicates the latter's
purely empirical status ; the second is that natural and social science are
basically the same . I will argue below that neither of these presumptions
is true. Before doing so, however, I will examine in a more systematic
way the empiricist argument which they inform.
In an influential essay Merton ([1 947] 1 967 : 1-38) argued against what
he called the merging of the history and systematics of sociological theory.
His model for systematic theorizing was the natural sciences. It consisted ,
apparently, of codifying empirical knowledge and constructing covering
laws. What is systematic about scientific theory is that it tests covering
laws through experimental procedures and, thereby, steadily accumulates
true knowledge. I nsofar as accumulation occurs, there is no need for
classical texts. "The severest test of truly cumulative knowledge, " Merton
( [ 1 947] ( 1 967 :27) argues, "is that run-of-the-mill minds can solve prob­
lems today which great minds could not begin to solve earlier. " In a real
science, therefore, the "commemoration of the great contributors of the
past is substantially reserved to the history of the discipline" (p. 28) .
Investigation of earlier figures is an historical activity which has nothing
to do with scientific work. This is a job for historians, not social scientists.
This radical distinction between science and history is dramatically con­
trasted by Merton (p. 28) with the situation which holds in the humani­
ties, where "by direct contrast, each classical work-each poem, drama,
 S O C I O L O G Y A N D D I S C O U R S E II

novel , essay, or historical work- tends to remain a part of the direct

experience of succeeding generations . "
While Merton acknowledges' (p. 29) that sociologists are "poised be­
tween the physical and life scientists and the humanists," his prescription
for a position closer to the natural sciences is clear enough. He (pp . 28-
29) invokes Weber's confident assertion that "in science , each of us knows
that what he has accomplished will be antiquated in ten, twenty, fifty
years" and Weber's insistance that "every scientific [contribution] asks to
be 'surpassed' and outdated. " That, fifty years after Weber's death, nei­
ther Weber's sociological theories nor his assertions about science had
actually been "surpassed" is an irony which, it seems, passes Merton by .
To the contrary, he insists that while sociology's intermediate position
between science and humanities may be a fact, it must not be made into a
normative position . "Efforts to straddle scientific and humanistic orienta­
tions typically lead to merging the systematics of sociological theory with
its history" (p. 29) , a merging which, for Merton, is tantamount to
making the accumulation of empirical knowledge impossible. The prob­
lem, from Merton's point of view, is that sociologists are cross-pressured,
a structural position which typically leads to deviance from legitimate role
expectations. Most sociologists succumb to these pressures and deve l op
deviant roles. They "oscillate" between social science and humanities.
Only a few are able to "adapt to these pressures by acting wholly the
scientific role" (p. 29) .
It is deviance (my term, not Merton's) from the scientific role which
leads to what Merton calls the "intellectually degenerative tendencies" (p.
30) that merge systematics with history. An attempt at what might be
called historical systematics is degenerate because- precisely in the sense
in which I have defined a "classic" -it privileges earlier work. One finds
a "reverence" for "illustrious ancestors" and an emphasis on "exegesis"
(p. 30) . Worst of all, because erudition becomes important to understand­
ing the meaning of earlier, often difficult works, one finds an emphasis on
"erudition versus originality . " Merton does not characterize erudite inves­
tigation into classical texts as interpretation . To do so, I believe, would
imply that such investigation involves a creative theoretical element which
is generative (as opposed to degenerative) in the contemporary scientific
sense . Generativity would contradict the slavish attitude toward earlier
works which Merton sees as inherent in the historical investigation of
12 S O C I O L O G Y A N D D I S C O U R S E

classical texts, for it is not just reverence but "uncritical reverence" ( p .

30) which h e believes t o b e involved . · I nterpretation and the creativity it
implies would also contradict the mechanistic epistemology which under­
girds his argument . For Merton historical systematics simply provide
contemporaries with mirrors in which earlier texts are reflected . They are
"critical summaries" (pp. 2 , 4) , "mere commentary" (pp . 30, 3 5 ) , "largely
sterile exegesis" (p . 30) , "chronologically ordered set [s] of critical syno­
poses of doctrine" (p. 35 ; cf. p . 9) .
Earlier texts, Merton insists, simply should not be looked at in this
"deplorably useless" (p. 30) way. He offers two alternatives, one from the
side of systematics, the other from the side of history. From the point of
view of social science, he argues that earlier texts must be treated in a
utilitarian rather than classical way. True, the present situation is not
ideal-there has not been the kind of empirical accumulation which social
science has every right to expect. Rather than dwelling on this situation,
however, the p roper response is to convert now classic texts into simple
sources of data and/or untested theories, that is, to make them into
vehicles for further accumulation. They must be treated as sources of
"previously unretrieved information" which can be "usefully employed as
new points of departure" (p. 3 5 ) . Such texts can then point toward the
scientific future rather than the humanistic past. In this way, the study of
earlier texts can itself become scientific. By "following up and developing
theoretical leads" (p. 30) , it can be devoted to "retrieving relevant cumu­
lative knowledge . . . and incorporating it in subsequent formulations"
(p. 35)·
The alternative to merging from the point of view of history is, in fact,
not much different. Rather than using texts as mines of unretrieved
information, the texts can be studied as historical documents in them­
selves. Once again, the point here is to avoid textual exegesis. "A genuine
history of sociological theory , " Merton (p. 35 ; italics in original) writes,
"must deal with the interplay between theory and such matters as the

· Such a fawning, demeaning attitude to classical authors-the full quote is "uncritical

reverence toward almost any statement made by illustrious ancestors" (Merton I 967:30)­
must be sharply distinguished from the deference and privileged status which accrue to
classics according to the definition I have offered above. I will argue below that while
deference defines the formal attitude, continuous critique and reconstruction are what the
real substance of historical systematics is all about. Merton's extremism on this matter is
typical of those who deny the relevance of classical investigations to social science, for it
views these investigations as antiscientific and uncritical.
 S O C I 0 LO G Y A N D D I S C 0 U RS E 13

social origins and statuses of its exponents, the changing social organiza­
tion of sociology, the changes that diffusion brings to ideas, and their
relations to the environing social and cultural structure. " It is the environ­
ment of the ideas, not the ideas themselves, which a good historian of
social science should study. The historian's aims, it is assumed, are fully
as empirical as those of the sociological , who studies the same texts for
the purposes of accumulation. Merton's rejection of the merging of sci­
ence and history, then, is based not only on the demand for scientific
sociology but for scientific history as well.
The first assumption upon which the empiricist challenge to the cen­
trality of the classics depends is that the absence of classics in natural
science stems from its empirical and cumulative nature ; the second is that
in these respects social and natural science are basically the same . In
Merton's essay against the merging of history and systematics, the empi­
ricist perspective on natural science is an unstated assumption. His ac­
count of the history of science is a purely progressive one. Rather than a
relativistic and historical treatment of earlier scientific texts, which in the
spirit of post-Kuhn ian sensibilities emphasizes the formative power of
suprascientific cultural and intellectual frameworks, Merton (pp . 8-27)
looks on earlier work as a series of "anticipations, " "adumbrations," and
"prediscoveries" of what is known in the present day . We know, more­
over, from Merton's systematic protocols for the sociology of science
(e.g. , Merton [1942] 1973) that this impression is not a mistake . For
Merton, disciplinary and methodological commitments are the only
nonempirical factors w hich impinge on scientific work, and neither of
these is conceived as having any direct effect on scientific cognition of the
object world.
That in its primarily empirical referent social science resembles natural
science is the other fundamental assumption upon which Merton's argu­
ment rests . This second point, however, is a little more difficult for
Merton to make. We know from his essay on middle range theory (Merton
1967 :39-72)-which , not incidentally, immediately follows the work on
the merging of history and systematics in Merton's collection, Social
Theory and Social Structure-that Merton does not view social science
as paradigm-bound in Kuhn's sense. Because it is problem rather than
paradigm driven, social science is organized by empirical specialty rather
than by school or tradition . But why, if sociologists are empiricists, do
they straddle science and the humanities ? Why, moreover, do they merge
14 S O C I O L O G Y A N D D I S C O UR S E

history and systematics if they are not intent on forming and sustaining
schools? As I have earlier suggested, even while Merton acknowledges
these unavoidable facts he insists they are deviant anomalies, not inherent
tendencies. I nsisting that "sociology adopts the orientation and practice
of the physical sciences, " he claims (pp . 29-3 1 ) that social science "re­
search moves from the frontiers advanced by the cumulative work of past
generations. "
I ndeed , despite the degenerate tendency for engaging in what I have
called historical systematics, Merton believes that our knowledge about
how to study the history of scientific thought is itself scientific and
cumulative! He employs the terminology of progressive science-adum­
bration, prediscovery, anticipation-to make his case for the right kind
of progressive scientific history. Arguing against progressive histories
which rest only upon the formal , published descriptions of scientific
work, he suggests (pp. 4-6) that such accounts rest on a conception of
history which "lags extraordinarily far behind long-recognized reality . " I t
was Bacon who first "observed" that the process o f objective discovery i s
more creative and intuitive than the formal logic o f scientific proof sug­
gests. That there have been independent discoveries of this fact must
confirm it- "perceptive minds have repeatedly and, it would seem, inde­
pendently made the same kind of observation . " The scientific theory
which covers , or explains, these empirical observations has developed in
due course-"this observation has been generalized" by later thinkers. I t
i s because this empirical logic has held that Merton i s confident that the
history of science will make inevitable progress- "the failure of sociology
to distinguish between the history and systematics of theory will eventu­
ally be wiped out . "
These are the basic assumptions o f Merton's ( now classic?) argument
against the centrality of the classics. There seems, however, to be a third,
auxiliary one as well, one which is implied by the two central assumptions
rather than standing on its own. This is the notion that the meaning of
significant earlier texts is there for all to see. I have shown how in
condemning historical systematics Merton characterizes it as producing
merely summarizing synopsis. I have also demonstrated how the sociolog­
ical history he prefers will focus on the environment of scientific theories
rather than on the nature of the ideas themselves. This inclination, by the
way, is also found in the challenge to the centrality of the classics, which
 SOC I OLO G Y A ND D I S COU R S E IS

has been issued by the humanities-a challenge I will consider in due

course below.
In the section which immediately follows, however, I direct my argu­
ment against the empiricist challenge to the centrality of classical texts
and the two central assumptions upon which it rests.

The Positivist View of Science

The argument against the centrality of the classics assumes that to the
degree a discipline is empirical it will be cumulative, and to the degree it
is cumulative it will not produce classics. I will argue, to the contrary,
that whether a discipline has classics depends not on its empiricism but
upon the consensus within that discipline about nonempirical things.
In Theoretical Logic in Sociology (Alexander 1 982a:5 - 1 5 ) , I suggested
that the positivist persuasion in the social sciences rests on four major
postulates. The first is that a radical, epistemological break exists between
empirical observations, which are held to be specific and concrete , and
nonempirical statements, which are held to be general and abstract. Only
because this break is taken for granted can the second postulate be made:
more general and abstract concerns-philosophical or metaphysical ones
- do not have fundamental significance for the practice of an empirically­
oriented discipline. Third , questions which are of a generalized, abstract,
and theoretical nature can be evaluated only in relation to empirical
observations. This suggests that, whenever possible, theory should be
stated in propositional form and , further, that theoretical conflicts are
decided through empirical tests and crucial experiments. Finally, because
these first three postulates supply no ground for structured scientific
disagreement, the fourth postulate suggests, scientific development is
"progressive, " that is, linear and cumulative. Differentiation in a scientific
field, then, is taken to be the product of specialization in different empir­
ical domains rather than the result of generalized , nonempirical disagree­
ment about how to explain the same empirical domain.
While these four postulates still accurately reflect the common sense of
most practicing social scientists-especially those of the American variety
- they have been sharply challenged by the new wave of postpositivist
philosophy, history, and , indeed, sociology of natural science which has
emerged over the last two decades (Alexander 1982a : 1 8-33 ) . Whereas the
16 S O C I 0 L O G Y A N D D I S C 0 U R S E

postulates of the positivist persuasion effectively reduce theory to fact,

those of the postpositivist position rehabilitate the theoretical .
I. The empirical data of science is theoretically informed . The facti

theory distinction is neither epistemological nor ontological, that is, a

distinction between nature and thought. It is an analytical distinction . As
Lakatos (e.g. , 1969 : 1 56) has written, describing some statements as ob­
servations is a manner of speech, not an ontological reference. Observa­
tions refers to statements informed by those theories about which we feel
the most certainty.
2 . Scientific commitments are not based solely on empirical evidence.
As Polyani (e.g. , 1 958:92) convincingly demonstrates , the principled
rejection of evidence is the very bedrock upon which the continuity of
science depends.
3. General, theoretical elaboration is normally dogmatic and horizontal
rather than skeptical and progressive. The more generalized the claim,
the less Popper's falsification theorem holds . Theoretical formulation does
not proceed, as Popper ( [ 1 934] 1 959 : 42) would then have it, according to
the law of "the fiercest struggle for survival . " To the contrary, when a
general theoretical position is confronted with contradictory empirical
evidence which cannot be ignored , it proceeds to develop ad hoc hy­
potheses and residual categories (Lakatos 1 969: 1 68- 1 76) . In this manner,
new phenomena can be "explained" without surrendering the general
formulations.
4. Fundamental shifts in scientific belief occur only when empirical
changes are matched by the availability of convincing theoretical alterna­
tives. Because such theoretical shifts are often in the background, they
are less visible to those engaged in scientific work. It is for this reason
that empirical data give the appearance of being concretely induced rather
than analytically constructed. In truth , however, as Holton (1973 :26,
1 90) observes, the struggle between general theoretical commitments is
"among the most powerful energizers of empirical research , " and it must
be placed "at the heart of major changes in the natural sciences. "
If generalized, nonempirical considerations play such a decisive role,
then Merton's first assumption- about the character of natural science­
does not hold . Neither, in my view, does his second, for in crucial
respects the practices of social and natural science are not particularly
alike. This conclusion may seem surprising. Once we have established the
nonempirical dimension of natural science, it might seem that the status
 S O CI0 L O G Y AN D D I S C 0 UR S E 17

of classical works would be unchallenged . The fact remains, however,

that natural science does not have recourse to classics. The challenge is to
explain this fact in a non empiricist way.

Why There Are No Classics in Natural Science:

A Postpositivist View

The epistemology of science does not determine the particular topics to

which scientific activity is allocated in any given scientific discipline. Yet,
it is precisely the allocation of such activity which is responsible for any
discipline's relative empirical "feel. " Thus, even outspoken anti-empiricists
have acknowledged that an explicit focus on empirical questions is what
distinguishes natural from human sciences. 1 For example, while Holton
has painstakingly demonstrated that arbitrary, supra-empirical "themata"
affect modern physics, he ( 1 973 :3 30-33 1 , italics added) insists that it has
never been his intention to argue for the introduction of "thematic discus­
sions . . . into the practice of science itself. " He suggests, indeed , that
"only when such questions were ruled out of place in a laboratory did
science begin to grow rapidly. " Even the forthrightly idealist philosopher
Collingwood ( 1 940 :3 3 ) , who has insisted that scientific practice rests
upon metaphysical assumptions, allows that "the scientist's business is
not to propound them but only to presuppose them . "
The allocation of scientific activity depends upon what i s considerated
by practitioners to he scientifically problematic. Because in the modern
era natural scientists tend to agree about the generalized commitments
which inform their craft, it is more empirical questions which usually
receive their explicit attention. This, of course, is precisely what allows
"normal science, " in Kuhn's phrase ( 1 970) , to proceed as an activity of
empirical puzzle solving and specific problem solutions. Taking normal
science to characterize natural science as such, Habermas ( 1 97 1 :91 ) , too,
has identified consensus as what differentiates "scientific" as compared to
"nonscientific" activity.
We term information scientific if and only if an uncompelled and permanent
consensus can be obtained with regard to its validity . . . The genuine achieve­
ment of modern science does not consist primarily in producing truth, that is,
correct and cogent statements about what we call reality. Rather, it distinguishes
itself from traditional categories of knowledge by a method of arriving at an
uncompelled and permanent consensus of this sort about our views.
/8 S O C I 0 L O G Y A N D D IS C 0 U R S E

Only if there is disagreement about the background assumptions which

inform a science do these nonempirical issues come explicitly into play.
Kuhn calls this a paradigm crisis. It is in such crises, he believes, that
there is "recourse to philosophy and to debate over fundamentals. "
I t is because attention is usually directed to the empirical dimensions
of natural science that classics are absent. The nonempirical dimensions
are camouflaged, and it appears that speculative hypotheses can be de­
cided by reference either to sense data which are relatively accessible or
to theories whose specificity makes their relevance to such data immedi­
ately apparent. Classics, by contrast, imply a privileged position for
earlier theories. Earlier theories, not just contemporary ones, are seen as
having explanatory status ; indeed, classical texts often are considered to
be capable of supplying relevant data as well. My point is that natural
science is no less apriori than its social counterpart . A nonapriori, purely
empirical stance is not the explanation for "classic-less" natural science .
Rather, it is a matter of the form which the mixture of prior and contin­
gent knowledge takes.
Thus, rather than classics , natural science has what Kuhn called exem­
plars. With this term, Kuhn ( 1 970 : 1 82) means concrete examples of
successful empirical work-examples of the kind of powerful problem
solutions which define paradigmatic fields. While exemplars embody
metaphysical and nonempirical commitments of various kinds, in them­
selves they are models of how specifically to explain the world. Of neces­
sity, they include definitions and concepts, but they direct those who
study them to questions of operationalization and technique. Yet for all
their specificity, exemplars themselves play an apriori role. They are
learned in textbooks and laboratories before neophytes are capable of
testing for themselves whether or not they are really true. They are, in
other words, internalized because of their privileged position in the social­
ization process rather than because of their scientific validity. The learn­
ing processes are the same in social science ; what is different is that social
scientists internalize classics at least as often as they internalize exemplars .

The Postpositivist Case for the Classics

The ratio of exemplars to classics is so much different in social science

because in its social application science produces so much more disagree­
ment. Because there is persistent and widespread disagreement, the more
 S O C I 0 L O G Y A N D D I S C 0 U R S E 19

general background assumptions which remain implicit and relatively

invisible in natural science here come vividly into play. · The conditions
which Kuhn defines for paradigm crisis in the natural sciences are routine
in the social . I am not suggesting that there is no "objective" knowledge
in the social sciences, nor even that there is no possibility for successful
predictions or covering laws . It is possible, it seems to me , to gain real
cumulative knowledge about the world from within different and compet­
ing points of view, and even to sustain relatively predictive covering laws
from within general orientations which differ in substantial ways. What I
am suggesting, however, is that the conditions of social science make
consistent agreement about the precise nature of empirical knowledge­
let alone agreement about explanatory covering laws- highly unlikely. In
social science, therefore, arguments about scientific truth do not refer
only to the empirical level . They cut across the full range of nonempirical
commitments which sustain competing points of view .
There are cognitive and evaluative reasons for the vast differences in
level of consensus. I will mention here only the most fundamental. t
I . I nsofar as the objects of a science are located in the physical world
·
outside of the human mind, its empirical referents can, in principle, more
easily be verified through interpersonal communication. In social science,
where the objects are either mental states or conditions in which mental
states are embedded, the possibility for confusing mental states of the
scientific observer with mental states of those observed is endemic.
2 . Resistance to simple agreement on empirical referents emerges from

the distinctive evaluative nature of social science as well. There is a

symbiotic relationship between description and evaluation . The findings

· Mannheim (1936 : 102-°3) puts this distinction well : "No one denies the possibility of
empirical research nor does anyone maintain that facts do not exist . . . We, too, appeal to
'facts' for our proof, but the question of . the nature of facts is in itself a considerable
problem . They exist for the mind always in an intellectual and social context. That they can
be understood and formulated implies already the existence of a conceptual apparatus. And
if this conceptual apparatus is t he same for all the members of a group, the presuppositions
( i . e . , the possible social and intellectual values) , which underlie the individual concepts,
never become perceptible . . . However, once the unanimity is broken, the fixed categories
which used to give experience its reliable and coherent character undergo an inevitable
disintegration . There arise divergent and conflicting modes of thought which (unknown to
the thinking subject) order the same facts of experience into different systems of thought,
and cause them to be perceived through different logical categories. "
t For a sophisticated and detailed review o f the differences between natural and social
science in an axiomatic form, see Sztompka 1 979 :60-64.
20 S O C I O L O G Y A N D D I S C O U R S E

of social science often carry significant implications for the desireable

organization and reorganization of social life. In natural science, by con­
trast, "changes in the content of science do not usually imply changes in
social structures" (Hagstrom 1 965 : 285) . The ideological implications of
social science redound to the very descriptions of the objects of investiga­
tion themselves. Often, the very characterization of states of mind or
institutions -e.g. , Is society called "capitalist" or "industrial"? Has there
been "proletarianization, " "individuation, " or "atomization"? -reflects an
estimation of the implication, for political values, of an explanation of a
phenomenon that is yet to occur. While Mannheim overestimated evalua­
tive as opposed to cognitive assumptions, he was certainly sensitive to this
point. Every definition, he ( 1936 : 196-97) wrote, "depends necessarily
upon one's perspective, i . e . , it contains within itself the whole system of
thought representing the position of the thinker in question and especially
the political evaluations which lie behind this system of thought . " His
conclusion, in this regard, seems accurate : "The very way in which a
concept is defined and the nuance in which it is employed already embody
to a certain degree a prejudgment concerning the outcome of the chain of
ideas built upon it. "
3 . Needless to say, insofar as it is difficult, for cognitive and evaluative
reasons , to gain consensus about even the simple empirical referents of
social science, about the abstractions from such concrete referents which
form the substance of social theory there will be even less. Hagstrom
suggests ( 1 965 : 256-58) that possibilities for scientific consensus signifi­
cantly depend upon the degree of quantification that is consistent with
the discipline's scientific goals. Insofar as empirical referents are not clear
and abstractions subject to constant dispute, efforts to mathematicize
social science can only be efforts at disguising or promoting particular
points of view.
4. I nsofar as neither empirical referents nor covering laws generate
agreement, the full range of nonempirical inputs to empirical perception
become objects of debate. Because there is such endemic disagreement,
moreover, social science will invariably be differentiated by traditions
(Shils 1 970) and schools (Tiryakian 1 979) . For most members of the
social scientific community, moreover, it is apparent that such "extra­
scientific" cultural and institutional phenomena are not simply manifesta­
tions of disagreement but bases upon which scientific disagreements are
 S O C I 0 L O G Y A N 0 0 I S C 0 U R S E 21

promoted and sustained. This realization further sensitizes social scien­

tists to the nonempirical dimensions of their field.
For all of these reasons, discourse- not just explanation-becomes a
major feature of the social science field . By discourse, I refer to modes of
argument which are more consistently generalized and speculative than
are normal scientific discussions. The latter are directed in a more disci­
plined manner to specific pieces of empirical evidence , to inductive and
deductive logics, to explanation through covering laws, and to the meth­
ods by- which these laws can be verified or falsified. D iscourse, by con­
trast, is ratiocinative. It focuses on the process of reasoning rather than
the results of immediate experience, and it becomes significant when there
is no plain and evident truth . Discourse seeks persuasion through argu­
ment rather than prediction. I ts persuasiveness is based on such qualities
as logical coherence, expans iveness of sco pe , i nterpret ive insight, value
relevance, rhetorical force, beauty, and texture of argument . ...
Foucault ( 1973 ) identifies intellectual, scientific and political practices
as "discourses" in order to deny their merely empirical, inductive status.
In this way, he insists that practical activities are historically constituted
and shaped by metaphysical understandings that cari define an entire
epoch . Sociology, too, is a discursive fi el d . Still , one finds here littl e of
the homogeneity that Foucault attributes to such fields ; in social science,
there are discourses, not a discourse. These discourses are not, moreover,

• Thus, in their vigorous defense of the contemporary empirical relevance of Parsonian

sociology, Holton and Turner ( 1 986) insist on the need to confront , through interpretion
and criticism, the mass of secondary discussion of Parsons, which obviously is not directly
empirical : "The aim of . . . this book [is] to offer a defence, where necessary, against
criticism which is often spurious and finally to indicate aspects of [Parsons'] sociology which
are of enduring importance to the social sciences" (p. 1 8 J ) . They explain their own goal as
critical in turn, and they define criticism in a discursive manner. " Criticism is ultimately
concerned with what can be said and hence with the coherence, scope and presuppositions
of any discourse. To discourse is to move backwards and forwards. To criticise discourse is
to ask whether any theoretical movement is valid. The validity of any argument has to do
with consistency between primary assumptions and the conclusions drawn from them . . .
We may accept the assumptions of a theory, but argue that the conclusions are incompatible
with its assumptions ; the argument is thus internally inconsistent and the critique is
internalist. We may argue that theory is perfectly consistent with its presuppositions but
reject the theory because we cannot accept the initial premises ; the theory is incompatible
with a set of preferred assumptions and the critique is externalist. To criticise is to uncover
the crisis . . . which threatens to disrupt the flow of a discourse, in terms of conditions
which are neither internal or external" (pp. 18z- 1 8J ) .
22 S O C I 0 L O G Y A N D D I S C 0 U R S E

closely linked to the legitimation of power, as Foucault in his later work

increasingly claimed . Social scientific discourses are aimed at truth, and
they are constantly subjected to rational stipulations about how truth can
be arrived at and what that truth might be. Here I draw upon Habermas'
(e.g. , 1 984) understanding of discourse as part of an effort that speakers
make at achieving undistorted communication. If Habermas underesti­
mates the irrational qualities of communication, let alone action (see essay
7, below) , he certainly has provided a way to conceptualize its rational
aspirations . His systematic attempts to identify modes of argument and
criteria for arriving at persuasive justification show how rational commit­
ments and the recognition of supra-empirical arguments can be com­
bined . Between the rationalizing discourse of Habermas and the arbitrary
discourse of Foucault- this is where the actual field of social science
discourse uneasily lies .
It is because of the centrality of discourse that theory in the social
sciences is so multivalent and that compulsive efforts (e.g. , Wallace 1983)
to follow the logic of natural science are so misguided . Followers of the
positivist persuasion sense the tension between such a multivalent concep­
tion and their empiricist point of view . To resolve it they try to privilege
"theory" over "metatheory, " indeed, to exclude theory in favor of "expla­
nation" narrowly conceived. Thus, complaining that "far too much social
theory consists of the history of ideas and general hero worship of Marx,
Weber, [and] Durkheim, " Turner ( 1986:974) argues for "doing theory as
opposed to . . . providing yet another metatheoretical analysis of the early
theoretical masters . " · And Stinchcombe ( 1 968 : 3 , italics added) describes
Marx, Durkheim, and Weber as "those great empirical analysts . . . who
did not work mainly at what we now call theory. " He insists that they
"worked out explanations of the growth of capitalism, or of class conflict,
or of primitive religion. " Rather than being concerned with discursive
theory, in his view, "they used a wide variety of theoretical methods. "

- This pejorative characterization of metatheory as hero worship recalls Merton's ( 1 967 :30)
claim of "uncritical reverence" which I discussed in the note on p . 1 2 . Obsequiousness, of
course, is the obverse of scientific skepticism, and it is ultimately in order to deny a scientific
role to classical investigations that such negative claims are made. It seems clear, to the
contrary, that what I earlier called historical systematics consists of the critical reconstruc·
tion of classical theories. I ronically, empiricists like Turner and Merton are able to gain
some legitimacy for their accusations because such reconstruction does, in fact, often occur
within a framework which explicitly denies any critical ambition . I will try to account for
this "naive attitude" of participants in classical debate in the section which follows.
 S O C I 0 L O G Y A N D D I S C 0 U R S E 2J

These distinctions, however, seem more like "utopian" efforts to escape

from social science than real efforts to understand it. Generalized dis­
course is central, and theory is inherently multivalent. Indeed, the cen­
trality of discourse and the conditions which produce it make for the
overdetermination of social science by theory and its underdetermination
by fact. Because there is no clear, indisputable reference for the elements
which compose social science , there is no neat translatability between
different levels of generality. Formulations at one level do not ramify in
clear-cut ways for the other levels of scientific concern . For example,
while precise empirical measurements of two variable correlations can
sometimes be established, it is rarely possible for such a correlation to
prove or disprove a proposition about this interrelationship which is
stated in more general terms. The reason is that the existence of empirical
and ideological dissensus allows social scientists to operationalize propo­
sitions in a variety of different ways . "
Let us briefly consider, for example , two o f the best recent efforts to
move from data to more general theory . In Blau's attempt to test his
newly developed structural theory, for example, he starts with a proposi­
tion he calls the size theorem - the notion that a purely ecological vari­
able, group size, determines outgroup relations (Blau, Blum, and Schwartz
1 982 :46) . Drawing from a data set that establishes not only a group's size
but its rate of intermarriage , he argues that a relationship between inter­
marriage rates and group size verifies the size theorem. Why? Because the
data demonstrate that "group size and the proportion outmarried are
inversely related" (p. 47) . But outmarriage is a datum that does not, in
fact, operationalize "outgroup relations. " It is one type of outgroup rela­
tion among many others, and as Blau himself acknowledges at one point
in his argument it is a type into which enter factors other than group size.
Outgroup relation , in other words, does not have a clear-cut referent.
Because of this, the correlation between what is taken to be its indicator
and group size cannot verify the general proposition about the relation
between group size and outgroup relations. Blau's empirical data, then,
are disarticulated from his theory, despite this effort to link them in a
theoretically decisive way.
In Lieberson's ( I 98o) ambitious study of black and white immigrants
to the U. S. since 1880 , similar problems emerge. He begins with the less
• For a powerful demonstration of the inevitability of empirical underdetermination which

is tied to an historical indictment of contemporary quantitative work, see S. Turner 1987.

24 S O CI0 L O G Y A N D D I S C 0 U R S E

formally stated proposition that the "heritage of slavery" is responsible for

the different economic achievement levels of black and European immi­
grants. In order to operationalize this proposition, Lieberson takes two
steps. First , he defines heritage in terms of "lack of opportunity" for
former slaves, rather than in cultural terms. Second, he operationalizes
"opportunity" in terms of the data he has developed about varying rates
of education and residential segregation . Finding a correlation between
these rates and differential economic achievement, he concludes that his
proposition has been tested and proved . But has it? Both Lieberson's
definition and his operationalization are highly contestable. Other social
scientists might not only define the heritage of slavery in very different
terms, but also conceive of opportunities in ways other than education
and residence. As a result, no necessary empirical relationship exists
between these three elements (heritage, opportunity, and rates) , so it is
uncertain that Lieberson's data demonstrate the more general proposi­
tion . The rates and the measured correlation, of course, stand on their
own as "facts. " These data, however, cannot test the theory at which they
are aimed . This is the overdetermination of "theory" by "facts. "
It is far easier to find examples of the contrasting problem, the overde­
termination of empirical "facts" by theory . I n virtually every broader,
more theoretically gauged study, the sampling of empirical data is open
to dispute. In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, for
example, Weber's ( [ 1904-5] 1 958) operationalization of "capitalism" via
seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English entrepreneurs has been widely
disputed . If the Italian businessmen in the early modern city states were
also capitalists, then Weber's correlation between capitalist and Puritan is
based on a restricted sample. If these Italians also manifested the captalist
spirit, as Trevor-Roper ( 1 965) once claimed, then an entirely different
theory must be advanced. One reason the 'Weber thesis' has never been
completely falsified is that, like every other middle range theory , the
empirical data it refers to are overselected by its theoretical scheme.
I n Smelser's famous study, Sodal Change in the Industrial Revolution
( 1 959) , a similar distance between general theory and empirical indicator
can be found . In his theory, Smelser argues that shifts in familial role
divisions, not industrial upheavals per se, were responsible for the radical
protest activities by English workers which developed in the 1820S. In his
narrative historical account, Semlser describes fundamental shifts in fam­
ily structure as having occurred in the sequence he has suggested. His
 S O C I 0 L O G Y A N D D I S C 0 U R S E 25

specific presentations of archival data ( Smelser 1 959 : 1 88-99) seem to

indicate, however, that these family disturbances did not develop until
one or two decades later. Smelser's theoretical concern with the family
overdetermined the presentation of his narrative history (and his archival
data underdetermined his theory in turn . ) '"
In Skocpol's ( 1 979) more recent, effort at documenting a n historical and
comparati�e theo;y, the �� � e kind of overdetermination is exercised by a
very different theory. Her search is for the empirical data of revolution,
and the only apriori she acknowledges is her commitment to the compar­
ative method (pp . 33-40) . At the same time, she announces early in the
book ( p . 1 8) that she proposes to take an "impersonal and nonsubjective
viewpoint" on revolutions, which gives causal significance only to "the
institutionally determined situations and relations of groups . " Not sur­
prisingly, w.!!.� �_�k<!c.P-9Lfinds in her subsequent empirical investigation
are, for the most part , material and "structural" causes for revolution.
Residual categories, however, do ��� �ge' to poke thrmigh'- When �he
a'Ckn()�ledges ai ��riou s points that local traditions and �ig� ts do play a
role (e.g. , pp. 62, 1 3 8 ) , and that political leadersllip and ideology must
(however briefly) be essayed (pp. 1 6 1 -73) , the theoretical overdetermi­
nation of her data becomes apparent. Her structural presuppositions have
led her to leave out of her account of relevant data the entire intellectual
-_.-. - .
' - " -' . - . . . . . . .

and cultural contest of revolution. t

- '" Empirical underdetermination and theoretical overdetermination go hand
in hand. From the most specific factual statements up to the most abstract
generalizations, social science is essentially contestable . I<:y�JY conclusion
is open to argumentation by reference to supr.�c::m pirical con�ideratiol)s.
'
Here is the specificaiIy social-s�i��tific v� rsion of the thematization which,
Habermas ( 1 984) has shown , must lay behind every effort at rational
argument.
Every kind of social scientific statement is subject to the demand for
justificatio� by reference to general principles. In other words, I need not
..:.... � nd social scientists as a community simply will not- limit an argu-
• It demonstrates Smelser's conscientiousness as an historical researcher that he himself

presented data that, as it were, went beyond his own theory. (Walby [1 986] relies on
Smelser's data, for example , in her M arxist-feminist reconstuction of the same period . ) This
is not usually the case, for the overdetermination of data by theory usually makes counter­
vailing data invisible, not only to social scientists themselves but often to their critics.
t Seweli ( 1 985) has forcefully demonstrated this gap in Skocpol's data for the French
case.
26 S O C I O L O G Y A N D D I S C O U R S E

ment against Blau to an empirical demonstration that structural consid­

erations are only one of several which determine outmarriage ; I can,
instead , demonstrate that the very stipulation of such structural causation
rests upon presuppositions about action which are of an excessively ra­
tionalistic kind . In considering Lieberson's work I can bracket the empir­
ical question of the relation between education and objective opportunity
in a similar way. Instead , I can try to suggest through discursive argu­
ment that Lieberson's exclusive focus on the heritage of slavery reflects
ideological considerations and a prior commitment to models generated
by conflict theory . In turn, Smelser's work can be effectively criticized in
terms of logical adequacy or by demonstrating that his early functionalist
model overemphasizes socialization. And Skocpol's argument- without
any reference to empirical material- can be negatively evaluated for the
implausible manner in which it limits "purposive theories , " which she
applauds, to the instrumental model of purposive-rationality her theory
implies.
To make such arguments- indeed, merely to engage in the kind of
discussion I have just employed - is to engage in discourse, not explana­
tion . As Seidman ( 1 986) has emphasized , discourse does not imply the
abandonment of claims to truth . Tru.�!t �l;lms, after all , need n�r.� e
limited to the criterion of testable empirical validity (Habermas 1984) .
Each level of supraempirical discourse has embedded within it distinctive
criteria of truth. These cr�teria go beyond empirical ade9.���Y to claims
about the nature and consequences of presuppositions, the stipulation and
adequacy of models, the consequences of ideologies, the meta-implica­
tions of models, and the connotations of definitions. In�ofar ' as they
become explicit, they are efforts, in short, to rationalize and systematize
the intuitively grasped complexities of social analysis and social life.
Current disputes between interpretive and causal methodologies, utili tar­
ian and normative conceptions of action, equilibriulIl and :�onf!.i.ct models
of societies, radical and conservative theories of change-these are far
more than empirical arguments . They r���ct efforts by sociologis.�s. to
articulate criteria for evaluating the "truth" of different nonempjrical
domains.
It is no wonder that the discipline's response to important works bears
so little resemblance to the neat and confined responses that advocates of
the "logic of science" suggest . Skocpol's States and Social Revolutions,
for example, has been evaluated at every level of the sociological contin-
 S O C I O L O q y A N D D I S C O U R S E 27

uum. The book's presuppositions, ideology, model, method, de,fi nitions,

concepts and, yes, even its facts have been clarified , disputed, and praised
in turn . At stake are the truth criteria Skocpol has employed to justify her
positions at each of these levels. Very little of the response to this work
has involved controlled testing of its hypotheses or the reanalysis of its
data. Decisions about the validity of Skocpol's structural approach to
revol ution certainly will not be decided on these grounds.z
At the beginning of this section , I suggested that the proportion of
classics to contemporaries is so much greater in social than natural science
because endemic disagreement makes the background assumptions of
social science more explicit . It is this obvious quality of background
I!!!�u m,p tions, in turn , that makes discourse so central a quality of social
�<:!.� ntific debate . What remains is to explain why this discursive form of
argument so often takes a "classical" turn . The existence of generalized ,
nonempirical debate does not logically imply any privileged position for
earlier works. Nonetheless, the very conditions which make discourse so
prominent also make the classics central. There are two reasons for this
centrality, the functional and the intellectual , or scientific .
Because disagreement is so rife in social science, serious problems of
mutual understanding arise. Without some baseline of minimal under­
standing, however, communication is impossible. For disagreement to be
possible in a coherent, ongoing, and consistent way, there must be some
basis for a cultural relationship. This can exist only if the participants in
a disagreement each have a fair idea of what the other is talking about.
This is where the classics come in. The functional necessity for classics
develops because of the need for integrating the field of theoretical dis­
'
���!,�e . By integration, I do not mean cooperation and equilibrium but
rather the boundary maintenance, or closure , which allows systems to
.e"ist (Luhm�;;-- I 9'84) �- ' It is tiiis functional d.emand that explains the
formation of disciplinary boundaries which from an intellectual stand­
point often seem arbitrary . It is the disciplines of social science , and
the schools and traditions of which they are composed, which have clas­
SICS .

To mutually acknowledge a classic is to have a common point of

reference . A classic reduces complexity (cf. Luhmann 1 979) . It is a
symbol which condenses- "stands for" - a range of diverse general com­
mitments. Condensation , it seems to me, has at least four functional
advantages.
28 S O C I O L O G Y A N D D I S C O U R S E

In the first place, of course, it simplifies, and thereby facilitates, theo­

retical discussion . It does so by allowing a very small number of works to
substitute for-to represent by a stereotyping or standardizing process­
the myriad of finely-graded formulations which are produced in the course
of contingent intellectual life. When we discuss in classical terms the
central issues which affect social science, we are sacrificing the ability to
embrace this finely graded specificity . We gain, however, something very
important. By speaking in terms of the classics, we can be relatively
confident that those whom we address will at least know whereof we
speak, even if they do not recognize in our discussion their own particular
and unique position. It is for this reason that if we wish to make a critical
analysis of capitalism we will more than likely draw from Marx's work.
Similarly , if we wish to evaluate the variety of critical analyses of capital­
ism which exist today, we will probably typify them by comparing them
to Marx's original . Only by doing so can we be relatively confident that
others will be able to follow , and perhaps be persuaded by, our ideological
and cognitive judgments.
The second functional advantage is that classics allow generalized com­
mitments to be argued without the necessity for making the criteria for
their adjudication explicit . Since such criteria are very difficult to formu­
late, and virtually impossible to gain agreement upon, this concretizing
function of the classics is very important. Rather than having to define
equilibrium and the nature of systems, one can argue about Parsons,
about the relative "functionality" of his early and later works, about
whether his theory (whatever that may precisely be) can actually explain
conflict in the real world. Or, rather than explicitly exploring the advan­
tages of an affective or normative perspective on human action , one can
argue that such a perspective was, in fact, actually taken by Durkheim's
most important works.
The third functional advantage is an ironic one. Because a common
classical medium of communication is taken for granted, it becomes
possible not to acknowledge the existence of generalized discourse at all .
Thus, because the importance o f the classics i s accepted without argu­
ment, it is possible for a social scientist to begin an empirical study- in,
for example, industrial sociology- by discussing the treatment of labor
in Marx's early writings . While it would be quite illegitimate for him to
suggest that nonempirical considerations about human nature, let alone
utopian speculations about human possibility, form the baseline for in-
 S O C I O L O G Y A. N D D I S C O U R S E 29

dust rial sociology, this is precisely what he has implicitly acknowledged

by referring to Marx's work.
Finally, because the condensation provided by classics gives them such
privileged power, reference to the classics becomes important for purely
strategic and instrumental reasons. It is in the immediate self-interest
of every ambitious social scientist and every rising school to be legiti­
mated vis-a-vis the classical founders. Even if no genuine concern for the
classics exists, they still must be criticized , reread, or rediscovered if
the discipline's normative criteria for evaluation are to be challenged
anew.
These are the functional, or extrinsic reasons for the privileged status
accorded by social science to a small and select number of earlier works.
But there are, I believe, intrinsic, genuinely intellectual reasons as well.
By intellectual, I mean that certain works are given a classical position
because they make a singular and continuing contribution to the science
of society . My argument here begins from the proposition that the more
generalized a scientific discussion, the less cumulative it can be. Why?
Because, while generalized commitments are subject to truth criteria, it is
impossible to anchor these criteria in an unequivocal way. Generalized
evaluations are sustained less by qualities in the object world-upon
which minimum agreement can often be reached-than by the relative
tastes and preferences of a particular cultural community . Generalized
discourse, then, relies o n qualities of personal sensibility- aesthetic , in­
terpretive, philosophical, observational -which are not progressive. In
this sense, variations in social science reflect not linear accumulation- an
issue which can be calculated temporally-but the essentialy random
distribution of human ability . 3 Producing great social science is a gift
which , like the capacity for creating great art (cf. , Nisbet 1 976) , varies
transhistorically between different societies and different human be­
ings . ·

- It is the idiosyncrasy o f t he capacity for creativity, o f course, that i s the usual reason
cited for the centrality of classics in the arts. In his writing on the formation of canonical
literary works, Kermode ( 1 985) has shown that this view attributes too much to accurate
information about a work and too little to uninformed group opinion and "irrational" value
commitments. The art istic eminence of Botticelli , for example, was re-established in late
nineteenth century circles on grounds that have since turned out to be highly spurious. His
defenders used arguments whose vagueness and indirection could not, in themselves, have
justified his art on aesthetic grounds. I n this sense, Kermode introduces functional reasons
for canonical works. Indeed, he ( 1 985 :78) concludes that "it is hard to see how the normal
JO S O C I O L O G Y A N D D I S C O U R S E

Dilthey ( 1 976 : 183) wrote that "life as a starting-point and abiding

context provides the first basic feature of the structure of the human
studies ; for they rest on experience, understanding and knowledge of
life . " Social science, in other words, cannot simply be learned by imitat­
ing an empirical problem solution. Because its object is life, it depends on
the scientist's own ability to understand life . It depends on idiosyncratic
abilities to experience, to understand, and to know . There are, it seems
to me, at least three different ways in which such personal knowledge
distinguishes itself.
I . Through the interpretation of states of mind. Any generalization

about the structure or causes of a social phenomenon- an institution,

religious movement, or political event- depends upon some conception
of the motives involved . To understand motives accurately, however,
requires highly developed capacities for empathy, insight, and interpreta­
tion. All other things being equal, the work of social scientists who
manifest such capacities to the highest degree become classics from which
those with more mundane capacities must refer for insight into the subjec­
tive inclinations of humankind . The strength of Durkheim's later 'reli­
gious sociology" depends, to an important degree, on his remarkable
ability to intuit the cultural meaning and psychological import of ritual
behavior among the Australian Aborigines. Similarly, it is not Goffman's
inheritance of interactionist theory or his empirical methods which has
made his theorizing so paradigmatic for the micro-analysis of social behav­
ior ; it is his extraordinary sensitivity about the nuances of human behav­
ior. Few contemporaries will ever be able to achieve Goffman's level of
insight. His works are classical because one must return to them in order
to experience and to understand just what the nature of interactional
motivation really is.
2. Through the reconstruction of the empin'cal world. Because disagree­

ment on background issues makes even the objective empirical referents

operation of learned institutions . . . can manage without them . " At the same time, Ker­
mode insists that some intrinsic dimension for canonization remains. Thus , while he ac­
knowledges that "all interpretations are erroneous, " he (p. 9 1 ) argues that "some, in relation
to their ultimate purpose, are good nevertheless. " Why ? "Good enough interpretation is
what encourages or enables certain necessary forms of attention . What matters . . . is that
ways of inducing such forms of attention should continue to exist, even if they are all , in the
end, dependent on opinion. " The notion of "good enough" will be historicized in my
discussion of sociological arguments about classics below.
 S O C I 0 L O G Y A.N D D I S C 0 U R S E J1

of social science open to doubt, the complexity of the object world cannot
here be reduced via the matrix of consensual disciplinary controls. Hence
the social scientist's singular capacity for selection and reconstruction
becomes correspondingly important . Here, once again , one finds the same
kind of creative and idiosyncratic capacity for representation typically
associated with art. As Dawe ( 1 978 :366) writes about the classics, "through
the creative power of their thought . . . they reveal the historical and
human continuity which makes their experience representative of ours. "
I t i s not only insightfulness but that evanescent thing, "quality of
mind , " upon which the capacity for representation depends. Thus, con­
temporaries may be able to list the ideal-typical qualities of urban life,
but few will be able to understand or represent anonymity and its impli­
cations with the richness or vivacity of Simmel himself. Has any Marxist
since Marx been able to produce an economic-political history with the
subtlety, complexity, and apparent conceptual integration of The Eigh­
teenth Brnmaire? Has any social scientist, indeed, been able to communi­
cate the nature of "commodities' as well as Marx himself in the first
chapter of Capital? How many contemporary analyses of feudal society
approach the complex and systematic account of economic, religious, and
political interrelations which Weber produces in the chapters on patri­
monialism and feudalism in Economy and Society? This is not to say that
in significant respects our knowledge of these phenomenona has not
surpassed Marx's and Weber's own. It is to say, however, that in certain
critical respects our knowledge has not . Indeed, the particular ideas I
have j ust cited were so unusual that they simply could not be understood
- much less critically evaluated or incorporated - by Marx's and Weber's
contemporaries. It has taken generations to recapture, piecemeal, the
structure of these arguments- with their intended and unintended impli­
cations. - This, of course, is exactly what may be said for the most
important aesthetic works.

• After an exhaustive review of studies about the relation between religion and the origins

of capitalism that have followed in the wake of Weber's work, Marshall writes : " My broad
appraisal of the controversy . . . is that the masterly argument of The Protestant Ethic and
the Spirit of Capitalism has but sporadically been matched in quality during the course of
the debate occasioned by this text. [Weber] attempts to deal theoretically, historically, and
empirically with the complex relationships . . . Few who have taken up Weber's argument
have displayed his resourcefulness and skills. Working often with a crude and bastardized
version of his thesis, most critics have pursued inadmissible data in the wrong time and
places" ( 1 982 : 1 68) .
32 S O C I 0 L O G Y A N D D I S C 0 U R S E

3 . Through the fonnulation of moral and ideological evaluations. The

more general a social scientific statement, the more it must provide a
compelling interpretation of the "meaning of life . " This is its ideological
function in the broadest sense of that term. Even if such an ideological
reference were undesirable- which in my view it is not- it would not be
possible to cleanse even the most scrupulous of social scientific practice of
its effects. Effective ideology, moreover (Geertz 1 964) , depends not only
on a finely-tuned social sensibility but on an aesthetic ability to condense
and articulate "ideological reality" through appropriate rhetorical tropes.
Ideological statements, in other words, can assume a classical status as
well. The soulless character of rationalized modernity is not just reflected
in Weber's concluding pages in The Protestant Ethic; it is created by it .
To understand rationalized modernity, one cannot merely observe it ; one
must return to Weber's early work in order to understand and experience
it once again. Just so, what is oppressive and suffocating about modernity
may never be quite so firmly established as in Marcuse's One Dimensional
Man.
These functional and intellectual considerations make the classics- not
just generalized discourse per se- central to the practice of social science .
It is because of these considerations that earlier works are accorded a
privileged status, that they are so venerated that the meaning attributed
to them is often considered equivalent to contemporary scientific knowl­
edge itself. Discourse about a work so privileged becomes a legitimate
form of rational scientific dispute ; investigation into the "new meaning"
of such texts becomes a legitimate way to point scientific work in a new
direction . ... Which is to say that once a work is "classicized, " its interpre-
After so attesting to the intellectual reasons for Weber's classical status, Marshall con­
cludes with a cautionary note on accumulation : " I n sum, after nearly three-quarters of a
century of sustained research, commentary, and debate, we are scarcely better placed now
than were combatants at the outset to offer informed arbitration between those who view
Weber's account . . . as in immensely important and durable insight, and those for whom
it remains in imaginative but wholly unsubstantiated flight of speculation . " ( 1 982. :
1 69).
• After having worked for more than a decade on his comparative study of historic

civilizations, Eisenstadt devoted a paper to Weber and Chinese society. He begins ( Eisen­
stadt 1985 : 1 68 ) by asserting the linkage between classical interpretation and contemporary
knowledge : "In this paper we shall attempt to indicate that a critical analysis of Weber's
famous KonJuzianismus und Taoismus (or in the English translation : The Religion of China)
can shed , even today, and almost seven decades after its original publication, very important
light on some of the basis characteristics and dynamics of Chinese civilization-especially
in the framework of a comparative analysis of world civilizations. "
 S O C I O L O G Y A. N D D I S C O U R S E JJ

tation becomes a key to scientific argument. I ndeed, because classics are

central to social science, interpretation must be considered as one major
form of theoretical argument .
Merton was quite right to suggest that social scientists tend to merge
the history and systematics of sociological theory . He ( 1 967 :29) was also
thoroughly justified in attributing this merging to "efforts to straddle
scientific and humanistic orientations. " He was wrong, however, to sug­
gest that the merging, or the straddling which produced it, is pathologi­
cal. In this sense Merton has not himself been empirical enough . From
the beginning of the systematic study of society in ancient Greece, merg­
ing and straddling have been endemic to the practice of social science. To
read this situation as abnormal reflects unjustified speculative preconcep­
tions, not an understanding of the empirical facts.
The first unjustified p reconc e pti on is that social science is a youthful
and immature enterprise in comparison to natural science, with the impli­
cation that , as it matures, it will grow increasingly to resemble the sci­
ences of nature. I have argued, to the contrary, that there are endemic,
irrepressible reasons for the divergence between natural and social sci­
ence ; moreover, the " maturity" of the latter, it seems to me, has been
firmly set for quite a long time. The second preconception is that social
science-again, supposedly like its natural science counterpart- is a purely
empirical discipline which can shed its discursive and generalized form. I
have argued, however, that there is nothing to suggest that such a pristine
condition will ever be achieved . Indeed, I have suggested that the science
of nature upon which such hopes are modeled can itself never be sepa­
rated from (usually camouflaged) commitments of an equally generalized
kind .
Merton ( 1 967 :2) complains that "almost all sociologists see themselves
as qualified to teach and to write the 'history' of sociological theory- after
all they are acquainted with the classical writings of an earlier day . " This,
it seems to me, is all to the good . If sociologists did not see themselves as
qualified in this way, it would not be merely a "vulgarized" history of
sociology which would be eliminated , but the very practice of sociology
itself . ...

• 1 should also acknowledge that there are significant ambiguities in Merton's essay, which

make it possible to construe his argument in significantly different ways. (I have found this
to be true of his work on middle range theory as well, see, viz . , Alexander 1 982a : I 1 - 1 4) .
For example, on the penultimate page of this essay, Merton ( 1 967 :37) suggests the following
34 S O C I 0 L O G Y A N D D I S C 0 U R S E

Phenomenolog£cal Na£vete: Why Class£cal

Debates Must Be Deconstructed

In the preceding sections I have made a theoretical argument that the

split between history and systematics cannot exist . In the section which
follows, I will show empirically that it does not exist. Before doing so ,
however, I want to acknowledge that there is one place where the split is,
after all, very real . This is in the minds of social scientists themselves.
While they continually engage in discourse about classical work, social
scientists- on the whole- acknowledge neither that they are doing so in
order to make scientific arguments nor that in the process they are com­
mitting acts of interpretation. The question of why they are discussing
the classics is rarely broached . I nstead, the discussion is taken for granted
as the most natural kind of professionally sanctioned activity. As for its
theoretical and interpretive character, these possibilities are rarely con­
ceived . As far as the participants are concerned, their effort is simply one
of seeing classics as they "really" are .
This lack of self-awareness is not a reflection of theoretical naivete . To
the contrary, it characterizes some of the most sophisticated interpretive
discussions that social science has produced .
The most famous example is Parsons' ( 1 937) presentation of his conver­
gence thesis in The Structure of Social Action. An interpretive tour de
force, this work argued that all the major social scientific theories in the
turn-of-the-century period emphasized the role of social values in the
integration of society . Parsons sustained this reading by creative concep­
tualization and dense citation, but what is so striking is that he does not
acknowledge that it is an interpretation at all ! He insists (Parsons 1937 :697)
that he has conducted an empirical inquiry that is "as much a question of
fact as any other. " I ndeed, rather than being the result of new questions

systematic "function for the c1assics"-"changes in current sociological knowledge, prob­

lems, and foci of attention enable us to find new ideas in a work we had read before. " He
acknowledges, moreover, that these changes could stem from "recent developments in our
own intellectual life . " This could well be read as endorsing just the kind of systematic need
for presentist references to the classics (that is, for historical systematics) against which the
main part of Merton's essay was written. For this reason, perhaps, Merton immediately
qualifies this suggestion with a new version of his empiricist , accumulationist argument. It
is because "each new generation accumulates its own repertoire of knowledge" that "it comes
to see much that is 'new' in earlier works. "
 S O C I 0 L O G Y A N D D I S C 0 U R S E 35

being asked by Parsons himself, it is changes in the object world that have
produced Parsons' new analysis of the classics' work. The classics discov­
ered values, and this discovery is the new empirical datum for Parsons'
scientific work. His analysis, therefore (Parsons 1 937 : 72 1 ) , "has followed
[largely] from their new empirical discoveries. " The same bracketing of
theoretical intent and interpretive practice can be seen in the arguments
against Parsons' position. In Capitalism and Modern Social Theory, Gid­
dens ( 1972 , preface) presents his neo-Marxian argument as responding to
empirical developments like "recent scholarship " and the discovery of
new Marxian texts. Roth ( [ 1 968] 1 978 :xxxiii-xc) claims that his anti­
Parsonian reading of Weber follows from his access to until-recently
untranslated sections of Economy and Society, j ust as M itzman ( 1 970)
argues that his Marcusean rereading of Weber proceeds from the discov­
ery of new biographical material.
In light of what I have argued above, of course, it is clear that such an
empiricist self-conception serves to obfuscate the relativism which the
very centrality of the classics implies. I want to suggest, however, that to
provide this camouflage is precisely the classics' functional role. If those
who engage in classical debates knew that their investigations-whether
"interpretive" or "historical" -were really theoretical argument by an­
other name, such arguments could not succeed in reducing complexity .
They would feel compelled to justify their positions through direct, sys­
tematic discourse. It is the same for empiricist self-understanding more
generally. If practioners were aware and self-conscious about the degree
to which their work was guided by presuppositions and the need to
reinforce theoretical schools, it would be more difficult to engage in long­
term, fruitful empirical work.
By definition, in other words, social scientists have to adopt in relation
to their classics what Husserl (e.g. , [ 1 93 1 ] 1 977) called the naive attitude.
I mmersed in classical formulations and disciplined by their legacies, so­
cial scientists cannot realize that it is they themselves, through their
theoretical interests and their theoretical intentions, who make texts clas­
sical and give to each classical text its contemporary meaning. By com­
plaining that the "concept of the history of theory" which pervades social
science "is in fact neither history nor systematics but a poorly thought out
hybrid, " Merton, himself an empiricist, has once again not been nearly
empirical enough. This hybrid, which has for so long been essential to
social science, must of necessity be poorly thought out.
36 S O C I O L O G Y A N D D I S C O U R S E

I have argued that it is because they express their systematic ambitions

through such historical discussions that social scientists need classics. I t
i s this scientific "intention, " in the strict phenomenological sense, which
creates the reality of the classics for social scientific life. Husser! showed
that the objectivity of social life- its "realness" vis-a-vis the actor- rests
upon the actor's ability to bracket, to make invisible to his own conscious­
ness , his intentional creation of objectivity. Just so , in the discussion of
the classics the intentionality of social scientists is hidden not just from
outsiders but usually from the actors themselves . The intentions which
make the classics what they are- theoretical interests and interpretive
practices- are placed in phenomenological brackets. It follows, then,
that to explore these theoretical interests and interpretive practices is to
exercise what Husser! called the phenomenological reduction. Rather
than acceding to common sense practice and bracketing subjective inten­
tion, we must engage in the scientific practice of bracketing the "objectiv­
ity" of the classics themselves. This is a reduction because it seeks to
demonstrate that, at any given moment, the "classics" can be seen as
projections of the theoretical and interpretive interests of the actors in­
volved. It is because they can be so reduced that the split between history
and systematics does not exist .
Building upon Husserl , among others, Derrida has suggested that every
text is an intentional construction, not a reflection of some reality . Reflec­
tion theory is based on the notion of presence, that a given text can
contain-can make present-within itself the key elements of the reality
to which it refers, indeed, that there is a reality which is itself present in
some ultimate way. If intentionality is acknowledged, however, then it is
absence as much as presence which determines the nature of any text.
Every description of reality must select from it ; by leaving certain ele­
ments out, it produces not just the "presences" of what it includes but the
absences of what it excludes. The myth of the present text, Derrida
suggests, becomes the ideology of the text qua text . Texts are considered
to be legitimate because they can be trusted to be reflections of the events
or ideas they report. If texts rest upon absences, however, they cannot be
accepted at face value . It is because they do rest on absences that texts
must be deconstructed. "To 'deconstruct' philosophy, " Derrida ( 1 981 :6-
7, altered translation) writes at one point, is not only to investigate the
history of its key concepts but to determine, from a position which is
"external" to the writer's own, "what this history has been able to conceal
 S O C I 0 L O G Y A N D D I S C 0 U R S E 37

or forbid, constituting itself as history through this repression in which it

h as a stake. "
If the centrality of the classiCs i s to b e demonstrated, social scientific
discussions about the classics must be deconstructed . Only if the subtle
interplay between absence and presence is understood can one see the
theoretical function of the classics, and the interpretive practices through
which this theorizing proceeds.

Interpretation of the Classics as Theoretical Argument:

Talcott Parsons and His Cn·tics in the Postwar Period

It is possible to conceive sociological theory in the period extending

roughly f!o_IIl: VV()�I � War I I to the early 1 980s as possessing a relatively
_
coherent form (Alexander 1 987) . �he beginning of this period was marked
by the emergence of structural-functional theory, and ��il �t least the
iiite' 1 960s this approach exercised a certain dominance over the scientific
ficld�' .A�- e�rly as the late 1 950S and early 1 960s, however, significant
challenges to functionalist theory had developed . By the mid- 1 970s, func­
tionalism had diminished and its one-time challengers had become domi­
nant tendencies . By the early 1 980s, these established orientations had
themselves begun to come under scrutiny . At the present time, an entirely
new theoretical field may well be in the process of emerging ; it may
certainly be said that the "coherent form" of the last forty years is in the
process of breaking down.
That this theoretical movement has provided the framework within
which "normal" empirical social science has been conducted is an assump­
tion for all that follows, but I will not try to demonstrate it here . What I
do want to argue is that this systematic theoretical movement has in­
formed, and been informed by, far-reaching arguments over the nature
and meaning of sociology's classical works.
Through the period of the First World War, of course, European
theory played a dominant role. In the interwar period, for a variety of
social and intellectual reasons, the locus of sociology began to shift away
from Europe toward America . I_� Americ � before World War I I , the
_
Chicago school and institutionalist, quasi-Marxist theorizing played the
significant roles. The emphases here were individual )nteraction, group
�nfjb, and ecological/maierlal e'ri.vironin'ent , 'a�d the classics which in­
formed them were American pragmatists, like Cooley and Mead , ����!_�!!_�
J8 S O C I O L O G Y A N D D I S C O U R S E

tionalists like Veblen, and Europeans like Simmel . Structural-functional­

ism emerged against these traditions. I t depended not only on the writings
of Parsons but also on the work of an unusually wide range of talented
students, students whose work had already begun to exert influence in the
1 930s. In what follows, however, I will concentrate on Parsons as the
leader of the tradition.
It is true, of course, that there were extrascientific, social reasons which
contributed to the positive reception of functionalist work. In the first
instance, however, this work was evaluated and received on what were
considered to be scientific grounds. As the empiricist perspective would
have it, these grounds included the theoretical scope and explanatory
power of Parsons' work. B ut it was not limited to that. Indeed, �arsons
did not rest his claim to scientific dominance on his systematic scientific
work alone . He rested it on the authority of the classical texts. He argued
that the classical texts directed scientific activity toward the kind of
systematic theorizing which he himself devised.
When Parsons began his theoretical career in the 1 920S, he was com­
mitted to the blend of pragmatism, evolutiorusm: and institutionalism
which characterized the American tradition (Wearne 1 985 ) . In the work
which began the ascent of functionalist theory, however, the classics
associated with this tradition were notably absent . In The Stt7J,t:tur.e, of
Social Action, Parsons ( 1 937) claimed to define the most important results
of the previous generation of sociological theorizing. Not only were the
American pragmatists and institutionalists missing, but so were Simmel
and Marx. They would not be found by systematic sociological theory for
many years. The "presences" in Parsons' reconstruction were Marshall,
Pareto, Durkheim, and Weber. Parsons claimed that it' was they= and
D�rkhelni and Weber more than the othe� two- who for�� d the classical
tradition from which all future sociology must draw .
It was not only this selection from the field of earlier texts but his
construction of those selected that made Parsons' 1 937 work so important.
He argued , somewhat ambiguously to be sure (Alexander 1 983 ) , that
these sociologists had emphasized cultural values and social integration.
Because of the sharpness of his conceptual insight and the density of his
textual argument, Parsons was able to defend this interpretation in an
extremely powerful way. It was his interpretive practice, in other words,
not- as he himself had suggested (see a.bo�e) - the empirical n;lture of
� is discovery, that made his argument about the classics so successful .
 S O C I O L O G Y A N D D I S C O U R S E 39

This interpretation, in turn, was informed by theoretical interests . It is

only in retrospect that it has become apparent to the sociological commu­
nity h ow incomplete was Parsons' reading, how it skewed the interpreta­
tion of these classical authors toward the very kind of systematic theoreti­
�f��gument which Parsons had later claimed it justified in turn .
In his crucial discussion of The Division of Labor in Society, D ur khei m 's
first major work, for example , Parsons construed ��e fifth chapter of Book
. . �.-. . -.. ". " -

I - the now famous discussion of the noncontractual elements of contract

� a� an argument for normative and cultural control in economic life. It
"

can be argued, to the contrary (Alexander I 982b : I 24- 1 4o) , that Dur­
kheim's intention in this chapter was to underscore the need for a rela­
tively autonomous, regulatory state . Furthermore , P,arsons . entirely ig­
nored The Division of Labor's second book, in which Durkheim presented
a� ��o i�gi��i , �ven materialist analysis of the causes of social change .

Parsons also suggested that Durkheim's last work, The Elementary Forms
of Religious Lie, represented an idealist deviation from the multidimen­
sional treatment of solidarity which had emerged in his preceding writing.
Because Parsons actually overlooked large parts of this preceding writi ng,
however, he was hardly in a position to draw this c onclusion. It seems
much more likely that Durkheim's later writings were of a piece . If so ,
the idealism which Parsons claimed to be a deviation would be broadly
characteristic of Durkheim's most mature work. Parsons' hasty reading
had the effect of allowing the one-sided normative emphasis of the last
twenty years of Durkheim's work to escape largely unscathed .
�� �s�n� ' interp retation of Durkheim then-not despite but because of
.
its luminous quality-was informed by the theoretical interests which , in
the period after the publicat ion of Structure, served to establish the major
lines of functionalist work. This was even more true of his analysis of
Weber. In the first place, ��rsons ignored the unresolved tension between
normative and instrumental theorizing which permeates even Weber's
sod� l �gy �f �� ligion . Mo�e significantly , however, he failed even to rec­
ognize the substantive political sociology Weber . de·�elo p ed in Economy
anciS�d�iy �ihe historical discussions of the transition from patriarchal
household to fe�dal and patrimonial systems which revolve almost excl u ­

Slvely around anti-normative consideration;:·o-;iY b���use he ignored this

major segment of Weber's work could Parsons· construe Weber's political
sociology as focusing on the problem of legitimacy in moral and symbolic
- _ ... .
--

terms.
40 S O C I O L O G Y A N D D I S C O U R S E

I n the years following World War I I Parsons' selection and interpreta­

tion of the classics came to be widely accepted. His veneration for these
classical writers was personal and unabashed, and he was instrumental in
convincing his contemporaries to feel the same way . He insisted, at every
step in his subsequent theoretical development, that functional theory
followed logically from the path which these forefathers had laid out.
I ndeed , with each new phase of his later theorizing Parsons carefully
"revisited" Weber and Durkheim, and with each rereading he found
himself able to understand the promise and problems of their work in
terms of the newer functional framework which was about to appear.
In the long introduction to his j oint translation of Weber's Theory of
Social and Economic Organization, Parsons ( 1 947) found that Weber had
correctly emphasized the value context of markets and the cultural back­
drop for authority, but that his theory of bureaucracy had overempha­
sized hierarchy because it neglected socialization and professional �orms.
These were, of course, the very subjects of The Social System (Parsons
1 95 1 ) , which appeared f�ur years later. Similarly, in the midst of his own
analysis of the internal differentiation of social systems, Parsons inye_s ti­
gated Durkheim's approach to social integration (Parsons [ 1 960] 1 967) .
He found that Durkheim was much more concerned with the differentia­
tion of goals, norms, and values than he had realized in the interprt!!ation
of thirty years before . Once again, when Parsons began the task of con­
ceptualizing an evolutionary theory of social change, he demonstrated
through an extensive investigation of Weber's sociology of religion that
Weber had an evolutionary approach as well, a point that Bellah ( 1 959) ,
one of Parsons' ablest students, had worked to demonstrate in the case of
Durkheim several years before.
Finally, there is the case of the theorist whose classical status Parsons
came to recognize only at a later date, and whose earlier absence, there­
fore, he urgently sought to correct. In Parsons' mature functionalist
theorizing, which first appeared in 1 950, socialization played a majo� role,
-and he approached the phenomenon in a psychoanalytic way . I n his
preface to later· editions of The Structure of Social Actio.n , -parsons ex­
--

pressed his regret that he had not included Freud in that s�l��tf�-;:;·-of
classical writers. I ndeed, not doing so had by the 1 950S become danger­
�usly ano � alous. Because the classics are so central, Parsons' failure to
provide an authoritative discussion of Freud left his psychoanalytic func­
tionalism open to serious challenge . Anti-functionalist Freudians could
 S O C I 0 L O G Y A N D D I S C 0 U R S E 41

argue that psychoanalytic theory had nothing to do with socialization ,

that , to the contrary , it emphasized the disorganization of the personality
and its rebellion against civiliz ation . Beginning in 1952, Parsons ( [ 1 952]
1.964) , [ 1 954] 1 964) , 1 95 5 ) devoted a series of essays to demonstrating
that Freud saw object introjection as the basis for personality develop­
ment ; object introjection, of coure, was simply value internalization by
another name.
When the t heoretical and empirical movement against functionalism
emerged in the late 1 95os, Parsons' construction of the classics became
one of its primary targets . Again, this challenge was not a self-conscious
effort at deconstruction , that is, a movement which revealed the theoreti­
cal interests behind classical argument as such. It was, rather, an argu­
ment aimed for the most part simply at "setting the historical record
straight. " Insofar as theoretical interests and interpretive strategies were
acknowledged , moreover, they were attributed only to Parsons himself ;
tow·ard their own investigations his challengers had, of necessity, to keep
their naive attitude intact.
It is a testimony to Parsons' power that in the early stages of this
process the most gaping absences in his classical construction received the
least attention . Hinkle ( 1 963 , 1 980) defended the legitimacy of early
American theory, both institutional and pragmatic, suggesting that it be
seen as a sophisticated body of theory in its own right. Yet this argument
can actually be seen as defending Parsons' theoretical construction by
shoring up his construction of history, as the title to Hinkel's early article
-"Antecedents of the Action Orientation in American Sociology Before
1 935" - suggests. Coser argued much more aggressively against Parsons'
selectivity in his Ph . D . dissertation on the conflict orientation of early
American sociology, pointing to its problem orientation and institutional­
ist theory. Only a brief summary of this argument, however, ever ap­
peared in print (Coser 1 95 6 : 1 5-3 1 ) .
Levine's 1957 Ph . D . dissertation compared Simmel and Parsons and
implied, at the very least, an equivalent importance between Parsons and
an important earlier author whom he had completely ignored . For more
than twenty years, however, this dissertation was also unpublished. When
it finally saw the light of day-in an offset series devoted to unpublished
disseratations and out-of-print books- Levine ( [ 1 957] 1 980) made the
implications of his introduction of Simmel more critical and explicit . In a
new introduction, he scored Parsons' decision to drop from the final
42 S O C I O L O G Y A N D D I S C O U R S E

manuscript of The Structure of Social Action a chapter which he had

completed on Simmel . This demonstrated, in Levine's view, that Parsons
had selected among the classics in a manner to support his "biased , "
apriori theoretical interest. Parsons excluded Simmel because to have
included him would have spread an antifunctionalist influence. While
Levine is justified, of course, in noting this ommision , what he makes of
it is not . His argument that simply to include Simmel would be to present
an antifunctionalist view rests on the empiricist assumption that Simmel's
work has an unequivocal meaning.
The most conspicuous absence in Parsons' construction , however, the
figure of Karl Marx, did not receive concerted attention in this early
phase . I ndeed, it was only through disputation within the confines of the
Parsonian pantheon and under the guise of "conflict theory" that Marx
first began to be discussed. Only after functionalism had been more or
less replaced by its challengers was Marx's work recognized as classical.
When, in 1 968 , Zeitlin turned Parsons' construction upside down by
arguing that Parsons' classical figures were conservatives whose work could
only be understood as reactions against Marx, his argument still attracted
relatively little attention. "
What did become the focus of the emerging antifunctionalist movement
were the more subtle absences in Parsons' interpretations of Durkheim,
Weber, and Freud . The primary theoretical interest here was in restoring
a more power-oriented, economically-centered sociological theory ; a sec­
ondary interest was in restoring the importance of contingent action
against what was conceived to be Parsons' focus on collective order as
such . Thus, in the mid- 1 950s, Gouldner ( 1 958) edited the firs� E.nglish
�
translation of burkhelin 's Socialism and Saint-Simon, a work of the
middle period �o which Parsons had never referred . Gouldner claimed
that this work demonstrated the existence of a radical and materialist
'
Durkheim which was totally at odds with the one of functionalist ' lore .
That his interpretive practice was crude and unsubstantiated compared to
Parsons' no doubt explains the book's relative lack of success, but the
theoretical interests behind Gouldner's claim are what is important to see .
Giddens ( 1972) later made the same point in a much more turbulent

· Need I emphasize here that I am only talking about discussion in the discipline of
sociology as it is rather narrowly defined ? In France and Germany, of course, Marx had
never stopped being the focus of widespread intellectual debate. One need think here only
of Sartre and the Frankfurt School.
 S O C I 0 L O G Y A N D D I S C 0 U R S E 43

period and through a more sophisticated interpretion . H is argument that

Durkheim converged with rather than diverged from Marx's economic
and institutional focus- indeed, that Durkheim was never concerned
with the Parsonian "problem of order" at"all-played a significant role in
the movement away from functionalist theory at that later time . In fact,
i"fi the process of elaborating the neo-Marxist argument for structural
analysis to which he was devoted at the time, Giddens flatly denied
Parsons' developmental view of Durkheim's work ; inverting Parsons'
analysis, he downgraded the The Elementary Forms and argued that it
was The Division of Labor which actually represented Durkheim's most
important work. Martindale ( 1 960) and Bendix ( 1 97 1 ) argued against
Parsons' voluntarisi"ic interpretation in a different way . W!7��i�ll_s who
emphasized power, political movements, and contingency, they insisted
that Durkheim actually represented an organicist, anti-individualist ap-
. "

proich .
'-- It was Bendix of course, who devoted himself to demonstrating that
the "real" Weber had practically nothing in common with the normative
portrait to be found in Parsonian work. B �ndix claimed that Parsons'
Weber rested upon idealist mistranslations of key concepts, for example
Parsons' re � dering of Herrschaft as "imperative coordination" rather than
more literally as "domination . " He also argued that Parsons underpiayed
Weber's political sociology and his writings about patrimonial control.
For Bendix, this argument over Weber was simply the other side of his
effort to construct a historically-specific comparative sociology (e.g. , Ben­
dix 1 978) . It has been the lifework of Bendix's student , Guenther Roth,
to demonstrate this alternative Weber in a more scholarly and detailed
waY . -that there \\Tas a clear theoretical ambition behind Roth's ( [1 968]
1 978) scholarly reconstruction of Weber's Economy and Society is dem­
onstrated by his emphasis, in the long introduction, on the c0':l�i<:t:.. group
�ri':llt'l"t �()1l of Weber's work. At about this same time , Coser's student ,
Arthur Mitzman ( 1 970) , suggested that , far from being oriented toward
values and integration , 'Y!"l?�(� r.n:��u�e. ",!"��� _ � ��!" �� "ie\lVed "as a Nietz­
__

chean struggle against rational value domination. Earlier, Wrong ( 1 961 )

had -made a similar revision in Pars()�sj interpretation of Freud, but in a
much more explict way. He had argued that Parsons profoundly under­
estimated the emphasis on repression in Freud's conception of the super­
ego and the autonomous capacity for anti-social rebellion which Freud
gave to the id .
44 S O C I O L O G Y A N D D I S C O U R S E

B ut the mounting effort to break free from the hegemony of function­

alist theorizing involved more than finding new ways to interpret the
classics and new classics themselves. It also involved the development of
theoretical schools which could provide a systematic alternative to what
were conceived as functionalism's characteristic emphases. Thus there
emerged conflict theory, exchange theory, symbolic interactionism, eth­
nomethodology, and a specifically sociological form of humanistic or
radical social theory . These schools had to define their own classics, and
they did so not only in opposition to Parsons's interpretations but in
opposition to Parsons himself. For in the course of the post-war period
which marked Parsons' rise, his own work had become classical in a
contemporary sense. It had become enveloped in a numinous charisma
such that Parsons' statements came to be venerated in themselves, to be
accepted not for their theoretical power but simply because they were his.
In response, the interpretation of Parsons' work became a minor industry
(see Alexander 1 983 : 289-3 1 0 ) , for to prove that Parsons did or did not
say something became equivalent to making a theoretical argument per
se.
The schools which developed in the wake of the antifunctionalist chal­
lenges, therefore, had a double interpretive task. They had to find new
classics and they had to get rid of this newly classicized contemporary. In
the establishment of every new theoretical school we can see this double
movement. Parsons and the older classics had to be separated . This was
accomplished, first, by arguing that the classics were not what Parsons
said they were and , second, by arguing that Parsons was not what he was
put up to be . When Pope ( 1 973) and his colleagues (Cohen, Hazelrigg,
and Pope 1 975) called, in a series of widely discussed essays, for "de­
Parsonsizing" the classics, this double-sided intention was neatly ex­
pressed .
Consider, for example, the emergence of conflict theory. The key texts
in this movement were Rex's, Key Problems in Sociological Theory ( 1 96 1 ) ,
Dahrendorf's Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society ( 1 959) , and
Coser's The Functions of Social Conflict ( 1 956) . In order to argue that
systematic sociological theory should be centered on conflict, they had to
argue that functionalist theory centered on stability. Rather than arguing
this simply at the level of systematic theory or empirical work, each also
made the argument through an interpretation of the "meaning" of Par­
sons' work. On the one hand, the theoretical interest they brought to this
 S O C 1 0 L O G Y A N D D I S C 0 U R SE 45

task allowed significant weaknesses in Parsons' work to be revealed ; on

the other hand , it merely produced a new semiotic field of absences to
replace Parsons' own .
�?.!1 fli�t rt!adings of Parsons ignored , for example, the whole series of
"functionalist" essays devoted to power and change which Parsons had
published between 1 93 8 and 1 950, and, more significantly perhaps, the
fact t � at Parsons had turned directly to the problem of change after the
publication of The Social System in 1 95 1 . This destruction of Parsons
��s symbiotically tied to the construction of Weber and Marx. Rex lauded
Marx as an anti-superstructural theorist of conflict ; Dahrendorf produced
a Weber who was interested only in a theory of coercive power. Coser's
construction of the classics differed because he claimed Simmel and
Freud for the master theorists of conflict and change. One year before the
publication of Coser's book, the groundwork for this argument had been
laid in the English-speaking world by Bendix, Parsons' critic from the
Weberian side, who published a translation of Simmel's Conflict and the
Web of Group Affiliation ( 1 95 5 ) . The most important systematic theorist
of the conflict school , Collins (e.g. , 1 968, 1 975 , 1 986) has continued to
challenge the classicization of Parsons and to restructure the older classi­
cal tradition in much the same way.
Exchange theory made its first appearance with Homans' ( 1 958) contri­
bution to the issue of the American Journal of Sociology commemorating
the anniversary of Simmel's birth. After Homans elaborated the system­
atics of this theory in Social Behavior ( 1 96 1 ) , he defended its legitimacy
through reinterpreting the reigning contemporary classic in his presiden­
tial address to the American Sociological Association three years later.
This address, "Bringing Men Back In" (Homans 1 964) , established a
reading of Parsons as theorizing "anti-human action" - and of one of his
best students (Smelser) as secretly anti-Parsonian-which became the
single most important polemical justification for individualistic theorizing
in the years which followed. It was not until years later that the classical
roots of exchange theory were established in a more positive way through
arguments (e.g. , Lindenberg 1983) for the centrality of Adam Smith's
political economy.
The interpretive situation of ethnomethodology was at first quite differ­
ent. Both because Garfinkel's central axioms were - as for many years he
was the first to admit- merely succinct paraphrases of earlier phenome­
nological work, and because his theoretical ambition in those early years
46 S O C I O L O G Y A N D D I S C O U R S E

was not yet sufficiently developed, Garfinkel ( 1 963) tried at first to force
Schutz into the classical pantheon beside Weber and Parsons. As Garfin­
kel's intention to create the school of ethnomethodology became explicit ,
however, his relation to the classics became much more complex. It was
not enough to read Schutz in an individualistic way, a manner which
camouflaged Schutz's sympathy for Weber's emphasis on social values .
Even references to Schutz's work became rare, for ethnomethodology
( Garfinkel 1 967) was being presented as emerging from empirical studies
alone . At the same time, Garfinkel's interpretation of Parsons underwent
an inversion. To argue for an alternative to Parsonian theory required
Garfinkel to undermine Parsons' classical stature. He was forced to do so
in any case, for his shifting theoretical interests caused him to see Parsons
in a different way. Garfinkel now insisted that for Parsons actors were
"cultural dopes" who conformed to norms in an unthinking and uncritical
way. Henceforth , those who valued the creative and rebellious elements
of human action would be compelled to do "anti-Parsonian" kinds of
phenomenological work.
The same effect was produced by Blumer's ( 1 969) scarcely veiled
polemics against Parsonian theory, which helped resuscitate Mead as a
patron for symbolic interactionism (cf. Strauss 1 964) . At about the same
time, other interactionists ( Stone and Farberman 1 967) claimed that
Durkheim's later work, far from being an endorsement of the moral
order, actually pointed to a "rapproachement" with the individualist thrust
of pragmatist thought .
Radical sociology gained ground, particularly in the United States, in
much the same way . The key books here, both published in 1 970, were
Friedrichs' A Sociology of Sociology and Gouldner's The Coming Crisis of
Western Sociology. Operating from within the liberal American context,
neither theorist argued directly for the centrality of the classical theorist
whom Parsons had left out, that is, for Marx. Instead , they argued ag�inst
the ideological validity of Parsons. If Parsons could be proved to be on
the side of the political establishment, the possibilities for an alternative
and radical sociology would be legitimated thereby. Thus, whereas earlier
theorists (e.g. , Hacker 196 1 ) had pointed to the tension between Parsons'
supposedly organicist theories and his liberal , reformist ideals, Friedrichs
tried to interpret Parsons as an ideologist of the bureaucratic-technocratic
state, and Gouldner aligned him with pre-bureaucratic, individualistic
capitalism . Gouldner's reinterpretation paved the way for ten years of
 S O C I O L O q v A N D D I S C O U R S E 47

left-oriented systematic empirical and historical work. Much of this work

appeared in the pages of Gouldner's journal , Theory and Society, which
tried to "renew" sociology in the light of the classics of conflict theory,
ethnomethodology, and Gouldnerian critical theory. It was not until the
end of this period that Gouldner ( 1 980) actually tried to make Marx
present in the classical pantheon in an ambitious way. It is revealing of
the intimate relation between history and systematics that by the time he
had composed this late work- at a time when his theoretical and ideolog­
ical interests had become distinctly anti-Stalinist- Gouldner had begun
to read the contemporary political implications of Parsons' work in a more
sympathetically liberal way ( Gouldner 1 979 , 1 980 : 355-373) .
It seems fitting that the final phase of this destruction of Parsons'
construction of the classics involved an historicist attack on the factual
foundations of Parsons' 1 937 work. This argument maintained that Par­
sons had distorted the classics because he had pursued a presentist method ;
that · is, his readings of earlier texts were "biased" because they had not
discarded contemporary theoretical concerns in favor of a truly historical
account. Jones ( 1 977) claimed that Parsons was ignorant of Durkheim's
intellectual milieu , and he suggested that knowledge of this environment
revealed a theorist concerned not with general theoretical questions but
with the detailed facts of Aboriginal religious life. Carnic ( 1 979) and
Levine ( 1 980) aimed closer to Structure's theoretical heart . An histori­
cally responsible examination of utilitarianism , they suggested , would
reveal that it was hardly the individualistic and rationalistic theory against
which , Parsons had insisted, the value-oriented theories of classical soci­
ology correctly were aimed . They argued that utilitarianism had itself
been a morally-oriented theory and that for this reason Parsons' entire
reconstruction of the "advances" of the classical sociological tradition was
flawed in a fundamental way. Their claim was launched, typically, under
the banner of historical objectivity, and they presented their accounts as
simple expositions which were without theoretical presuppositions. As
Hirschman's ( 1 977 : 1 08- 1 1 0) influential intellectual history had already
demonstrated, however, it is thoroughly possible for an equally "objec­
tive" investigator to read even Adam Smith's work on moral sentiments
as paving the way for the individualistic rationalism of utilitarian thought.
Just as the more systematic efforts which preceded them, these historicist
arguments depended on theoretical interests which lay behind interpreta­
tion, not on a neutral reading of the historical literature itelf.
48 S O C I O L O G Y A N D D I S C O U R S E

With the help of these arguments over the classics, the new theoretical
schools came, by the mid- I 970s, to be more or less in control of general­
ized sociological discourse . Parsons' reconstructions no longer compelled.
His absent classics had reemerged ; his present classics had been "re­
presented" in significant ways. In 1 972 , Lukes published an intellectual
biography of Durkheim which was hailed as the major intepretative work
of recent times. In his apparently conscientious review of the disputes
over Durkheim's work, Lukes simply failed to engage Parsons' interpre­
tation altogether.
It was only now, when the challenge to Parsons' hegemony was nearly
completed, that Marx finally emerged as a classic in his own right. For
European and younger American theorists, indeed , Marx seemed the only
classic to which social science need have recourse at all . The play of
presence and absence in Marx intepretations held center stage. Humanists
like Avineri ( 1 969) and Lukacians like Ollman ( 1 97 1 ) argued for the early
Marx, but Althusser's ( 1 969, and Althusser and Balibar 1 970) much more
systematic and demanding understanding of the centrality of the later
work eventually gained wide acceptance. Works like the Grundnsse, Marx's
early draft for Capital, were translated and immediately subject to contro­
versy (e.g. , compare Nicholas 1 973 with McClellan 1 971 ) . in terms of
their implications for this dispute. Whether the early or the later work
held pride of place played a crucial role in determining the empirical focus
- class formations or ideational superstructures, economic processes or
alienation, old working classes or new-of a wide range of investiga­
tions.
I n England , for example, there emerged a robust movement of empiri­
cal work called "cultural studies" (e.g. , Clark et aI . , eds. , 1 979 ; Hall et
aI . , eds . , 1 980 ; Bennet et aI. , eds. , 1 98 1 ) . Focusing on symbols and their
41 I n 1 97 1 , McClellan , who favored the more phenomenological Marx and the link between

early and late writings, produced a translation of some 100 of the more than 800 pages of
the Grundrisse. In his introduction ( 1 97 1 : 1 2) he establishes the theoretical relevance of the
text which follows : "The continuity between the Manuscripts [i . e . , The Economic and
Philosophical Manuscripts of 1 844, which typified the "early" Marx] and Grundrisse is
evident . . . One point in particular emphasizes this continuity : the Grundrisse is as
'Hegelian' as the Pan's Manuscripts [of 1 844] . " While Nicholaus's translation appeared two
years later, it had the obvious scholarly virtue of being annotated and complete. That the
document is, nonetheless, a vehicle to demonstrate his theoretical opposition to the early
writings is made clear from the first page of his sixty page forward, which announces
(Nicholaus 1 973 : 1 ) that the following manuscript "display[s] the key elements in Marx's
. . . overthrow of the Hegelian philosophy."
 S O C I 0 L O G. Y A N D D I S C 0 U R S E 49

relation to class and social conflict, this movement tooks its inspiration
(see Hall 1 98 1 ; Cohen 1 980) almost entirely from classics within the
Marxist tradition, from Williams' distinctively B ritish version to Althus­
ser's more orthodox theorizing about ideological state apparatuses . Nei­
ther Durkheim, who in Parsons' construction was the father of symbolic
theory, nor Weber, nor indeed Parsons himself was considered by these
British researchers to have exemplary status. An instructive contrast can
be found in the earlier, American movement of cultural analysis which
produced Bellah's civil religion analysis (e.g. , Bellah and Hammond 1980) .
B ecause it had been derived from Durkheim and Parsons, it differed from
the B ritish tradition in fundamental empirical, ideological, and theoretical
ways. Few contrasts provide more compelling evidence for the central
force of classical works.
Not only had Parsons' constructions been overthrown, but Parsons
himself was increasingly absent from the classical scene. In micro-sociol­
ogy , · debates about Homans, B lumer, Goffman, and Garfinkel replaced
debates about Parsons ; it was disputes over the meaning of their work
which were now taken as the equivalents of systematic theorizing. In
macro-sociology, an amalgam of conflict and critical theories had so
powerfully displaced Parsons that the new "structural" approach could
deny nonempirical and classical foundations altogether (e.g. , Treiman
iiln, Skocpol 1 979, Lieberson 1980) . A watermark in this declassici­
zation was reached with the publication of � iddens' New Rules of Socio­
logical Method in 1 976, which declared not only that Parsons' ideas were
inimical to good theory but that Parsons' classics, Durkheim. and Weber,
w�re the greatest stumbling blocks to theoretical progress in the fu­
ture . Giddens ( 1 97 9 1 98 1 ) set out to develop an entirely different
,

stable of classical figures, and ev�,:,:!ually his broom swept out Marx as
well.
At this writing, however, it appears that the effort to entirely supersede
Parsons' construction should be seen as a pendulum movement rather
than a progressive succession. Early efforts to "stem the tide" which were
written entirely from within the Parsonian tradition- Eisenstadt ( 1 968)
on Weber, Smelser ( 1 97 3 ) on Marx, Bellah ( 1 974 ) on Durkheim -c1early
failed . Yet more recent efforts to maintain not only the centrality of
Parsons' classics but his distinctive concern with the cultural dimensions
of their theories have been more successful ( Schluchter 1 98 1 ; Alexander
1 98zb ; Seidman 1 983b ; Habermas 1 984 ; Traugott 1 985 ; Whimpster and
50 S O C I O L O G Y A N D D I S C O U R S E

Lash 1 986 ; Wiley 1 987) . The depiction of American theory as an individ­

ualistic alternative to the collectivism of the European classics has also
begun to be sharply questioned (see especially Lewis and Smith 1 980,
but also Ekeh 1 974 and Joas 1 985 ) . A movement is even underway to
resuscitate the classical stature of Parsons' himself. In a remarkable about
face, Habermas ( 1 98 1 : 297) has argued that "no soci�l theory can b� taken
seriously today which does not-at the very least-clarify its relationship
to Parsons . " My own work ( 1 983) has suggested much the _same and, in­
deed, in recent years a surprising range of theorists (e.g. , contributors to
Alexander 1985 and Holton and Turner 1 986) have begun to �rg:ue that
a "neofunctionalist" tradition based on a reconstructed Parsons and his
classical foundations remains possibl�. Finally, the presuppositions of
the "new structuralism" are being explicated and criticized (Alexander
1 988 ; Sewell 1 985) ; indeed, in the view not only of theorists (Thompson
1 985 and forthcoming ; Alexander 1 988) but also of important empirical
analysts in this tradition (e.g. , O'Connor 1 980 ; Fenton 1 984 ; Traugott
1 984 ; Hunt 1 988) Durkheim's ideas on structure may yet play a significant
role.
This examination of classical debate in the postwar period has necessar­
ily been a partial one . If space permitted, for example, the manner in
which classical discussions helped to structure the empirical subfields of
sociology would have to be explored . · Even within the confines of my
discussion, moreover , I have had the opportunity neither to display the
nuances of classical argument nor to demonstrate in a detailed manner
how each discussion actually entered systematic theorizing, let alone em­
pirical work. Despite these limitations, however, I believe that my analyt­
ical point has been substantially documented. In the major "systematic"
theoretical discussion which marked the postwar period, "historical" ar­
gument about the meaning of classical works played a pivotal role.
In establishing a new pantheon for postwar theoretical discussion,
Parsons' investigation of the classical authors was both intellectual and
strategic. By immersing himself in the writings of Durkheim, Pareto, and
Weber, he gained genuinely new insights into the structure and process
- In this regard , see the promising work by Thompson . In "Rereading the Classics : the
Case of Durkheim" ( I 985 ; cf. , Thompson, forthcoming) , he demonstrates how in the
development of the field of industrial sociology divergent interpretations of Durkheim's
Division of Labor in Society have played a major role in specific empirical disputes. I have
greatly benefited from Thompson's ( I 985) theoretical discussion of classical centrality,
which in part responded to an earlier version of the present essay.
 S O C I 0 L O G Y A N D D I S C 0 U R S E 51

of the social world . B y arguing that these authors were the only real
founders of sociology, moreover, he could undermine the foundations of
theories which he had come to consider badly mistaken. Parsons' claim to
have "discovered" the classics was motivated by theoretical interest ; at
the same time, given the necessary background conditions, his interpre­
tive practice was strong enough to convince the social scientific commu­
nity that these classical positions actually foreshadowed his own .
The link between historical and contemporary systematics was so strong
that Parsons' theoretical hegemony could be challenged only if his version
of classical history was overturned as well. An alternative version was
established and this occurred as much by rereadings of Parsons' classics
as by creating new ones. The intellectual reasons for this are clear enough
-with powerful theories there is insight enough for ample interpretive
space. But the acceptance of common classics was functionally effective
as well, for it allowed post-Parsonian theorists to make their arguments in
terms which were more or less widely understood . I ronically, the classi­
cization of Parsons' own work facilitated his theoretical eclipse, for it, too,
provided a relatively well-understood medium through which to argue
against the merits of functionalist ideas. Because post-Parsonian theory was
built in part upon Parsons, morever, recent attempts to supercede it have
returned not only to earlier classical texts but to Parsons' work as well, and
they have done so not o n ly for intellectual but also for strategic reasons.

Humanism and the Classics:

Why the Histon·cist Challenge Is Wrong

To defend the centrality of the classics in a strong way is to argue for an

inextricable relationship between contemporary theoretical interests and
investigations about the meaning of historical texts. I n the first part of
this essay I argued for this position in the realm of sociological theory. In
the preceding section I have tried to substantiate it by looking at how
sociological discussions about the classics actually proceed. In conclusion,
I will defend this position against the challenge to classical centrality
which has emerged from within the humanities itself. This is the histori­
cist approach to intellecutual history associated with the work of Quentin
Skinner, which- often in combination with self-styled Kuhnian histories
of science-has made significant intrusions into sociological discussion as
well (e.g. , Stocking 1 9 65 ; Peel 1 97 1 ; Jones 1 977) .
52 S O C I 0 L O G Y A N D D I S C 0 U R S E

This challenge is particularly important because it is the humanities

which has usually offered the alternative to the social scientific reduction
of cultural studies to contemporary empirical intent. In terms of the
classics, as Merton himself posed the dichotomy , it has been the humani­
ties which has traditionally defended the uniqueness and permanent im­
portance of their contributions. The humanities are associated with inter­
pretation rather than explanation : it was, after all , from within the
humanities that this very distinction was first formalized and advanced . It
has been within the humanistic disciplines, moreover- from nineteenth­
century historical studies of religion to contemporary literary theory­
that the methodology of interpretation and the investigation and reinves­
tigation of the meaning of classical texts has been most developed . Fi­
nally, it is the denial of the relevance of textual interpretation for the
social sciences which underlies not only the empiricist injunction against
the classics but the common sense of classical discussions themselves.
Whereas Merton's injunction against merging history and systematics
seeks to cleanse systematics of historical baggage, Skinnerian theory ar­
gues against merging in order to purify history of the taint of systematics .
The intent is to transform discussions of earlier texts into presupposition­
less, purely historical investigations, investigations which would , ironi­
cally, be more explanatory than interpretive in form. Yet, while Skinner
approaches the problem from an opposite angle, the effect of his argu­
ment would be exactly the same . If history can be atheoretical , then
theory can be ahistorical. If the classics can be studied without shoulder­
ing the burden of interpretation, then interpretation certainly need not
intrude into the practice of classic-less social science. Skinner provides
the kind of intellectual history that Merton needed but could not find . " It
seems to me, however, that his historical theory suffers from the same
abstract, antiempirical quality as Merton's ; it fails to account for the
central role of interpretive debate in cultural studies today, and for much
• It is worth noting that the traditional "history of ideas" is an object of condemnation by

Skinner and Merton as well . For both, not surprisingly, it is criticized as being too presentist
in nature. In the first section of this paper, I criticized Merton's proposal for an alternative
approach to intellectual history as itself pre-Kuhnian in form. Once again, Skinner would
provide just the alternative to historical systematics which Merton was unable properly to
envision. What one might call his preferred "history of ideas" -as contrasted to the "history
of ideas - perfectly matches the stereotype which empiricist social scientists have of classical
inquiry , namely that it is purely historical and , because of this, irrelevant to contemporary
theoretical concerns. Thus, in Turner's attack on "metatheory" which I noted about, he
( 1 986 :974) contrasts "doing theory" with "tracing the history of ideas."
 S O C I O L O G Y A .N D D I S C O U R S E 53

the same reason : it suffers from an empiricism which denies to presuppo­

sitions a central role in the study of social life . It makes this claim in the
name of defending reason against relativism. In my view, howevever, it is
only by acknowledging apriori interests that reason can bring them to
task.
What historicism abhors is the anachronistic introduction of contem­
porary concerns into the understanding of earlier texts. Skinner com­
plains (Skinner 1 969 :6-7) that this "priority of paradigms" can result
only in "mythologies" rather than in the discovery of the texts themselves.
Such a complaint rests, of course, on the implicit claim that the herme­
neutical circle can be broken. What sustains historicism is the belief that
the real world, in its pristine and original glory, can be revealed to the
investigator if only he knows where and how to look. Historicism provides
this knowledge through its emphasis on context and intention. The un­
mediated availability to cultural studies of intellectual context and author­
ial intention are the most important assumptions upon which historicism
rests. From these follow a third assumption which , while implicit, might
well be the most important of all . This is the notion that motivated,
historically-situated texts can themselves be read and uriderstood without
any particular problem at all . This, we recall, was precisely the latent
assumption in Merton's social scientific attack on the classics as well . To
defend the "difficulty" of classical texts and their "relative autonomy" vis­
a-vis intention and context is, therefore, to defend the practice of inter­
pretation itself. It is, ultimately, just because interpretation is central that
a merging of history and systematics must be made.
I n what follows, I will criticize in turn each of the assumptions upon
which historicism rests.
I . Singular versus infinite context. Historicism contends that the lin­

guistic conventions of a given period reveal the intellectual universe for

any particular historical work. " It follows from this, " Skinner ( 1 969 :49)
argues, "that the appropriate methodology for the history of ideas must
be concerned, first of all, to delineate the whole range of communications
which could have been conventionally performed on the given occasion
by the utterance" (cf. , Jones 1 986 ; Stocking 1 965 : 8 ; Peel 1 97 1 : 264) . No
particular misgivings are expressed about the retrievability of this milieu .
Jones ( 1 974 : 355) blithely suggests, for example, that it is possible to
achieve "an understanding of the total sociohistorical context within which
sociological theories have emerged. " It seems to me, however, that it is
54 S O C I 0 L O G Y A N D D I S C 0 U R S E

precisely this capacity for history to mirror society which must be put
into question . If Skinner's nominalism is maintained, then every signifi­
cant statement in an historical period would have to be recorded and
analyzed, a clearly impossible task . Total sociohistorical context is a
chimera. On the other hand , if a more realist position is assumed, it must
be acknowledged that generalizations are made which are necessarily
selective . Selection , of course, always involves comparison to some prior
standard . There is one anomalous point in his more recent writing where
Skinner himself seems to see that the need for selection refutes the
contextualist position he has tried to lay out .
Before we can hope to identify the context which helps to disclose the meaning of
a g iven work, we must already have arrived at an i nterpretation which serves to
suggest what contexts may most profitably be investigated as further aids to
in terp retat io n The relationship b etween a text and its a p p ropriate context is
. in
short an instance of the hermeneutic circle. (Skinner 1 976 : 227)

2. Transparent versus opaque intention. Historicism, however, is not a

form of social determinism ; it seeks to take authorial will fully into
account . Context provides only the background for a text ; it is the au­
thor's own intentions that reveal which conventions he aimed his text to
support and supersede. Once again, this claim rests upon an empiricist
confidence in the transparency of the social world . I ntentions are con­
sidered as recoverable as contexts. Skinner ( 1 969 : 22) is not troubled
by the problem of discovering intent ; one must simply look at "what
the author himself meant to say . " The counterargument "that it is
actually impossible to recover a writer's motives and intentions" is,
Skinner ( 1 972 : 400) insists, "straightforwardly false . " To find intentions
and motive, one needs recourse ( Skinner 1 969 : 30) simply to "common­
place, but [heretofore] amazingly elusive, facts about the activity of
thinking . "
It i s , o f course , exactly the commonplace nature o f thinking which has
been subject to radical questioning throughout most of the twentieth
century . Psychoanalysis has demonstrated that the full intentions of actors
are unknown even to themselves, let alone to others who do not know
them well. The mind fends off emotional discomfort by constructing
defense mechanisms that drastically narrow the actor's conscious under­
standing ( Freud 1 950) . While the pseudoscientific claims of psychoanaly­
sis have been sharply scrutinized, its skepticism toward rational · self­
understanding has permeated intellectual opinion about interpretation
 S O C I 0 L O G Y A N D D I S C 0 U R S E 55

and literary method. For example, it was psychoanalytic ideas which

largely inspired the attack by New Criticism on contextual and intention­
alist interpretation. Because profound ambiguity lies at the origin of most
powerful imaginative works, Empson argued ( 1 930) , texts are filled with
unresolved contradictions and rea:ders are forced to invent interpretations
about meaning and authorial intent. This points ineluctably to the auton­
omy of text, for it becomes clear that the author himself is not in con­
scious control . My work on the contradictory character of great social
theory (e.g. , Alexander 1 982b :301 -306, 3 30-343 ) suggests, similarly,
that "unconscious deceit" is endemic to such theorizing ; in light of this,
to pursue the meaning of a theory through the author's conscious intent
would surely be barking up the wrong tree.
I nspired not only by psychoanalysis but by cultural theory as well,
structuralism and semiotics have made the same point. Arguing against
Sartre's intentionalism, Levi-Strauss ( 1 966 : 252) insists that structural
linguistics demonstrates the existence of a "totalizing entity" which is
"outside (or beneath) consciousness and will" and that such linguistic
formations are prototypes for every cultural text . Ricoeur argues simi­
larly . Written discourse is possible, he suggests, only because there are
symbolic resources available which transcend situational specificity and
immediate intent. For the immediate situation of composition can scarcely
be known by those who encounter written texts after they have been
composed : "The text's career escapes the finite horizon lived by its au­
thor. What the text says now matters more than what the author meant to
say" (Ricoeur 1971 :534) . Hermeutical philosophy supports this conclu­
sion from the point of historical method itself. Gadamer argues that
whether authorial intent and textual meaning coincide is irrelevant, for
intent is something which it is impossible for the historian to recover.
Making virtue from necessity, he expounds a dialogical perspective in
which texts can reveal themselves only through interlocution in an histor­
ical context : "The real meaning of a text, as it speaks to the interpreter,
does not depend upon the contingency of the author and whom he
originally wrote for. It is partly determined also by the historical situation
of the interpreter and hence by the totality of the objective course of
history" (Gadamer 1975 : 264) .
3 . Explicit versus multivalent texts. The unstated assumption which
informs historicism's exclusive concentration on context and intention is
that it is unecessary to study the meaning of a text in itself, that is, to
s6 S O C I O L O G Y A N D D I S C O U R S E

concentrate on the text qua text. Behind this assumption is a pragmatic,

anti-semiotic theory of meaning. Historicists claim that the meaning of
any given text is dertermined and exhausted by its use on a particular
occasion. Practice , not textual meaning, becomes the object of investiga­
tion-in Skinner's words ( 1 969 : 50 ; italics added) , "the use of the rele­
vant sentence by a particular agent on a particular occasion with a partic­
ular intention (his intention) to make a particular statement. " I nverting
Ricoeur, Skinner insists ( 1 969 : 50) that a text is "specific to its situation
in a way that it can only be naive to try to transcend. " This is an agentic,
nominalist approach . Texts are means for intellectual action ; to study
them is to find out "what genuine historical agents did think" ( Skinner
1 969 : 29) .
But if context is far from definite and intention impossible to pin down ,
texts must be given a relative autonomy. They must be studied , that is,
as intellectual vehicles in their own right . This is not to deny authorial
intention ; it is to assert that intention can only be discovered in the text
itself. As Hirsch ( 1967 :22) puts it, "there is a difference between meaning
and consciousness of meaning. " It is from such beliefs about the complex,
camouflaged nature of authorial intention that arguments for textual au­
tonomy emerge, for the intentions of the unconscious author can be
discovered only through an indepependent examination of the text itself.
For Ricoeur ( 1 976) , texts have a "surplus of meaning. " Freud ( 1 9 1 3)
insists on the "overdetermination" of dream symbolism . Foucault ( 1 970)
argues that hidden discourses structure the written documents of history.
This extra meaning accrues to a given text because of the organizing
principles inherent in that particular cultural form. Ricoeur sees surplus
as produced by myth and metaphor. Freud finds overdetermination in
the devices of dream construction like displacement and condensation.
Foucault's discourses rest on modalities which establish the archeology of
knowledge.
A text is a system of symbols which fixes the meaning of an author as
much as the author invests meaning in it . To study the meanings of a
particular text, then, one must study that particular system's rules . The
investigator must know the rules that govern that particular kind of
imaginative activity- how displacement and condensation operate in
dreams, how structural logic ( Barthes 1977) undergirds the narrative
form . These rules, which literary theorists (e.g. , Hirsch 1 967 :74, 80) call
the rules of genre, are embedded in the consciousness of authors but they
 S O C I 0 L O G Y A N D D I S C O U R S E 57

are rarely invented by authors themselves. It is, indeed, because they are
socially constituted and transmitted rules that texts allow interpersonal
communication to proceed.
The purpose of critical debate is to make these rules explicit and to
show how it is these presuppositions rather than others which produce
the meaning of texts. If cultural reasoning is bound to be relative, Skin­
ner's attempt to maintain reason by empiricist escape is doomed from the
start . 4 Reason can be preserved only by making presuppositions explicit
and subjecting them to disciplined debate. Standards of evaluation are
proposed, not discovered ; it is only persuasion which can lead the partic­
ipants in discourse to accept them as valid. It is for this reason that
interpretation and theoretical argument go hand in hand . "To recognize
the impossibility of demonstrating an axiom system, " Raymond Aron
( 1 96 1 : 1 06) once wrote, "is not a defeat on the mind, but the recall of the
mind to itself."

NOTES

I . The distinction I am employing between natural and human science obviously

can have only an ideal-typical status. My purpose is to articulate general condi­

tions, not to explain the situation of particular disciplines. At the general levei, it
is certainly fair to say that the conditions for and against having classics broadly
correspond to the division between the sciences of nature and the sciences con­
cerned with the actions of human beings. Specific analysis of any particular
discipline would require specifying the general conditions in each case. Thus,
natural science is typically broken down into the physical and the life sciences.
The latter are less subject to mathematization, less consensual, and more often
subject to explicit extraempirical dispute . In some instances this can extend to the
point where debate over the classics has a continuing scientific role , as in the
dispute over Darwin taking place in evolutionary biology.
In the human studies, too, disciplines differ in the degree to which they
typically manifest the conditions I will describe. In the United States , sociology
and anthropology most closely follow the ideal-typical form I am describing
here . In history, by contrast, classical texts do not play a central role. This does
not mean, however, that historical discussion proceeds without supraempirical
references anchored in earlier debates. It seems, rather, that these discursive
interests, as I will later call them, center upon the interpretation of critical
events.

Historians present theoretical arguments through interpretations of the past. These argu­
ments, which involve theories and debates with other historians, often are not directly
58 S O C I 0 L O G Y A N D D I S C 0 U R S E

linked to events in the past. Yet written history always presents theory in terms of these
events. [This] reflects [the] historian's view of past events as 'classic texts, ' which have a
'privileged status' in relation to all other evidence and interpretations. Because historians
attach a special significance to events, successful intepretation of one is necessary to legiti­
mate a historical argument. (Towers 1 987)

Variation in these disciplinary conditions - economics would constitute yet an­

other set- can be analyzed in terms of variations in the theoretical conditions for
classical centrality that are established below.
2. In this section I have illustrated the overdetermination of social science by

theory and its underdetermination by fact through discussion of single important

works. It could also be illustrated by examining specific "empirical" subfields. In
social science, even the most narrowly defined empirical subfields are subject to
tremendous discursive argument. Discussion at a recent national conference on
the state of disaster research (Symposium on Social Structure and Disaster :
Conception and Measurement, College of William and Mary , Williamsburg, Vir­
ginia, May 1 986) , for example, revealed that even in this very concrete field there
is vast disagreement simply abut the empirical object of study. "What is a disaster"
is disputed and argued about by virtually every researcher in the field . Some
argue for a criterion related to objective and calculable costs but disagree over
whether these costs should be related to the geographical expanse of the event,
the numbers of people involved, or the financial costs of rebuilding. Others argue
for criteria that are more subjective but disagree over whether it is the larger
society's consensus that a social problem has occurred which is decisive or the
perceptions of the victims themselves . Given the extent of such conflict over the
simple empirical referent of the field, it is not surprising that sharp discursive
disputes rage at every level of the scientific continuum . There are presuppositional
disagreements about individual versus social levels of analysis and about econo­
mizing versus interpreting actors ; there are ideological struggles over whether
disaster research should be governed by broad responsibilities to the community
or by narrower professional concerns ; there are many disputes over definitions,
e.g., what is an "organization, " and over the very value of exercises in definition
and taxonomies . For a good summary of these disputes see Drabek 1 9 86 and
forthcoming, and Kreps 1 9 88 .
3 . In the introduction to his strikingly original studies on the relationship
between social class and linguistic codes. Basil Bernstein ( 1 97 1 ) talks about his
graduate student encounter with Durkheim. His account reveals the intuitive
character of the relationship between classic and contemporary, the importance of
personal sensibility and the relative unimportance of such positivist criteria as the
balance of evidence and cumulative theoretical debate.

I read Durkheim and although I did not understand him it all seemed to happen . I did not
care that he was a naughty functionalist with an oversocialized concept of man, that he
neglected the institutional structure and the sub-strata of conflicting interests . . . In a
curious way I did not care too much about the success of his various analyses. It was about
the social bond and the structuring of experience. (p. 3 )
 S O C I O L O G Y A N D D I S C O U R S E 59

Bernstein (p . 1 7 1 ) later reiterates this point . "Durkheim's work is truly magnifi­

cent . . . [He] attempted to derive the basic categories of thought from the
structuring of the social relation . It is beside the point as to his success. "
The unusual character of t his relationship between Bernstein and Durkheim­
unusual , that is, from a positivist perspective- has been pointed out by Coser
( 1988) , whose essay first brought these statements to my attention . In his exami­
nation of the continuing centrality of Durkheim for the "sociology of knowledge, "
Coser ( p . 85) writes of Durkheim and Mauss's Pnmitive Classification: "Although
the methodology of the work, as well as the logic of the argument, was submitted
to a strong, in fact devastating critique, the book has inspired the work of a
number of contemporary or near-contemporary social scientists. "
4 . It is precisely this doomed quality o f empiricism, i n m y view, which explains
the series of what can only be called retractions which have been issued by Skinner
and his associates in response to the critical debate over their work. Skinner
( 1972 ) , for example, eventually tried to separate motive from intention, arguing
that, while the former cannot really be known, the latter can . This marked an
implicit acknowledgment of the autonomy of texts, for he now argued that inten­
tion could be discovered only through an understanding of what the actual act of
writi ng involved . Yet this, too, is further qualified, and in an ambiguous way.
Skinner ( 1972 :405) insists that he has "been concerned only with the . . . point
that whatever a writer is doing in writing what he writes must be relevant to
interpretation , " not that the writer's intention must be the basis of interpretation
per se . He h as reduced his claim to the notion that "amongst the interpreter's
tasks must be the recovery of the writer's intentions in writing what he writes,"
and he indicates that intention may well be disregarded . While "it must always be
dangerous . . . for a critic to override a writer's own explicit statements about
what he was doing in a given work," he acknowledges , "the writer himself may
have been self-deceiving about recognizing his intentions , or incompetent at
stating them . " The recent work of Jones, Skinner's most important follower in
sociology, is also marked by critical equivocations and retractions. He now sug­
gests (Jones 1 986 : 17), for example, that "the contextual availability (or unavaila­
bility) of descriptive or classificatory terms is not the criterion by which our
statements about an historical agent are rendered anachronistic or otherwise . "
And he appears t o accept the unalterable presentism o f textual investigation :
"The practice of social science itself (history included) not only benefits from but
repeatedly requires the imposition, upon agents whose beliefs and behavior we
wish to understand , of concepts and categories wholly alien to them. " While J ones
and Skinner continue to make arguments for the historicist position, if these
admissions were seriously taken, they would undermine the validity of the posi­
tion. I am grateful to Seidman's ( 1 983b, 1986) work in this area for bringing to
my attention such contradictions, and, more generally, for its illumination of the
problems considered in this essay .
60 S O C I 0 L O G Y A N D D I S C 0 U R S E

R E F E R E N C E S

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 T W O

The Dialectic of Individuation

and Domination : Weber's
Rationalization Theory and B eyond

Social theory not only explains the world but reflects upon it . Committed
to empirical standards of truth , it is tied , as well, to the metaphysical
demand for reflective equilibrium (Rawls 1 98 1 ) . While, more than any
other modern theorist , Max Weber insisted that scientific social theory be
absolved of metaphysical ambition , he was obsessed, more than any other,
with the meaning of modern life . This paradox was far from accidental .
We will see that it reflected Weber's understanding of the fate of meaning
in a secular world. I will argue , indeed , that Weber's empirical sociology
establishes the criteria- the fundamental boundary conditions- for ra­
tional reflection about the fate and possibilities of the modern age .
Social th�ory . is, with art , the primary source of self-reflection in the
- ·
mo derJ). w()r:ld . The product of ��ctiiarization, it responds to the problems
raised by secularization in turn . As the modern world emerged , the
unified cosmos which had enmeshed traditional societies broke down .
God withdrew from the world , first from the world of nature, then from
the worlds of society and self. In place of divine, architect9nic ����i ng
- the teleology of the great chain of being- there emerged the possibil ­
ity, indeed the necessity, for thinking in terms of efficient , mechanical
causes. Though in principle as determinate as God's will , and even more
permeable to the human mind , such causes are by their very nature
metaphysically accidental . Yet the human need to know the "meaning" of

Scott Lash. Colin Loader. and Sam Whimster made helpful comments on an earlier draft
of this essay.
 I N D I V I D U A T I O N . A N D D 0 M I N A T I O N 69

the world remains, even as the human mind learns that it cannot support
this need in a cosmological way .
S�cial theory is an attempt to address the problem of meaning in a de­
divinized world. It offers mechanical explanations of the facts of this
';�dd , but at the same time tries to "go beyond" these facts to establish
th eir meaning in a more generalized and existential sense. In this way it
provides a kind of self-reflection unavailable in traditional life, a "rational"
way to approach metaphysical issues that even the most modern man or
woman still desparately needs .

Social Theory Before the Twentieth Century

The resort to mechanical explanation, the emergence of social theory, and

the de-divinization of the world appeared gradually and unevenly over the
course of four centuries (see, e.g. , Seidman 1 983) ' The scientific revolu­
tion of the sixteenth century desacralized nature , but even Newton, the
greatest progenitor of mechanism vis-a-vis nature, remained committed
to a religious view of society and self. Only in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries did naturalistic explanations of self and society emerge
in a consistent way. Yet, though seventeenth and eighteenth century
social theorists made mechanical causation the basis for their reflection
about self and society, strong elements of cosmological thinking remained
in their work . For one thing, they usually found a contract to be at the
origins of human societies , which amounted to an imaginary device ensur­
ing for society an "originating purpose" and a teleological goal. In the
second place, most earl y modern and Enlightenment theorists posited
some version of natural rights. With this concept they linked social orga­
nization to values which were given in a nonhuman way .
As the nineteenth century unfolded the social and cultural props for
these religious remnants largely disappeared. Scientific thinking about the
origins of the earth and human race-geological breakthroughs and the '
Darwinian revolution were clearly interconnected - made it much less
possible to think in ahistorical , contractual terms about the origin of
human societies . New anthropological material about the diversity of
early societies made it equally difficult to posit some suprahistorical no­
tion of natural rights. These desacralizing developments were under­
scored by the social developments of the day : the outbreak of organized ,
70 I N D I V I D U A T I O N A N D D 0 M I N A T I O N

largely secular revolutions , the spread of urbanization , the emergence of

industrialization and class struggle.
Yet if social theory in the nineteenth century largely dispensed with
contract theory and natural rights, developing in its stead thoroughly
mechanistic explanations of individuals and societies, it did not escape the
legacy of cosmological thinking entirely . Both of the great theoretical
traditions -materialism and idealism- took over significant themes from
the J udeo- Christian tradition. They both manifest an overriding faith.in
-
p i-ogre�s, a belief that a good and co� p erativ� �� �l�r- �;;u id ��e-;;t�� lly
emerge . They also took over from the Western religious tradition a strong
faith in the ultimate rationality of human beings , giving to the species
what later thinkers would view as an incredible capacity to interpret their
world in an enlightened way .
Each tradition conceptualized this faith in progress and rationality in
its own particular terms. Materialist theories found mechanistic causes in
science, technology, and � conomic interest . Organized in one kind of
system or order, carried by this group or that , �at�ralism posited that
political , economic , or cognitive factors would eventually lead human
societies to a good end . While idealist theory provided explanations of self
and motivation (8£ldung) that materialism lacked, it �anifested the same
strong faith in inevitable progr(!s� and in the human capacity �?� r��.fu�ally
evaluating the world. �egel felt certain that the universal was about to
become concrete , ' and he equated the coming of the concrete universal
with rationality a_nd the manifestation of God�s will on earth .
For these reasons, I believe, s? c,ial theory in the nineteenth cent.,!ry
never faced the "problem of meaning" in the fullest sense of that term .
Because theorists wrote with a comforting sense of the right direction of
their universe, the opportunity for self-reflection they provided l1ever
c:ompelled a final break with the cosmological undet:pil1,ojngs '?f t�e tra�i­
ti�nai world. I n this sense, Marxism occupied an intermediate place.
While Marx attacked his contemporaries' naive faith in immediate prog­
ress and "unearned" rationality , he himself manifested an. u.Q$ha.��n�Qrt­
fidence in the ultimate transformation of the world in a rational and
progressive direction .
 I N D I V I D U A T I O N A N D D O M I N A T I O N 71

The Great Transfonnation: Social Theory

in the Twentieth Century

All this was shattered in the fin-de-siecle period . Nietzche announced that
God was dead , and the awesome and terrifying ramifications of seculari­
zation were finally recognized . By the end of the nineteenth century ,
moreover, many reflective people were coming to feel that the world was
not turning out as social theory had promised. True , there was economic
advance, but this was accompanied by conflict and exploitation on a scale
which classical economics had never predicted . The political equilibrium
marked by fifty years of European peace had given way to war and threats
of more international wars to come . Efforts at rational control through
government had become enmeshed in large and top-heavy bureaucracies .
Throughout the educated classes of Europe there developed a sense of
ennui, a suffocating sense of the limitedness of possibilities .
These dramatic social and cultural shifts set a new agenda for social
theory. It is disillusionment rather than optimism that has characterized
most great social theory in the twentieth century . f aith in progress has
been almost . entirely given up, confidence in the inherent rationality of
human beings almost entirely abandoned. The last ve�tiges of cosmologi­
cal thinking have dropped away, and social theory has resigned itself to
explaining individual action and social order in entirely naturalistic and
mechanical terms.
All of this is not to say that the metaphysical concerns of social theory
disappeared. To the contrary , the developments I have described made
"the problem of meaning" one of the central theoretical issues of the day .
As theorists labored to develop new, thoroughly mechanistic explanations
for the troublesome " facts" of the emerging century, they dedicated them­
selves, just as resolutely, to describing these empirical problems in cultur­
ally meaningful terms . l\:1 etaphysical , supraempirical issues were never
abandoned. What had changed was the way they were addressed. When a
theorist in the twentieth century offered an answer to the question of
ultimate meaning, he did so in a radically secular, postcosmological way .
Max Weber embodied this transition in his own life . Like most of the
other great theorists in the turn-of-the-century period, he began his intel­
lectual life with beliefs firmly rooted in the nineteenth century . Though
more bellicose in his nationalism than some , he shared the general intel-
72 I N D I V I D U A T I O N A N D D O M I N A T I O N

lectual faith in the progress that lay open for Western societies . He felt
that the ratio nal transformation of nature, and the! rational organizatil?n of
society , were positive developments well within man's read). ; and he tied
these political and economical changes to increasing freedom for modern
man .
In 1 897 Weber suffered a nervous breakdown. When he emerged from
this period of emotional and intellectual mortification , he was not only a
different person but a chastened thinker . He was prepared, in a way he
had not been before, to reflect on the dark side of the twentieth century .
Like others in his generation, Weber expressed such sentiments most
pointedly in his reactions to the First World War, an event which seemed
to sum up the prospects of the new age . "Not summer's bloom lies ahead
of us, " he told students in his now famous lecture on politics as a voca­
tion , "but rather a polar night of icy darkness and hardness" (Weber
1 946a : 1 28 ) .
Weber explicitly linked this despair about the future course o f the
twentieth century to his disillusionment with the social theory of the
nineteenth . In his companion lecture on science as a vocation he scored
"the naive optimism" according to which science "has been celebrated as
the way to happiness. " To interpret in this way what is, after all, a mere
"technique of mastering life" is a sign of immaturity . "Who believes in
this ? " he asked the students rhetorically, "aside from a few big children
in university chairs or editorial offices" (Weber 1 946b : 1 43 ) .
Weber is suggesting here that a mature thinker must sever the link
between cognitive explanation and existential salvation . To assume such
a link belies, according to Weber, the dire predicament of the twentieth
century, and , indeed, he traces the establishment of the connection back
to the time when religion still dominated human thought . He had discov­
ered an effort to establish just this kind of relationship in his work on
Puritanism . Asking his students to recall Swammerdam's exhaltatron,
"Here I bring you the proof of God's providence in the anatomy ·of a
louse , " Weber suggested they would see in this statement "what the
scientific worker, influenced (indirectly) by p!�t�stan.ti.sm and Puritan­
!sm, conceived to be his task : to show the path to God" (Weber 1946b : I 42) .
For a man of that earlier period, such a connection was understandable .
It is a regressive and intellectually immature for the man of today, for it
fails to come to terms with the inevitably naturalistic character of expla­
nation in the secular age .
 I N D I V I D U A T I O N. A N · D D O M I N A T I O N 73

"An empirical explanation has to eliminate as causal factors , " Weber

( I 946b : I 47) insisted , all "supernatural interventions . " To accept a super­
natural cause is to accept the teleological notion that natural events have
occurred for some higher purpose , that their cause is neither efficient nor
mechanical but derives from their ethical goal . Since modern science was
first promoted by religious men , it is not surprising that in the beginning
even naturalistic explanations were squeezed into this teleological frame .
But once the full implications of science are understood, its effect must
inevitably be exactly the opposite . " I f these natural sciences lead to
anything, " Weber suggests, "they are apt to make the belief that there is
such a thing as the ' meaning' of the universe die out at its very roots"
(Weber I 946b : I 42) . Not to understand this is , once again, to reveal a
disturbing lack of inner strength . "Who- aside from certain big children
who are indeed found in the natural sciences- still believes that the
findings of astronomy , biology, physics, or chemistry' could teach us
anything about the meaning of the world ? " (original italics) .
Science, then , has contributed to the icy darkness that lies ahead . A
world where the very hope for meaning has died out at its roots is not a
happy or reassuring p rospect . But it has for Weber another implication as
well. By separating causal explanation and existential evaluation, science
offers the potential for individual autonomy . S cience offers a mundane
technique of calculation which is available to every person . Weber de­
scribes the goal of scientific training in just this way : it is "to present
scientific problems in such a manner that an untutored but receptive
mind can understand them and -what for us is alone decisive - can come
to think about them independently" (Weber I 946b : I 34, italics added) .
This second implication must not be denied if Weber's sociology is to be
properly understood . '"
'Y_�b_er's sociology i s defined , and I will suggest also limited by, the
dilemma he has just described . On the one hand , there is disillusionment
and an existential despair that psychological maturity and cultural integ­
rity cannot be sustained . On the other hand, there is real evidence of the
mcre�si"ng a�tonomy and strength of the individual. These poles embody
the paradox of ihe tweiiiieth ceritury: ' Weber spent th �Tast fifteen years of
his life trying to understand how both could be true .
How have we come to a condition of "icy darkness and hardness" which
·This point is made decisively by Seidman ( 1 983). who insists that Weber does not view
the postcosmological world in pure ly negative terms.
74 I N D I V I D U A T I O N A N D D O M I N AT I O N

threatens to extinguish human life , which is at the same time a condition

in which for the first time human freedom is finally possible ? It is to
answer this question that Weber suggested his master concept of rational­
ization . Rationalization is at once disenchantment, intellectualization, and
rational empowerment . It has led to increased freedom and at the same
time facilitated enormous domination . This ambiguity is intended . Ratio­
nalization is at once a terrible condition, the worst evil , and the only
human path for liberation .

Rationalization a s Individuation

Those who have seen the critical thrust of \Y.eber's rationalization concept
(e.g. , Mitzman 1 970) have, not surprisingly, failed to appreciate that it
also im.plies the increasing freedom of human beings from the. t���I!:�'y' _of
forced belief.* " Increasing intellectualization and rationalization , " Weber
acknowledges, does not mean that there has actually been increased
knowledge about the "conditions under which one lives . " This would
limit rationalization to a cognitive force. Weber wants to get at something
else , and something more.
It means something else, namely, the knowledge or belief that if one but wished
one could learn it at any time. Hence, it means that principally there are no
mysterious incalculable forces that come into play, but rather that one can, in
principle, master all things by calculation. This means that the world is disen­
chanted. One need no longer have recourse to magical means in order to master
or implore the spirits, as did the savage, for whom such mysterious powers
existed. Technical means and calculations perform the service . This above all is
what intellectualization means. (Weber 1 946b : 1 39)

World mastery , or at least the potential for it, has come to man. thrq.ugh
rationalization. Humans have replaced God as the masters of their des­
�
tiny. Modern people are governed , or at least would like to think of
themselves as being governed , by institutions which are man-made, which
have been constructed for their effectiveness in achieving human goals .
I n principle , leaders are held accountable for the way these institutions
work .

·The only major exception is Lowith ( 1 982) , who differentiated Weber's rationalization
theory from Marx's alienation theory precisely in these terms, i . e . , by pointing out that
Weber tied this development to the increasing existentialism of modern life (a point reiter­
ated by Seidman 1 983 ) . For more on this existential theme, see my discussion below.
 I N D I V I D U A T I O N A N D D O M I N A T I O N 75

If this sounds suspiciously like the nineteenth century outlook which

Weber designed his theory to replace, this is because a crucial qualifica­
tion has been left out : i!l_.!!o �ense <iid Weber conceive this rationality to
b�3 natural condition of human life . The point of his life's work is to
show that the very opposite is the case . He believed that intellectualiza­
ti�I1- -�ested upon the most unnatural motivation, led to the most ab­
stracted orientation , and inspired the most dessicated organization that
the world had ever known. Far from rationality being given or inherent,
it must be understood as the result of � long and complicated evolution of
irr�ti�nal , religious belief. The anti-religious nature of the modern world
has a religious base . This appears to mark an inconsistency, but it would
be considered so only for nineteenth century thought. Weber holds that
only if the irrational basis of rationality is accepted can the tortuous
development of rationality properly be understood and the precarious
condition of individual autonomy really be appreciated .
To understand what modern rationalization entails, what it allows and
what it proscribes, one must understand from what it has emerged. The
religious world we have lost addressed the meaning of life in a particular
way : it harnessed all the different elements of life to the ethical goal
incarnated in the godhead . This single goal sits atop a cultural hierarchy.
It is the telos towards which every other dimension of culture is oriented .
Artistic expression, understanding of the truth , love between human
beings, material success or political power - all are conceived of as serv­
ing this ethical end. Even more, all are conceived of as expressions of this
ultimate goal.
Weber usually turned to Tolstoy as the modern who best articulated
this anti-rationalistic spirit, and , indeed , Tolstoy's later works display just
the kind of radical spiritualization that Weber is trying to describe. Tol­
stoy is not content to let events "simply happen" in a mechanistic way ; he
is bent on avoiding the naturalistic conclusions to which his literary
realism would seem logically to lead . In his denouements, the humiliation
of Anna Karenina and the death of I van I lyich are turned into events that
have meaning in a higher, metaphysical sense . Tolstoy seems to suggest
that it was somehow right for these events to unfold as they did.
Though Weber is not unsympathetic to this Tolstoyan point of view ,
he rej ects it as a defendable standpoint for modern man . In the first place ,
such a Tolstoyan position is .wrong because, quite simply , it "presupposes
that th�· ·world does have a meaning" (Weber I 946b : I 5 3 ) . By meaning,
' -
. - - . .- - . . . � � - . -
.
76 I N D I V I D U A T I O N A N D D 0 M I N A T I O N

Weber is referring here not to the ongoing existential effort of individual

interpetation but to a conception of teleological purpose in the cosmolog­
ical sense . It is to this that he objects , and he does so because it depends
upon an empirical acceptance of God . The religious world view presup­
poses "that certain 'revelations' are facts . . . and as such make possible a
meaningful conduct of life . " What Weber objects to , in sum , is the notion
that certain presuppositions "simply must be accepted, " that is, accepted
without any rational argument (Weber 1 946b : I 54) . This is the "intellec­
tual sacrifice" which religion demands as its price for providing a mean­
ingful world.
Weber asks how we have moved from a "meaningful" world to this
disenchanted one of rational choice . The answer lies in his s.ociology of
religion. �,h ile the existential need for meaning is . cQnstan�, �lte !l1te!lec­
tual approach to meaning varies . �eligious interpretation emerges before
nature or society can be rationally explained . It is a way of explainillg the
"inexplicable" problems of suffering and unfairnt:ss . This origin in inexpl­
icability is what leads religions to center on the problem of salvation . It is
because empirical explanation is impossible that there is the postulate of
God . God had created the world ; we suffer because of him , and we will
be saved insofar as we meet his demands .
Weber created the cross-cutting ideal types of his religious sociology in
order to explain the approaches to salvation- the theodices-which had
evolved in the course of world history. With the typologies mysticisml
asceticism and this-worldly/other-worldly Weber sought to describe the
degree of emotionality as opposed to control which theodicies allowed,
and the degree to which the religious organization of thought and emotion
was directed toward world transformation or away from it.
\IV eber's aim , we must remember , is to develop a theory of the evolution
of religion which can explain its self-destructioIl, that is , its movemen�
toward rationality . What is at issue is whether religion forces man � to
become a tool of divine will rather than a vessel, an issue which will
become central to understanding domination as well as individuation .
lYIystic religions, because they make salvation dependent upon possessing
- bec�ming a vessel of- the spirit .of god , �ncourage emotional expres­
sion and experience rather than self-control. Ascetic religions insist that
man is a tool, that he must submit to god's will by following certain rules
of good conduct . In this way asceticism encourages self-controLand cal­
culation.
 I N D I V I D U A T I O N A N. D D 0 M I N AT I O N 77

��ligious history present a long march away from mystical to ascetic

f()rms of the search for meaning . . For the Australian aborigines the gods
were easily available, and the goal of religious life was an experience of
oneness through ritual participation. With the development of monothe­
ism, religion is simplified and abstracted. God withdraws from the world ,
and humans know him less through experience than through written
texts . The Jews were the " people of the book" ; they could not even know
God's name . This thrust toward asceticism constitutes one of the funda­
mental causes of the rationalization of religious life . It promotes deperson­
alization, an outward rather than an inward orientation, and discipline of
-
��� �elf : Though the teleological structure of meaning remains intact ,
within its confines there has been significant rationalization .
The movement beyond the religious world view cannot b e understood
without following out the implications of Weber's second typology. �arly
mysticism was almost entirely this-worldly , but later mysticism, Hindu­
ism; for example, had a strikingly other-worldly component. For their
part, the great ascetic religions had been, until the Reformation, almost
�n!�rely other-worldly. They placed their great virtuosi outside the world,
for example in the monasteries of Buddhist and Christian monks . In this
earlier period of religious history, renunciation could only occur if ascetics
were physically separated from the world . This constituted a tremendous
barrier against the spread of rationality .
With the Reformation, all this changed . Ascetic religion , and the ra­
tionalizing characteristics it represented, was brought deeply into the
world. To achieve salvation one had to organize the world in accord with
the impersonal word of God . This required intense depersonalization and
�_����<:�ntrol. Everything in the world of nature, self, and society had now
to be transformed in accordance with God's will . But for this transforma­
tion to happen, the whys and the whats would have to be strictly and
accurately calculated . Feelings must be renounced in order to �stimate
G_0E.:.�. �ill in a rational way ; indeed, given the awesome abstraction of
G od, the Puritan could know his calculation had been rational only if the
transformation of this world had actually occurred. The Puritan would be
known by his \Yorks. His calling was to master the world .
. The stage was now set for the transition to the modern era. This­
.�

worldly asceticism continued to permeate the world , but its religious

content faded away . The great Protestant scientists-Newton, for example-­
did not secularize nature in a literal sense . Still, their commitment to
78 I N D I V I D U A T I O N A N D D 0 M I N A T I O N

seeing in nature the manifestation of God's will and to act upon it through
calculation of its laws was but one step away . ���itan emphasis on the
reason of nature and its accessibility to human calculation led directly to
the notion of natural law. Nature governed by natural law allowed c���I­
ity to be assessed in purely mechanical terms. True , such antimetaphysi­
cal explanation remained in the service of teleology , but it was but one
short step to the idea that no force outside of nature- nothing metaphys­
ical -could govern what was contained within it . Science, and modern
rationality more generally, r.e present the Puritan obsession with calcula­
tion, impersonal rules, and self-discipline -without the Purit3.11 i:>teli.ef in
their divine origin. I t is Puritan episte�ology without Puritan ontology.
When a calculating and ascetic consciousness comes to dominate the
world without being anchored in metaphysics, the result is a sense of
meaninglessne!ls. Once the anchor has been tossed away, human existence
seems disorderly, tossed this way and that . Weber ( I 946b : I 4o) writes
that the post-religious understanding of life can only be "provisional, not
definitive . " Rational truth is still pursued, but it becomes cognitively
specialized , separated from ultimate values and from other significations.
For the Greeks , the exact opposite was the case . They occupied a transi­
tional niche between religion and secular thought , much as did the Puri­
tans. Greek science, it was widely believed at the time , could give guid­
ance in all the essentials of life .

If one only found the right concept of the beautiful, the good, or, for instance
of bravery, of the soul . . . one would also grasp its true being. And this, in turn,
seemed to open the way for knowing and for teaching how to act rightly in life
and, above all , how to act as a citizen of the state . (Weber 1 946b : I 4 I )

B u t once science has become separated from metaphysics, rationality

can only describe what is, not what ought to be . In this sense , it is
meaningless , for it cannot answer "the only question important to I,l!!, "
writers Weber, quoting Tolstoy : " 'What shall we do and how shall · we
live ? ' " This is true, moreover, not only for natural science , but for every
form of knowledge that seeks to be rational . Consider aesthetics. "The
fact that there are works of art is given for aesthetics , " Weber argues .
"While it seeks to find out under what conditions this fact exists , . . . it
does not raise the question whether or not the realm of art is perhaps a
realm of diabolical grandeur. " Aesthetics does not , in other words, ask
the normative question, "should there be works or art?" (Weber I 946b : I44) .
 I N 0 I V I O U A T I O N . A N ·O 0 0 M I N A T I O N 79

Or take jurisprudence . " I t establishes what is valid according to the rules

of juristic thought, " but it never asks "whether there should be law and
whether one should establish just these rules . " To do the latter would be
to assume the meaningfulness of law in a teleological way . The same goes
for the historical and cultural sciences . They teach us how to understand
and interpret , but "they give us no answer to the question , whether the
existence of these cultural phenomena have been and are worth while"
(Weber 1 946b : I4S) .
This compartmentalization of rationality has fragmented the once­
integrated �niverse. Where once there was security and direction, there is
now a metaphysical disorder which gives little solace . " So long as life
remains immanent and is interpreted in its own terms , " he believes, "it
knows only of an unceasing struggle of these gods with one another"
(Weber 1 946b : I S2) . Though he senses keenly what has been lost, Weber
does not wish that the cosmological world-where a single , ontologically
reil ' g�d ruled- could be reconstructed again . He accepts its
.
loss as the
,.....---- -_ . . .
__ - ..
.. _-- --- - ..- . " . . " - - . . -
- . " . ... -._ --.-.- . . . . - .- - --

price ()f freedom . This-worldly asceticism has produced a fragmented

;��id without any metaphysical integration , but it is precisely this lack of
metaphysical anchorage which throws the individual back upon himself.
Once God directed man ; now man chooses his gods : "You serve this god
and you offend the other god when you decide to adhere to [a] position "
(Weber 1 946b : I S I ) .

Rationalization as Domination

Yet while Weber revered the hard-won autonomy of the modern individ­
ual , he did not see individualism as the single �efining trait of the twen­
!!�th century . Metaphysical nostalgia was far from the only threat to
individuality. Against the individual stood barriers of much more material
shape . These were the "hard and cold" institutions of the modern world .
Even while rationalization had stripped illusions from men's minds and
created the possibility for active and mastering behavior, it had created
the psychological and cultural basis for an e,l{tensio!l of institutional coer­
��Jl- which threatened to make this potential for freedom a bitter joke .
The very forces which free humans allow them t o become dominated in
turn . This is the ominous insight with which Weber chose to conclude his
last edition of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism . "The
80 I N D I V I D U A T I O N A N D D 0 M I N AT I O N

Puritan wanted to work in a calling, " he rued (Weber 1958 : 1 8 1 ) ; "we are
forced to do SO . " .
Weber's emphasis in this famous sentence on the voluntariness of the
Puritan calling could have occurred only for rhetorical effect, for his point
certainly is that asceticism constitutes a form of spiritual domination
which facilitates the domination by external life . Hence the sentence
which follows : "For when asceticism was carried out of monastic cells
into everyday life , and began to dominate worldly morality, it did its part
in building the tremendous cosmos of the modern economic order" (Weber
1 958 : 1 8 1 ) . Demands for large-scale organization have, of course, existed
from the beginning of time . Efficiency creates functional reasons for the
development of such organization, and the human desire for domination
creates the psychological fuel . But the culture and psychology of this­
worldly asceticism have allowed such "natural developments" to be ration­
alized in a tremendous way. t
Theoretical problems in Weber's work (see , e .g . , Alexander 1 983a)
made it difficult- indeed , virtually impossible - for him to carry out this
"other side" of his religious evolution argument in a consistent way . For
us to do so here would involve the systematic incorporation of other
theoretical traditions. t Yet the burden of Weber's argument seems clear
enough . The manner in which he constructed his historical sociology , the
very nature of the categories he chose, convinces us that the outline for
this other side was there-"in his head", so to speak-even if he was
unable to make it explicit , much less to carry it out systematicalIy.

· When one examines the passages in the final version of The Protestant Ethic which
Weber added after its original publication-in response to criticisms and second thoughts
-it seems cl ear that as his later writings developed he became more able to articulate the
negative implications of the turn he had taken in his post-breakdown period. This should
not be considered, however, a completely linear development . Relatively "optimistic" state-
ments-e.g. , those on the vocation -appeared periodically throughout his life. •

. t Only once did Weber allow himself seriously to consider the possibility that this-wo �i dly
asceticism could become institutionalized in a democratic way. For a discussion of this
anomalous but extremely revealing effort (Weber [ 1 906] 1 985) , see chapter 3, below.
! The darker side of rationalization has, of course , been pursued by Marxism, and the
specifically Weberian understanding of this development has been elaborated within the
Marxist tradition by "critical theory" as, e.g . , Habermas ( 1 984) has recently shown. This
tradition, however, has been unable to bring into its understanding of decline Weber's
phenomenological thrust, particularly his commitment to understanding the contributions
to this darker development of independently constituted symbolic systems. The traditions I
have more in mind are those of Elias and Foucault. This will become more apparent in the
discussion of discipline below.
 I N D I V I D U A T I O N A N ·D D O M I N A T I O N 81

Weber believed that this-worldly asceticism made it p�s�ibl(;: not only

t_() In�ster the world but to master other human beings . Depersonalization
and self-discipline promoted autonomy in part because they allowed the
actor to distance his ego from emotions that represented dependency . But
this rejection of one's own dependency needs forced one to reject the
needs of others as well. The capacity to make a "tool" out of oneself,
therefore , also allowed one to depersonalize and objectify others. Domi­
nation could only become ruthless when the personal and idiosyncratic
qualities of the other were eliminated . J ust as the self became a tool for
God, so would others be used for His greater glory . The God of the first
great monotheistic religion - the I sraeli God Yahweh - was also its God
of war, and the very notion of a "j ust" and crusading war emerged only
with Western Judeo-Christianity .
Bureaucracy is the most obvious institutional manifestation of the "other
side" of this abstracted , mastering spirit. T.he Christian church was the
world's first large-scale , successful bureaucracy. The discipline and ratio­
�ality developed by the monks were important in rationalizing this bu­
�eaucracy further, and it was this form of political organization, not only
the economic form of capitalism, which later became Institutionalized in
the world when the m e taphys ical content of this-worldly asceticism was
removed. But economic coercion should not be neglected . Because the
Puritans made themselves into tools , they were able to organize others in
depersonalized struggle and work. The Puritan objectification of the spirit
promoted , in this way , not only economic individualism but the subjec­
tive conditions for methodical domination in business and factory.
Politics were transformed in much the same way . Activism and individ­
uality were certainly fundamental to democratization, and Weber himself
wrote that religious "election" could be viewed as an incipient form of
democracy. Yet as Weber demonstrated at great length in "Politics as a
Vocation, " the discipline which underlay modernity would much more
likely have the effect of turning political parties, the vehicles for mass
-political participation, illto organizations which resembled machines . To
produce votes, citizens in a mass society are transformed into tools , and
modern politics comes to embody the domination and depersonalized
motivation left over from asceticized religious life. Even the universities
and the enterprises of modern science , institutions which embody more
than any other the rational promise of secularizing change, were subject,
in Weber's mind, to this transvaluation of values. Chance rather than
82 I N D I V I D U A T I O N A N D D 0 M I N A T I O N

merit now governs academic advancement (Weber 1 946b : 1 3 1 - 1 3 2) , and

the centralization of research is proletarianizing the scientist, turning him
i,!lto � mere cog in the scientific machine .
Even when he indicated this other side of religious rationalization ,
Weber did not entirely ignore the benefits which were promoted along the
way . Economic growth and political efficiency were not to be sneezed at ,
nor was the most important benefit of all , namely , equality. The objecti­
fication which made men into tools of God's will made them all equally
so . The domination of impersonal rules reduced all men . !.9-t1!e same
status. Citizenship was the other side of depersonalized domination. �eJ?�.r
demonstrated this in The City, but at very few places outside of this
o
hist�r-ical �ss;y ' didh� sugg�st that the cultural and psychological capacity
for citizenship would lead to political activism and democratic change . He
was much more concerned to show how citizenship allowed the mass
org�ni�ation of in divido�7.ls° f�� d�O��g�gi�OO�nd�.
' . -' .. - - . - 0 . 0 0 _ 0 . " ,-
0

There is a vast discussion in Weber's work of the material causes for

such dominating tendencies . �Il J!c..l!n o,!,:y and Society, for example , he
conceptualizes the sequence from patriarchal estate to patrimonial/pre­
bendary domination , and he outlines the economic and p �lit i c �l e��gen­
cies which lead on from there to modern bureaucratization . The problem
with this whole line of discussion , however (Alexander, 1 983a, 1 983b) , is
that Weber fails to bring into it the theory of the objectification of the
spirit I have just described. That he knew such a connection existed there
seems little doubt . It is only the intention to establish such a link which
can explain the brief, condensed discussion of the relation between char­
isma and discipline in Economy and Society. Weberian interpretation
(with the exception of Mitzman 1 969) has neatly confined charisma to
Weber's typology of political legitimacy and to his technical accounts of
religious and political innovation. Given Weber's own ambiguity on this
point, this is understandable . Still, it is not correct. There is evidence� in
Weber's work that he tried to use t��_ conc�opt of charisma in a much
broader form . It was to be the OP�Jl!Ilg by �hich Weber could outline the
0
' - ---
., -- . - . . .. . •• -. - •• - '

dark side of spiritual rationalization .

. He begins this short segment' o f Economy and Society (Weber 1 978 : 1 148-
1 1 57) with a general, non historical statement about charisma and disci­
pline : " I t is the fate of charisma to recede before the powers of tradition
or of rational association after it has entered the permanent structures of
 I N D I V I D U A T I O N A N D D 0 M I N A T I O N 83

social action (p. 1 148) . " This is simply a restatement of the typology of
legitimation . What follows , however, shows that Weber has something
very different in mind . "The waning of charisma, " he writes , "generally
indicates the diminishing importance of individual action. " �<>.� acc.ord­
ing to the more positive side of his rationalization theory- the side which
�lluminates the development of individuation- rational socialization should
promote individual action , not diminish it. What can explain the dramatic
change in Weber's point of view ?
The answer seems to be that in this essay vyeber wants to point to the
�r:.0nic fact that rational idC':as can ",ork against individualism . He stresses
that charisma can be the carrier of different kinds of ideas, that it must be
treated in an historical way. Of all those powers that lessen the importance
of individual action, he writes (p. 1 1 48) , "the most irresistible force is
rational discipline . " In other words, while the waning of c hari s m a always
undermines individuality, it does so variably . When it is the carrier of
rationalizing ideas, it does so very forcefully indeed.
Weber goes on to connect increased discipline not only to rationalizing
charisma, but to another key element of religious evolution, namely, to
increased equality. D iscipline "eradicates not only personal charisma, " he
writes (ibid . ) , "but also stratification by status groups . " And in the sen­
tence which follows he makes the link between subjugation and rational­
ization as explicit as it could possibly be : "The content of discipline is
nothing but the consistently rationalized , methodically prepared and ex­
act execution of the received order, in which all personal criticism is
unconditionally suspended and the actor is unswervingly and exclusively
set for carrying out the command . "
Weber can now discuss the darker side o f Puritan development, for he
can show how the religious rationalization it entailed led to increased
discipline and not just greater autonomy. " Insofar as discipline appeals to
firm ethical motives, " Weber suggests (pp. 1 149-50) , "it presupposes a
sense of duty and conscientiousness, " and in a parenthetical aside he
contrasts " 'men of conscience' " and " 'men of honor', in Cromwell's
terms . " Rather than entrepreneurial activity , Weber makes war the secu­
lar outgrowth of the Protestant ethic. He writes that it was "the sober and
rational Puritan discipline [that] made Cromwell's victories possible, " and
he goes on to elaborate the contrasting military styles in technical terms .
When Weber talks about routinization in this discussion he is referring
84 I N D I V I D U A T I O N A N D D 0 M I N A T I O N

not to the economic patterns that result from active religious commitment
but to the discipline that remains . What is left after the charismatic phase
of Puritanism is the habit of strict obedience .
Weber has added, then, a fundamentally new and quite different twist
to his famous Protestant Ethic thesis about the relation between religious
developmen t and modern society. Yet there are strong indications in this
essay that he intended to go much further. He refers , for example , to the
"disciplinary aspect" of every sphere and every historical period, without
specifically tying this aspect to the development of this-worldly asceti­
cism . He talks about "the varying impact of discipline on the conduct of
war" and argues that it has had "even greater effects upon the political
and social order. "

Discipline , as the basis of warfare, gave birth to patriarchal kingship among the
Zulus . . . Similarly, discipline gave birth to the Hellenic polis with its gymnasia
.. . Military discipline was also the basis of Swiss democracy. (Weber 1 978 : 1 1 5 2)

I n other words , key elements in ancient, pre-Judeo-Christian societies

and modern post-Reformation ones alike can be causally linked to charis­
matically generated subjection : "��Ii!��y �!�cip�.ine was also i��rumental
in esta})lishing the rule of the Roman patriciate and , finally, th�-'b;��� i:i­
.��<lt ic states of F:gypt, Assyria and modern Europe . " Weber ( 1 I 53fgoes
on pointedly to suggest that the "warrior is the perfect counterpart to the
�()nk . " He is not referring here to the causal power of religion . He �ishes
to suggest, rather, that t�«: disciplinary dimension of cultural eV:911,l.tion
.
promoted monasteries just as it promoted war . The "garrisoned and
communistic life in the monastery , " Weber writes, "serves the purpose of
disciplining [the monk] in the service of his other-worldly master ( ibid) . "
J ust i n case his point is not yet understood , Weber adds that a direct
result of such service might well be subjection of the monk to "his this­
worldly master" as well.
The cultural development of discipline is presented here as an indepen­
dent variable in human history, a cultural push just as important as the
evolution toward individuation. Weber writes , for example, that "the
emancipation of the warrior community from the unlimited power of the
overlord - as evidenced in Sparta through the institution of the Ephors
- proceeds only so far as the interest in discipline permits ( 1 1 54) ." This
essay, indeed, marks the only point in Weber's entire corpus where he
 I N D I V I D U A T I O N A N D D 0 M I N A T I O N 85

explicitly develops a subj ective side for his explanation of bureaucracy.

He calls bureaucracy the " most rational offspring" of discipline.
'
Weber em.ph��izes not only that cultural discipline - the "other side"
of religious rationalization- creates the desire for voluntary subjection,
but that it provides a tool for domination over others as well . While the
existence of discipline certainly precedes any particular leader's drive for
power, its existence clearly helps a power-hungry leader to achieve his
ends. ��uld-be demagogues seize on discipline and learn how to turn it
�o_ �heir particular purpose ; they can make good use of "the rationally
calculated optimum of the physical and psychic preparedness of the uni­
formly conditioned masses. " Acknowledging that enthusiasm and volun­
tary devotion continue to mediate even the most disciplined subjection,
Weber (p. 1 1 50) insists that "the sociologically decisive points" in such
relationships must be connected to the historical rise of discipline and the
way it facilitates external domination rather than voluntary legitimation .
First, the rise of disciplined domination means that "these seemingly
imponderable and irrational emotional factors, " i . e . , enthusiasm and de­
votion, are "in principle , at least , calculated in the same manner as one
calculates the yield of coal and iron deposits" (ibid) . Second , the follow­
ers' enthusiasm assumes a rationalized form which makes them much
more open to discipline : "Devotion is normally impersonal, oriented
toward a purpose, a common cause , a rationally intended goal, not a
person as such, however personally tinged devotion may be in the case of
a fascinating leader (ibid) . "
When Weber writes ( p . 1 1 5 6) that "discipline inexorably takes over
ever larger areas as the satisfaction of political and economic needs is
increasingly rationalized , " and that "this universal phenomenon more and
more restricts the importance of charisma and of individually differen­
tiated conduct, " his intention could not be more clear. He is arguing that
����_()� alization results not only in increased autonomy but in the spread of
impersonal domination through every sphere of life. The increased capac­
ity for this-worldly calculation sustains individuation, it is true. But it
simultaneously facilitates subjection and domination. 'Yt:�_t:� �t;tven_�e.� !�e
..
_
_

concept of rationalization to explain the seemingly irreconcilable qualities

�Lt_he twentieth ce lltury . Once he succeeded in developing his theory of
_
the paradox of rationalization , he had accomplished his goal . It is not
simply the technical growth of military and industrial power , Weber now
86 I N D I V I D U A T I O N A N D D O M I N A T I O N

understands, which explains the horrors of our time. This depressing

situation is also the outcome, quite simply, of the increasing inhumanity
of man to man. This inhumanity is a subjective capacity that has devel­
oped alongside the capacity for objectification . It is the capacity for
depersonalization of the self and other . It promotes discipline and subjec­
tion , on the one hand , and mastery and autonomy on the other . With this
new understanding Weber has translated his personal meditation on the
human condition into a profound sociology of modern life . -

Flights From Rationalization

Not surprisingly, Weber is not content with the simple demonstration

that this paradoxical structure exists. t He launched his later theory as a
means of reflecting on the meaning of modern life . He is not just inter­
ested in explanations of life , but in approaching, as closely as any modern
science can , the question "How should we live ? " This commitment leads
him to concretize the paradox of rationalization in terms of the agonizing
options of existence that every modern individual confronts . �ike Sartre's
analysis in Being and Nothingness, Weber's account derives its pathos
�.. ..
." . . . ., . . . .

(rom the fact that he starts with an individual who has the capacity for
fr�edom, though for Weber this capacity results from historical condi­
tions , not ontology . qutside_ of his self, Sartre's individllal f.a�t?"�_a.���

· This discussion of discipline demonstrates that there are fundamental connections be­
tween one tendency in Weber's sociology, at least, and the theory of modernity produced by
Foucault (e.g. , most directly, Foucault 1 977) . Yet while Foucault certainly draws out the
nature and" ramifications of anti-individualistic discipline to an extent Weber might only
have imagined, he also does it in a manner that Weber would not have entirely approved . In
the first place, Foucault focused only on one side of the dialectic of domination and
individuation : he did not see that the expanding domination he described was intimately tied
up with t il e extension of individuality. In the second place , Foucault is, compare<\ with
Webe-j. , q u ite antihistorical in his explanation for disciplinary expansion, both in his " insis­
tence on a relatively recent "epistemological break" as its source and in his failure to develop
a comparative understanding of this phenomenon in non-Western civilizations. For both of
these reasons, Foucault is able to appreciate neither the fact of the continuing- if not
continuous-vitality of human responsibility in the modern world nor its sociological
foundations. Much the same can be said for many other leading contemporary cultural
critics, for example Mac Intyre ( 1 98 1 ) and Bell ( 1 976) .
t While Schluchter ( 1 979) certainly advanced the discussion by emphasizing that Weber
described the "paradoxes of rationalization , " this leaves modernity in a more "liberal" and
optimistic position than Weber intended. Weber's sensibility was more Gothic and brood­
ing. His soteriology of flight rests on a vision of moral agony, not simple paradox.
 I N D I V I D U A T I O N A N.D D O M I N A T I O N 87

'Y�rld ; internally , the self faces its own cravings for objectification and
�owardice . These internally and externally generated dangers threaten to
turn the "existing" individual into a thing, to <:()nvert the self-conscious­
�ess" iJiat "allows freedom and action into the self -objectification that con­
verts contingency into determinism and consciousness into being.
Weber's understanding is remarkably similar. His actor, of course, is
already obj ectified . Weber sees this as the basis of freedom ; his historical
understanding allowed him to see that individuality is sociology not just
ontology . Yet the structures that exist outside Weber's "self " are j ust as
inert - they form the iron cage of depersonalized domination . And the
dangers that exist inside of Weber's "self " are just as real . The ego that
Weber describes as the proud product of rationalization must contend, he
insists, with its own capacity for self-mortification and its puerile desire
!�_��.E.r.rti�t�"�i��ipline. F�r Weber , too; this dangerous situation marks
the existential condition of the modern world .
What can an individual do ? Like Sartre , Weber precedes this question
with another : what is the individual likely to do ? Sartre believes that the
pressures of existence push the individual toward some "mode of flight . "
One way o r another, most people find ways t o deny their freedom . They
may give up the anguish of being a free person for the horror of viewing
themselves as a determined one, c � nstituting their selves as enslaved to
��!.er� a� , inhuma ll forct: . Or they engage in a kind of play-acting which
wraps them in a sentimental fantasy and denies the threatening qualities
of the world . Both responses are acts of bad faith ; both are escapes from
freedom. Weber, too, explores "flights from the world" at great length,
though he characterizes them more historically than ontologically, as
escapes peculiar to a modern society. He, too, characterizes such flights
in terms of whether they refer to pressures from without or within.
On the one hand, Weber describes the constant tendency for cynical
adaptation to the demands of the day . Here is the bureaucrat who obedi­
ently f�iio�s hi� orders; ·the practical p � iiti�ian who pleads his helpless­
�ess bdore the demands of interest groups and the pressures of the
moment, the scientist who becomes a cog in the research machine. I n this
mode of flight the individual becomes a mere tool of the disciplined spirit ;
he is no more than a means for some other determinate power or end . On
the other hand , flight from the world can take an internal form. Rather
than accepting the "reality" of his objectified position, the individual tries
e
to recreate some sense of oneness with th world, the cosmological expe-
88 I N D I V I D U A T I O N A N D D 0 M I N A T I O N

rience of premodern man . This internal flight can take two forms. It
might involve the attempt to redivinize the world . I n this situation the
individual tries to replace the warring gods with a single, all-powerful one
which can provide a firm, all-encompassing meaning for the world . Here
is the idealistic , reality-denying politician of "conviction" ; the professor
who pretends that science can discover the meaning of life and manipu­
lates his position of scientific authority to impart this meaning to his
students ; the believer who thinks he has heard the clarion call of modern
day prophecy .
Yet the recreation of oneness need not take on this kind of metaphysical
hue . It can find expression completely on the psychological level , as a
commitment to what might be called experientialism (see, e.g. , Weber
1 946c : 340-3S8) . The person aims here to d_��y the status of "t<?ol" be­
queathed by asceticism and to recover the status of "vessel" allowed by
my�ticism. Eroticism is one major escape CJf this kin�. Sex is pursued for
the sake of physical gratificatio� alone, and sexual satisfaction becomes
the principal meaning of life . Aestheticism is another mystical form of
escape , in which the experience of art is pursued for itself, for its form,
quite separated from the ethical or intellectual meaning that marks its
content .
Sartre's analysis of flight was abstract and philosophical . Weber's is
historical and concrete . With it he typified the most terrible and unrelent­
ing pathologies of modern times, from the destructive addictions and
fantasies of private life to the totalitarian temptations and murderous
dictatorships which have marked the public world. Weber is not simply
describing "social problems. " He has developed a typology of the· ho.i�ors
of the twentieth century which . is systematically related to a vast . re<:�m­
struction of its institutional and cultural archeology. Few have appreci­
ated this achievement .
But this is not where Weber wants to leave us, any more than f?llrtre
wishes to portray bad faith as ontological rather than simply epidemic .
There is an alternative to flight from the world . For Sartre one must
accept the anguish of freedom. Weber's answer is not different , just more
sociological : one must find a vocation .
 I N D I V I D U A T I O N A N .D D 0 M I N A T I O N 89

Existential Courage and "Vocation "

With the notion of vocation , elaborated primarily in the two essays bear­
ing that title written toward the end of his life, Weber recalls a central
theme from his analysis of cultural development in the presecular age . It
was Luther who first emphasized the Bern/. and the Puritans who first
made the "calling" central to religious salvation . The Puritans' vocation
represented the first and most important result of the turn toward this­
�.?�l.��� �sceti � ism, the religious movement that so decisively supported
the �ovement toward rationality and illdividuation even while it ushered
in the forces that threatened to overwhelm them in turn . The fact that
the Puritans could still practice a vocation meant that they had not yet
been overwhelmed by these institutional forces, forces which proceeded
from the Puritans' own objectification of the religious spirit.
To practice a vocation as the Puritans did means to be qisciplined by a
moral spirit that facilitates the realization of the self. In the first place,
therefore, it is to avoid the mystical experientialism that represents a
� aj or flight from r�aI1iy in the modern world. Vocational commitment
also prevents the cynical adaptation to external conditions that self-objec­
tification and material domination are likely to beget . Finally, the Puritan
vocation, while definitely a conviction , was not an idealistic commitment
in the utopian sense of worl�-flight . Vocational conviction accepts the
iimTt�' �'{th� division of labor and institutional rationalization, in the sense
that its moral discipline is narrowed to the requirements of a specific
task.
In all these ways the ancient vocation of the Puritans and the contem­
porary vocation of moderns are the same. Yet there is an enormous
difference as well . · The Puritan maintained his vocation in the service of
God, his conviction and his work serving to maintain the fabric of cos­
mological meaning. In Weber's view, the modern vocation cannot allow
this intellectual sacrifice. The fruits of rationalization must be main­
tained . Once this-worldly asceticism escaped from the cosmological net,
it allowed a radically new form of autonomy and self-control. This­
worldly asceticism created the first opportunity for vocation, but only in
postreligious, secular society can the vocational commitment achieve its
· Here, my interpretation departs from the "neoreligious" tack taken by Shils ( 1 975)
and other conservative Weberians, who use Weber to oppose a strong secularization
thesis.
90 I N D I V I D U A T I O N A N D D 0 M I N AT I O N

highest result . I ndeed, Weber believes that only with vocational morality
can the modern person maintain his or her autonomy in the face of the
objective pressures of the iron cage .
The language Weber uses to describe vocation in contemporary society
make this link between Puritan and modern vocation clear, for it seems
intended to demonstrate that secular vocations can allow some of the same
psychological and cultural satisfactions as religious life. Science, he writes,
can become an "inward calling" (Weber 1946b : 1 34, original italics) whose
significance for the practitioner touches the most profound issues of
existence : "Whoever lacks the capacity to . . . come up to the idea that
the fate of his soul depends upon whether or not he makes the correct
conjecture at this passage of this manuscript may as well stay away from
science" (Weber 1 946b : 1 3S) . Vocations, then, are concerned with salva­
tion in the deepest sense of the word . What they have done is to connect
the "soul" of modern man-which , evidently, Weber thinks still exists­
to rationalized tasks in the modern world . The experience of a vocation
can even be mystical in a thoroughly secular way, though the passion it
inspires and the "strange intoxication" it affords may be "ridiculed by
outsiders. " Vocational commitment allows, for example, the experience
of perfection associated with being a vessel of God: "The individual can
acquire the sure consciousness of achieving something truly perfect in the
field of science" (Weber 1 946b : 1 34) . To have such a calling is to realize
the great humanistic ideals, "for nothing is worthy of man as man unless
he can pursue it with passionate devotion" (Weber 1946b : 1 3S ) .
The same possibility for maintaining "rational religion" i s held out in
Weber's politics essay. Here, too, Weber wants to suggest that the result
of this-worldly asceticism need not be self-mortification and the crushing
discipline of external force . Here, too, he presents this argument by using
religious language in a secular way. P�l�ti<:s, of course, is intimately
associated with violence. At first this association was mitigated by� the
deg;�e to which politi�ians could live "for" politics, maintaining, thereby,
some sense of individual responsibility and control. But \yjthrnas� democ­
racy, the need develops to organize and discipline the masses, and the
mass politician learns to live "off " politics. The ideal-type of this new
p�litician, t�e.E.l!Il:_�it�out a vocation for pol�tics, . is the boss, .t�� . "abso­
.
lutely sober man" (Weber 1 946a : 1 09) who embodies the flight. from
rationalizati�n typified as cynical adaptation�to·th� d.�"ma:Qc;!.s �(th� d�y· .
. !tis the rudderless man without the calling for politics that produces
 I N D I V I D U A T I O N A N· D D O M I N A T I O N 91

the "soullessness" of modern politics. But this situation is not inevitable.

There remains the possibility for "innerly 'called' " leaders (Weber
1 946a :79) . To have a calling the politician must subject himself to the
discipline of a moral cause-"the serving of a cause must not be absent if
action is to have inner strength" (Weber 1 946a : 1I7) . The exact nature of
the cause is a matter of individual choice, but "some kind of faith must
always exist." But commitment to a cause must remain "secular"; it must
not reflect the search for redivinization that represents another kind of
flight from the world. If the politician were to submit to such an essen­
tially religious point of view he would be committed not to a vocation but
to an ethic of ultimate ends, to the "politics of conviction. " What Weber
advocates instead is the "ethic of responsibility. "
Responsible, vocational political ethics can b e achieved only if moral
commitment is disciplined by rational assessment of the realistic possibil­
ities for gaining one's ideals. "One has to give an account for the foresee­
able results of one's action" (Weber 1946a :12o) . F�i�ll, then, need not be
�lif!1iIlated �roJl:lmoder� politics, but it must be disciplined by rationality.
"It takes both passion and perspective," Weber writes (Weber 1946a : 128) .
"What is decisive," he insists, is not only idealistic commitment but "the
t rai n e d relentlessness i n viewing the realities of life" (Weber 1 946a:126-
27) . Adding such scientific realism to faith, of course, is precisely what
pushes this-worldly asceticism to individuation rather than cosmology,
and it is this demand for "rational accounting" that makes the pressure on
the postcosmological individual so much more intense. What becomes
decisive in achieving individuation is "the ability to face such realities
and to measure up to them inwardly" (Weber 1 946a : 1 27). Only if this
strength is achieved can a person have a calling for politics . Anyone
"who is not spiritually dead" must realize that such a possibility does
exist.
I�is �ertainly not correct, then, to say, as so many of Weber's interpret­
ers have, that Weber saw no escape from the iron cage other than the
-
pursuit of i rrational, cil�rismatic politics.·it is rio more correct, indeed,
than to desc-�i b� Weber's �ociology, as have so many others, as a paean to
the realization of individuality in its various forms.'" Rationalization is a

· Mitzman (I970) is not the only interpreter to make the former charge, viz . , that Weber
saw irrational, charismatic politics as the only way out. Loewenstein ( I 966) and Mommsen
( I 974), e.g. , have made much the same point. Parsons and Bendix, of course, are the major
figures associated with the identification of Weber as a progressive liberal who saw freedom
92 I N D IV I D U A T I O N A N D D 0 M I N A T IO N

�o\,ement toward individuation, but it provides only for the conditions

of individuality rather than individuality as such. Rationalization also
creates the psychological needs and the cultural codes which sustain anti­
individualistic institutional coercion . Faced with such destructive, deper­
sonalizing forces, the individual either flees from them , giving up his or
her independence, or confronts them and maintains it.
Weber presents this confrontation as an existential choice, with all the
arbitrariness that such a position implies. Sartre is quite right to insist
that there is nothing that can explain or predict whether an actor has the
courage to accept the anguish of freedom. Weber expresses exactly the
same sentiment when he suggests that vocational commitment depends
on "the ability to face these realities and to measure up to them inwardly. "
Sartre is convinced that such courage is rarely to be found . Weber entirely
agrees. In the emendations to The Protestant Ethic which he added
during the period he was writing his vocation essays, Weber emphasizes
just how unlikely vocational behavior in the modern world will be. "The
idea of duty in one's calling, " he writes, "prowls about in our lives like
the ghost of dead religious beliefs" (Weber 1 958:182). When occupational
behavior is disconnected from religious direction or direct economic ne­
cessity, he suggests- he is clearly referring to conditions which develop
in the twentieth century-it will rarely be elevated to a calling : "Where
the fulfilment of the calling cannot directly be related to the highest
spiritual and cultural values, or when, on the other hand, it need not be
felt simply as economic compulsion, the individual generally abandons
the attempt to justify it at all . "

as the emerging product o f world history. Though Schluchter's interpretation of Weber is

more nuanced ( 1 98 1 ) , he has likewise seriously underplayed the apocalyptic, darker side of
Weber's work. In general, Habermas ( 1 984) agrees with these three liberal interprliters,
though he is much more critical of Weber's failure to spell out the prerequisites even" of a
liberal and democratic society (a criticism which I will echo below). Yet Habermas also
differs from Parsons, Bendix, and Schluchter by trying to focus on the negative side of the
dialectic . As I mentioned earlier, however, he ultimately fails to illuminate this side of
Weber's work because he conflates it with the anti-normative instrumentalism of critical
theory.
 I N D I VI D U AT ION AN D D 0 M I N AT I O N 93

Beyond Rationalization Theory:

Toward ,a Fuller Dialectic

This sociology of modern life leaves us in a rather uncomfortable position.

\yeber has described an extraordinary dialectic of individuality and dom­
ination, and he has shown how, from this crucible, there emerge the
fhg� t� (rom reality and, the courageous assertions of freedom that are so
characteristic of our time . Secularization has made freedom a possibility
open to the exercise of personal courage ; from the standpoint of any
particular individual actor, however, it is impossible to predict whether
individuality in this sense will ever be realized. Depersonalization is just
as much an undeniable, yet profoundly disturbing modern fact . The
topography of the twentieth century is strewn with societies wrecked by
technological domination, totalitarian discipline, and existential flight.
Yet for all its breathtaking illumination- and Weber achieved more
clarity about the dangers of modernity than any theorist before or since­
this theory does not seem entirely satisfactory. It has identified certain
crucial features of modern societies, but it has not identified them all .
�eber has ignored, or at lel!st seriously underplayed, the features that
can help to sustain individuality and mitigate modern society's coercive
and destructive features. His analysis is incomplete; as a result, his pessi­
mism, while salutary, is to an important degree overdrawn. *
The course of modernity has indeed been marked by dreadful self­
enslavement, but it has also been the site of extraordinary breakthroughs
in the rational understanding of mental life and the democratic support of
individual rights, breakthroughs that in turn t have bolstered the self.
Institutional destruction has been unprecedented in our time; there have
also been institutional developments that have increased human control
of social processes on an unprecedented scale. Every society has been
• Weber's extremism in this regard has inspired social theorists who, ignoring the subtle·
ties of his argument, describe the modern condition as a choice between chaotic freedom
and conservative regulation. Thus, drawing on Weber, Macintyre ( 1 98 1 ) claims one must
choose between Nietzche and Aristotle, and he chooses the teleological, hierarchical value
framework of the latter. Neoconservatives like Bell ( 1 976) pose a similar choice and reject
the fragmentation of mQdernity for religious revival . In doing so, such theorists are suc­
cumbing to what I earlier called "metaphysical nostalgia," which is one intellectual form of
world flight.
t See Levine ( 198 1 ) for a strong argument that Weber failed to develop the kind of
motivational theory which could account for such significant "rational" movements in
modernity as psychotherapy.
94 I N D I VI D U A T I O N A N D D 0 M IN A T I O N

undermined by individual and group flights from reality and crippled in

significant ways by hierarchical domination; yet several critically impor­
tant societies have managed acute crises and chronic strains in such a way
as to sustain reasonable patterns of life . Finally , even societies that have
succumbed to the modern horrors that Weber described- Nazi Ger­
many , prewar Japan , Stalinist Russia-contained movements and insti­
tutions of a more rational and responsive character. The new forms of
organization that often emerge from the destruction of such societies,
moreover, demonstrate that "rational learning" can take place on a societal
scale.l
Weber's sociology allows us to see what such positive moments in
modernity have had to overcome, but it does not allow us to explain how
it is that such experiences have been able to occur. They have not been
random, and they have not depended simply upon the exercise of individ­
ual courage . They have occurred for structural reasons that can be socio­
logically explained.
It is true that most of the great theorists of the twentieth century have
been extraordinarily pessimistic . There have been a few, however, who in
considering the future have offered more grounds for hope . Parsons is
ce rtai nly the most significant example, and it is not an accident that
among the great social theorists he is the only American." But there have
been Europeans as well-Durkheim to an important degree, Keynes in
significant ways, Piaget, and Habermas as well . In critical respects these
more optimistic theorists often seriously underestimated the perils of their
day. t Yet, if we are to understand how individual and social vitality can
- In the remarkable concluding chapter to their reconsideration of Parsonian sociology ,
Holton and Turner (I986) emphasize Parsons' distance from the "metaphysical nostalgia"
that lingered in the work of classical sociologists, despite their commitment to the norms of
democracy. They, too, link this to t he American origins of Parsons' thought: "For Parsons,
the preoccupation of European sociological thought with questions like the fate of capitalism
and the politics of class interest represents a concern with transitional features of the'great
transformation, rather than with modern society itself " (P. Z I 9 ) . It should be noted that
Habermas ( I 984) draws extensively on Parsons' framework to criticize the instrumentalism
of Weber's account of modernization, though he does not explicitly acknowledge the debt.
For a similar account of the relation of Parsons to Weber, see Munch ( I 982.) .
t Marcel Mauss remarked in the I 930S that he and Durkheim had never imagined that
their anthropological concept of symbolic "mana" could ever become a vehicle for something
as ideologically primitive as Nazism. The naivete retrospectively acknowledged by this
forthright admission shows that in crucial respects Durkheimian thought did not fully come
to grips with the great transformation of the twentieth century. For a general discussion of
these problems and similar limitations in Parsons' work, see Alexander I 988.
 IN D I V I D U A T I O N A N .D D O M I N A T I O N 95

be sustained in modern times, it is to these theorists that we must turn . It

is they who have explained how rationality, control, and community
actually can be institutionalized'in a modern world.
Durkheim stressed the anomic and egotistical in modernity, and in
critical respects he never fully accepted its postcosmological state. He
denounced the "moral cold" of contemporary societies and complained
that "the old gods are growing old or already dead, and others are not yet
born" [1912] 1 965:475 ) . At the same time, his work provides an ambi­
tious if not fully developed account of how solidarity, cultural meaning,
and individuality can be maintained in a secular way . ·
\yhile Weber argued that scientific rationality and ethical values can in
principle coexist, he did not identify the conditions under which this
'might be achieved. I? urkheim did, most importantly by making a broad
and systematic argument for the continuing "religious" needs of human
beings (Alexander, ed . , 1 988) . He analyzed the social processes by which
weh' needs could be met, suggesting the importance of symbol systems
that did not embrace a supranatural telos. Durkheim knew that existential
courage was not enough to overcome'th� minimalism of scientific rational­
ity. He agreed that modern people were bound to be dissatisfied, and he
considered it inevitable that rational knowledge would be experienced as
radically incomplete. The search for meaning that results, however, did
not have to be pursued in an entirely individualistic way. Naturalistic
processes support meaningful belief systems by sustaining social solidar­
ity. This group experience can, moreover, have a substantively rational
form. Not only flights from reality but attempts to confront it ethically
can be sustained by sources outside the individual. Even science, Durkheim
came to believe, can be viewed in such solidaristic terms, as an ideal that
holds moral and idealistic sway. t
Keynes also recognized the endemic instability of Western economic
systems. I ndeed , he replaced the instrumental approach to economic
calculation with a theory that made capitalist investment dependent on
irrational psychology and the vagaries of public confidence (Keynes [1 936]
1 965 : e.g. , 1 47-52, 3 1 5-20). While recognizing and explaining irrational­
ity, however, Keynes was confident that twentieth-century civilizations

• See chapters 4-6 below.

fPrager ( 1 981) draws a powerful contrast between Durkheim's and Weber's political
sociologies, arguing that only Durkheim took the possibility of contemporary public moral­
ity seriously.
 96 I N D IVI D U A T I O N A N D D O M I N A T I O N

did not have to succumb to it. He insisted that scientific knowledge about
society could control these irrational tendencies [1926] ( 1 963 ). Public
symbols of trust could be developed by professional, scientifically trained
officials working in the context of a democratic government. Such democ­
racies could overcome market instability and humanize economic life on a
far-reaching scale (Keynes [1930] 1 963 ) . Agreeing with Weber that cul­
tural life had undergone a profound differentiation, he insisted (Keynes
[ 1 93 8] 1 972) on the independence of beauty from truth , moral commit­
ments, and especially from economic life. Aestheticism need not, how­
ever, represent moral flight. As the economy became increasingly regu­
lated, modern individuals would be free to pursue the sublimity of aesthetic
ideals.
Parsons drew upon Keynes and Durkheim, but also upon Weber,
Fr� ud, and Piaget. While he a�knowledged, particularly in his early work,
that modernization ;.nigbt lead to aggression and polarizatio�. , he devoted
most of his life to developing a theory of how this reaction co�ld be
avoided. Freud and Piaget allowed him to transform socialization theory
\
from an account of social indoctrination to an explanation of how modern
childhood can create reservoirs of individual strength and rationality. The
separation of psyche from social and cultural givens need not create pain
and world flight. If individuals are sustained by their initial socialization,
this differentiation encourages creative independence and respons1.�ility.
Parsons argued that depersonalization can lead to more inclusive commu­
nities and more tolerant binding values. Secularization should be under­
stood as the differentiation of guiding values, not their elimination. Gen­
eralized postreligious values can produce personal flexibility and social
adaptiveness rather than discipline and rigid control .
Given this context of psychological and cultural change, rationalized
economies and polities need not be seen as exploitative and materialistic
(d. H olton and Turner 1 98 6). Parsons saw economies as hedged}n by
normative constraints, from professional obligations to cultural tastes,
and polities as bound by the legal and moral ties of citizenship. I.Il:<:lusion,
1!.0� di.sciplin�, is the catchword for Parsons' modern state. S�(!ial systellls
institutionalize values. Critical rationality should be seen, not as a de­
�t;uctrvecoiiimitnient set apart from society, but as integral to the struc­
tures of modern societies and the belief systems of their members. If
modern social systems are flexible enough, irrationality will continually
be challenged by social movements that embody rational and emancipa-
 I N D I V I D U A T I O N . A ND D 0 M I N A T ION 97

tory values . Domination will be confronted by differentiated structures

and processes that aim to institutionalize individual autonomy.:II:
It is Habermas, of course, who has introduced the very concept of
"���i()fial- -i�arning" into the discourse of contemporary social science .
Because he emerged from the critical tradition of Marx, Habermas never
loses sight of the dark side of Weber's dialectic. t Yet he has incorporated
the main thrust of Parsons' theorizing and e.mphasi:i;ed even more than
��!�C?ns the developmental tradition of Piaget. The m_oYt:!ment toward
autonomy , rationality, and responsibility, he has suggested , is immanent
iii-human societies. Throughout history, moral evolution has been inter­
twir'-ed';ith- ��� nomic and political rationalization. �ocial _systems do
�()ntain deep contradictions, but the crises that result are not necessarily
��s��u�tive. They present opportunities for social learning and movement
to a new stage.
I am not suggesting that Weber denied entirely the possibility that
these kinds of positive developments might exist. It was he, after all, who
wrote about vocational , professional commitments . He acknowledged that
the profession of law might allow some politicians to live for politics
rather than off it. In an important early essay Weber even suggested that
participatory democracy could be maintained in nations that had experi­
enced sect rather than church religion (see chapter 3, below) . Weber
outlined a theory of citizenship for the early modern period , and he
acknowledged that the formal abstractions of modern law could be abro­
gated by oppressed groups seeking substantive rationality .
What I am suggesting is that theoretical weaknesses in Weber's work,
on the one hand , and his ideological sensibility, on the other, made it
impossible for him to convert these insights into systematic sociological
theory . Wt!ber saw that ��ligious evolution had freed the individual in /
modern societies, but he described this modern individual as isolated and
culturally abandoned. Weber described how depersonalization had changed
• In their argument for Parsons' "anti-nostalgia, " ilolton and Turner describe his thought
in much the same way. "Compared with the sociologists of the classical period, Parsons is
far less ambivalent about the modern world . The evaluative yardstick of 'community' does
not appear in a strong form-whether as utopia or social ontology-as a moral foil to such
modern developments as instrumental rationality, or individual achievement-orientation.
Parsons is neither equivocal with respect to the operation of the market economy, political
democracy and the rule of law, nor tortured by pessimistic doubts as to the possibility of a
future world based on humanitarian values" ( 1 986:2 1 6 ) .
t I will suggest i n chapter 7 , however, that the residues of Marxian critical theory leave
Habermas vulnerable to some of the same kinds of difficulties that mar Weber's own work.
98 I N D I VI D U A T I O N A N D D O M I N ATI O N

institutional structures in a positive way, but he viewed the institutional

residue of the twentieth century as coercive and the socialized motivation
attached to it as dependent and authoritarian .
I have argued that these insights represent the strengths of Weber's
sociology as surely as they represent its limits. As this great and terrible
century draws to a close, we must reclaim Weber's dialectic of individua­
tion and domination as our theoretical legacy. We must compell ourselves
to go beyond it as well .

NOTE

I. Johnson's (1983) devastating synoptic history of the twentieth century is

weakened by his refusal to acknowledge the existence of such positive strands. His
attack on the subjective and internal focus of psychological and social theory in
the twentieth century as leading to moral relativism is superficial. It fails to
recognize that nineteenth-century liberal "moral absolutism, " while providing an
ostensibly powerful support for rationality and freedom, operated with such a
limited understanding of motive and social integration that it could not under­
stand the threats to freedom in an accurate way. " Relativism" has its obvious
disadvantages, but it is also central to democratic tolerance and inclusion. More­
over, the more profound understanding of the nonrational aspects of motive in
this century has opened up mental and spiritual life to the possibility of rational
insight and control. Johnson also wildly exaggerates the "success" of nineteenth­
century market systems. On this faulty basis he condemns the modern democratic
welfare state as guilty of the same kind of "social engineering" that underlay
communist and fascist societies. His inability to appreciate the extension of citi­
zenship as one of the distinct triumphs of this century, or to explain it as anything
other than unintended offshoot of market expansion , is a fundamental blind spot
in this book .

REFERENCES

Alexander, Jeffrey C. 1983a. The Classical Attempt at Theoretical Synthesis: Max

Weber. Vol . 3 of Theoretical Logic in Sociology. Berkeley and Los Angeles :
University of California Press.
-- 1983b. "Max Weber , la theorie de la rationalization et Ie marxisme. " Sociol­
ogie et Socieees 14(2) : 33-43.
-- 1983c. The Modern Reconstruction of Classical Thought: Talcott Parsons.
Vol. 4 of Theoretical Logic in Sociology. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University
of California Press.
 I N D IV I D U A T I O N A N D D 0 M I N AT I O N 99
-- 1 985. "Habermas' New Critical Theory : Problems and Prospects. " American
Journal of Sociology 9 1 :400-424.
-- 1 988 . "Durkheim's Problem and Differentiation Theory Today. " In Alex­
ander, Action and Its Environments: Toward a New Synthesis, pp. 49-76.
New York : Columbia University Press.
Alexander, Jeffrey C. , ed . 1 988. Durkheimian Sociology: Cultural Studies. New
York: Cambridge University Press.
Alexander, J effrey C . , and Colin Loader. 1 98 5 . "Max Weber on Churches and
Sects in North America: An Alternative Path Toward Rationalization. " Socio­
logical Theory 3 ( 1 ) : 1 - 1 3'
Bell , Daniel. 1 976. The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism. New York: Basic
Books.
Durkheim, Emile. [ 1 9 1 2] 1 965 . The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. New
York: Free Press.
Foucault, Michel. 1977. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New
York : Random House .
Habermas, Jurgen. 1984. Reason and the Rationalization of Society. Vol . I of
Theory of Communicative Action. Boston: Beacon.
Holfon , Robert J , and B ryan S. Turner. 1 986. Talcott Parsons on Economy and
Society. London and New York : Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Johnson, Paul. 1 983 . Modern Times: The World from the Twenties to the Eighties.
New York: Harper and Row.
Keynes, John Maynard. [ 1 926] 1 963 . "The End of Laissez-Faire. " I n Keynes,
Essays in Persuasion, pp. 3 1 2-322. New York: Norton.
-- [ 1 930] 1 963 . "Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren. " In Keynes,
Essays in Persuasion, pp. 358-373 .
-- [ 1 936] 1 965 . General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. New
York : Harcourt Brace J ovanovich.
-- [ 1 938] 1 972. "My Early Beliefs . " In Donald Moggridge , ed . , The Collected
Wn'tings of John Maynard Keynes, 1 0 :43 3-450. Cambridge, England: St.
Martin's Press.
Levine, Donald N . 198 1 . " Rationality and Freedom: Weber and Beyond . " Socio­
logical Inquiry 5 1 :5-25 .
Loewenstein, Karl. 1966. Max Weber's Political Ideas in the Perspective of Our
Time. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.
Lowith , Karl . 1 982. Max Weber and Karl Marx. London: Allen and Unwin .
MacI ntyre, Alisdaire. 1 98 1 . After Virtue. South Bend, I nd. : N otre Dame Univer­
sity Press.
Mitzman, Arthur. 1 970. The Iron Cage. New York : Grosset and Dunlap.
Mommsen, Wolfgang. 1 974 . The Age of Bureaucracy. New York: Harper and
Row.
Munch, Richard. 1 982. "Talcott Parsons and the Theory of Action, I I: The
Continuity of the Development. " American Journal of Sociology 87 :771 -826.
Prager, Jeffrey. 1 98 1 . "Moral I ntegration and Political I nclusion : A Comparison
100 I N D I VI D U AT I O N A N D D O M I N AT I O N

of Durkheim's and Weber's Theories of Democracy . " Social Forces 59 : 9 1 8-

950.
Rawls, John. 1 97 1 . A Theory ofJustice. Cambridge : Harvard University Press.
Schluchter, Wolfgang. 1 979. "The Paradoxes of Rationalization. " In Guenther
Roth and Wolfgang Schluchter, Max Weber's Vision of History, pp. I I -64.
Berkeley and Los Angeles : University of California Press.
-- 1 98 1 . The Rise of Western Rationalism: Max Weber's Developmental His­
tory. Berkeley and Los Angeles : University of Calfornia Press.
Seidman, Steven. 1 983 . "Modernity , Meaning, and Cultural Pessimism in Max
Weber. " Sociological Analysis « : 267-278.
Shils, Edward . 1 975 . "Charisma, Order, and Status. " In Shils, Center and
Periphery: Essays in Macro-Sociology, pp. 256-275 . Chicago : University of
Chicago Press .
Weber, Max . [ 1 906] 1 985 . "Church and Sect in North America, " Sociological
Theory, vol. 3 ( 1 ) : 7- 1 3 .
-- 1 946a. "Politics as a Vocation . " In Hans Gerth and C . Wright Mills, eds . ,
From Max Weber, pp. 77- 1 28 . New York : Oxford University Press.
-- 1 946b . "Science as a Vocation. " In Hans Gerth and C. Wright Mills, eds . ,
From Max Weber, pp. 1 29-156.
-- 1 946c. "Religious Rejections of the World and Their Directions. " In Hans
Gerth and C. Wright Mills, eds . , From Max Weber, pp. 323-359 .
-- 1958 . The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. New York : Scrib­
ner.
-- 1 978. Economy and Society. Berkeley and Los Angeles : University of Cali­
fornia Press.
 THREE

The Cultural Grounds of

Rationalization : Sect D emocracy
Versus the Iron Cage

Western liberals, from Parsons and Bendix to Aron and Schluchter, have
viewed Max Weber as exploring the foundations of freedom in modern
society. Marxists, like Marcuse, have seen him as rationalizing the end of
freedom with his notion of modernity as an iron cage. Both sides, of
course , have a point. While Weber remained committed to defending the
individual against all the forces of domination, his very theory of modern
development made this onslaught seem like a force against which-for all
but the most heroic-it would be impossible to fight.
This, at least, is the clear perspective of Weber's later, postbreakdown
work . Hidden inside the Weberian corpus, however; one can find an
important essay which , while systematically related to the historical and
comparative concerns of mature Weberian theory, departs from its most
pessimistic and unidimensional conclusions in profoundly illuminating
ways. It does so by placing the cultural ground of rationalization into a
comparative context, developing a novel contrast not just between Prot­
estant and Catholic countries but between different kinds of Protestant
nations themselves. We have recently published a translation of this long­
neglected work (Weber [ 190()] 1 985) . In what follows we explore the
potentially far-reaching implications of this early work for the study of
contemporary society.

Shortly after returning from an extended trip to America in 1 904, Max

Weber wrote a reflection on what he had learned entitled " 'Churches' and
This essay was written with Colin Loader.
102 C U L T U R A L G R 0 U N D S 0 F R A T I O N A LI Z A T I O N

'Sects' in North America : An Ecclesiastical , Socio-Political Sketch . " Pub­

lished by Weber first in the Frankfurter Zeitung and later in a slightly
amplified version in Christliche Welt (Weber 1 906) , the essay did not
appear in English until 1985 . Given the manifest relevance of its subject
matter, it is curious that this work, by one of the great founding figures
of modern sociology, had to wait eighty years to make its English-lan­
guage debut.
The reason for this extraordinary oversight seems to be a fateful mis­
understanding of the relation between "Churches and Sects" and later,
revised versions of the essay, especially "The Protestant Sects and the
Spirit of Capitalism" (Weber [ 1 920] 1 946) . ... The latter piece, which was,
in fact, among the first of Weber's essays to be translated, is described by
the leading historical interpretor of Weber's work (Mommsen 1 974:80) as
"the attempt to give a more comprehensive scope to [Weber's] empirical
observations [in "Churches and Sects"] and to give them a scientific
underpinning. " The implication of Mommsen's statement is clear. The
later version is more comprehensive and sophisticated, the original super­
fluous as a result. This view is echoed throughout Weberian scholarship.
Beetham ( 1 974:2 1 4) , who has written the most comprehensive account of
Weber's political sociology, calls "The Protestant Sects" essay a "later
reworking" of "Churches and Sects, " and Roth (in Weber 1 978: 1 2 I I ) ,
the editor of the authoritative edition of Weber's Economy and Society,
dismisses the 1 906 essay as merely an "earlier and shorter version" of the
later work. Berger ( 1 971 :489) , the only writer who has ever devoted an
entire article to Weber's sect theory, claims that "the later analysis of the
Protestant sects is a clearer and subtler continuation of [the] earlier
work . "
We strongly disagree with this received view, believing that the original
is remarkable in a number of ways, and even, in certain important re­
spects, far superior.t First, the essay sheds new light on Weber's intelIec-

• A third treatment of this topic is the very short segment entitled "Church, Sect, and
Democracy" (Weber 1978:1 204-(2 1 1 ) which concludes Weber's chapter on "Political and
Hierocratic Domination" in Economy and Society. While segments like these are difficult to
date, it was probably composed between 1 9 1 3 and 1 920.
t The grounds for this comparative judgement will be elaborated below, but the following
points can briefly be made . The Economy and Sodety segment is much briefer than
"Churches and Sects." Moreover, while it has the advantage of placing the issue into the
systematic conceptualization of Weber's later work, it speaks mainly of the political implica­
tions of sect life and makes little reference to American society as such. It also pushes the
 C U L T U R A L G R 0 U N D S 0 F R A T IO N A L I Z A T I O N 103

tual biography and the contours of his scientific development . Second, it

has significant implications for the interpretive debates which rage around
the Weber corpus. Finally, and most important of all , it retains contem­
porary empirical and theoretical significance in its own right. *

Weber's trip to America in 1 904 came at an important time in his life, just
as he began to emerge from the debilitating mental illness that had forced
him to withdraw from a promising academic career. In the year before his
trip, he had written four major essays- two on methodology, one which
continued his agrarian studies from the 1 890s, and the first part (unpub­
lished before the trip) of The Protestant Ethic and the Spin' t of Capitalism
-all of which moved him further away from the academic mainstream in
which his career had begun . Yet, while these studies declared his inde­
pendence from the old order, Weber at this point had no positive alterna­
tive . I �_�_e �ft�en yel:\rs which remained to him , Weber did , of course,
����l()p an original and provocative theory of world-historical scope. This
theory describ�c:l. _th�_un�ve,r�al l:"3:ti()na!i��tiol1 of the Western world . While
thls�ationa.lization was initially conceived as liberating and certainly as
indisp���ible for �odernizat1o.n , it wa� linked in this later theory to the

effects of the sect phenomenon much more into the past than does "Churches and Sects. "
In the ]920 "Protestant Sects , " by contrast, America becomes the exclusive focus, but the
essay deals almost entirely with economic implications and places the effects of the sect
phenomenon almost completely in the past. Neither of the other two treatments of the issue,
therefore-and this is perhaps the most important difference-achieves the kind of gener­
alized meditation on modernity which would seem to be the most distinctive quality of
"Churches and Sects."
• In light of these considerations, it is a surprising fact that, with the exception of the

works by Berger, Beetham , and Mommsen cited above, Weber's theory of sect-life and its
relationship to modern social structure has received virtually no attention . Beetham refers
to the topic only in a summary of Weber's work on Russia and never discusses it on its own.
Mommsen discusses the importance of the sect to America, but does not develop its
implications either in his article or in his more comprehensive works. Berger discusses the
sects merely as the insitutional form of the Protestant Ethic, emphasizing only their role in
the destruction of Ii "tenacious" traditional society. In taking this tack he fails not only to
add anything new to the Protestant Ethic debate, but also to see the fundamental role of
sect-life for posttraditional society. Even so close a student of Weber's work as Kalberg
(]987) has entirely neglected the sect-versus-church contrast in his comparison of German
and American religio-cultural values.
104 C U L T U R A L G R 0 U N D S 0 F R AT I O N A L I Z A T I O N

eventual closing out of democratic and emancipatory possibilities throughout

the Western world. *'
When Weber made his American trip, however, this theory was not yet
laid out, though there were clear premonitions to be sure . Indeed, it is
our belief that a quite different conception of modernization -or at least
the clear potential for one-crystallized for Weber on his American trip
and that the residue of this crucial experience was formalized in "Churches
and Sects. "
Certainly i n Marianne Weber's (1975:279-304) account o f the trip one
can see that it marked an important shift in Weber's personal outlook.
She records how the other German intellectuals accompanying the We­
bers were repulsed by the cold, impersonal products of the new world's
"capitalistic spirit, " which they contrasted to German "congeniality" (Ge­
mutlichkeit). Weber, on the other hand, enthralled by the new, held out
for a more considered opinion. During the four months of his stay, he
sought out ordinary Americans in all walks of life and almost every section
of the country. The fruit of this activity, according to Marianne, was his
di�c�-"ery of the "moral kernel" beneath America's objectified s.��!� . "Weber
eagerly absorbed all this," she writes (1975 :299). "He was stimulated to
give effortlessly of his own resources what was able to delight these simple
people, and thus unearthed in them the treasures of the experiences of a
lifetime. " Weber himself wrote that the trip had widened his scholarly
horizons as well as improved his health. However, he acknowledged
(Marianne Weber 1975 :3 04) that "its fruits in this respect can, of course,
not be seen for some time . " Despite the fact that it has been virtually
forgotten since its appearance, "Churches and Sects, " published just
sixteen months after Weber's return, turns out to have been a very
important intellectual fruit indeed.
What did Weber see in America that stimulated him so? We believe
that it was a glimmer of a way out of the "iron cage" of reified modern
society, the very same oppressive environment which he himself would
later portray as an inevitable characteristic of modern life. It was not only
Weber's later work but the mainstream of German intellectual life which
portrayed modernity in this way . T!J:rough.out the c;erman university
system (Ringer 1961» , �()�ernity was depicted in dualistic terllls similar.

• See my argument in chapter 2, "The Dialectic of Individuation and Domination."

 C U L T U RAL G R 0 U N D S 0 F RAT IO NALIZAT I O N 105

to Ferdinand Tonnies's famous set of types, Gemeinschaft and Gesell­

��iz,�jt. The- Gemeinschaft represented the traditional, pre-industrial
"commu�ity ,'; which was seen" as an organic totality in which an elite
g�ve�ned in the name of values common to the entire group . The Gesell­
��"haft, on the contrary, represented modern, industrial "society, " a mech­
a.:nistic grouping of individuals who felt no common will or values, sharing
only a set of instrumental ends. The epitome of the Gesellschaft to most
German academics was mass democratic society. Most importantly, the
Gesellschaft was seen as something essentially negative (Konig 1 955 )-as
the decay of the Gemeinschaft, as the dissolution of the organic unity into
an atomistic "sandpile" in which material interests became independent
of the
·Y_. ..
meaningful ideal"realm.
. . .. . , . .
The process
_ , • . . .• '.
."
of modernization from Ge-
meinschaft to Gesellschaft was viewed, then, as a tragic one in which
som et h ing was irretrievably 10st .:I* It was t?_ resis t this trend that main­
s�E�am academics sought to reinforce the traditional elites, which in­
cluded, along with themselves,
" the nobility and the bureaucracy (Dahren-
dorf 1969) .
This is not to say that Weber ever identified with this traditional
position. The very forces which most academics saw as the antidote to the
Gesellschaft-Protestant religious id eals , academic learning, the bureau­
cratic establishment and even the nobility -were described by him as
contributors to the modernization process. He sharply rejected the aca­
demic mandarins' reactionary sentimentality.t In "Churches and Sects,"

• Many German academics did not actually use the terminology o f Tonnies's 1887 book
unti!"sTiorHy b efo re World War I, althou gh Weber himself does use the terms in his 1906
essay. We have simplified""the use of terms in order to emphasize the essence of what was at
issue. An important sub-them� i(\ ti)e German discussion,waiil the role of "society" as distinct
fro m t he- t ypologized Gesellschaft. Many academics saw society as a level properlysubordi­
.lated to the ideai realm of values, which was embodied inthe'spheres of cu l tu r� andlor the
state.1)oCiety;'iothem, consisted-basically Of material interest�and the relationships result­
-log fronfthose interests. When such forces escaped from their subordination to the ideal
sphere!; "o!�lIltlire and th�)late,' H)�Y:ceased-to-be simply s�ciety and became instead t he
Geselischaft, a negative alternative to the ideal, organic sphere. For discussions of different
-aspec ts of t h i s issue, see Lindenlaub(I967) , Loader(1976), Lenk(1972), and Kalberg
(1987).
t Our argument, then, differs fundamentally from the one pu t forward by Mitzman
(1970), which holds that Weber's efforts to escape form the "iron cage" of contemporary
.
Germany were directed in an entirely anti-ascetic direc tio n Mitzman believes, moreover,
t hat it was this kind of proto-mystical attack on the Protestant ethic which inspired Weber
in the immediate postbreakdown period after 1903. "Churches and Sects" reveals, to the
106 C U L T U R A L G R 0 U N D S 0 F R A T I O N A L I Z A T I O N

for example, 1!.e_-,lescribes the established, Lutheran church of Germany

as indifferent to values, as rigidly institutionalized and overly abstract
�hen compared to the highly �ommitted sects of the American type. In
placing a rather �ystical ceremonial element beside an ambition for ' secu­
lar power, the established church is seen by Weber as inherently hypocrit­
ical. Further, the church is identified with both the state bureaucracy and
the German tradition of learning (Bildung), the basic components of the
old German elite.
At the same time, however, Weber was attracted throughout much of
his work to the same dichotomizing ideological and philosophical frame­
work as his traditional colleagues, and to the same vision of decline .
Insofar as these powerful sympathies ruled his later work, he ascribed
only instrumental motives to modern actors and groups, for he believed
that values in modern society had become dissolved into reified forms.
t�� tre�tment of modern society in Weber's later work, . in other words,
conf��!lls to the GemeinschaftlGesellschaft dichotomy. Unlike most other
German academics, however, Weber did not believe that the acceptance
of this dichotomy ali��ed retreat into some imagined organic G�mein­
�,:�_aft, in either a reactionary or a radical form . Any a,ttemp.t to corn!:> in,e
an organic unity with modernity, he believed, represented the same il!her­
ent hypocrisy which he saw in the established German church . Weber
insisted that ��e repressive and mechanistic Gesellschaft had to be faced
directly, even if only a few heroic individuals would be able to do so
;tth��t 'fear or flight (see Chapter 2) .
In "Churches and Sects , " however, one finds a more multidimensional
view of modernity, one strand of which stands quite fully at odds with
that of Weber's traditional colleagues . In this line of his thinking, which
virtually disappears from the later versions of the essay, Y'febe� _��.�c=�!��s
of the possibility, not of a few individuals breaking through the iron c�ge,
but of .whole societies escaping it altogethe;--He envisioned the possiQility

contrary, that it was Weber's veryenthusiasm for one form of ascetic Protestantism which
provided such inspiration, and that Weber certainlyglimpsed at least one significant wayto
escape from the iron cage which did not involve rejecting this tradition . In terms of the
conceptualization of Weber's later writings, Mitzman is correct that Weber sought some way
of reinjecting charisma into routinized modern life, but, in the line of his thought that we
are concerned with here, he conceived of this as follows : a national tradition of sect­
organization reinvigorates and democratically redefines the "office charisma" upon which
modern rational-legal authorityrests . See especially, in this regard, Weber I978 : I 204- I 2. I I .
 C U LT U R A L G R 0 U N D S 0 F R A T I O N A L I Z A T I O N 107

of a new type of Gesellschaft based on a complex form of rational conduct,

� form which combined purposive rational action with adherence to val­
pes .... Such a possibility was acknowledged only rarely in Weber's subse-
9 uent work. Only at the end of his life, in "Politics as a Vocation" ( [ 1 9 1 9]
1 946) , did he write about it once more in a systematic way, but this time
in a more political than sociological form (see section IV below) .

II

Weber begins "Churches and Sects" with a surprising new concept, an

historical apprehension , and a pithy ethnographic observation.
The considerable development of ecclesiastical communal life in the United States
is a phenomenon which strikes all but the most superficial visitor. Nevertheless,
today rapid Europeanization is repressing everywhere the total ecclesiastical per­
meation of life that characterized authentic "Americana. " One can observe the
singular compromises in which this repression expresses itself, for example, the
following statutory regulations at one of the two Chicago universities : attendance
at chapel , which is compulsory for students by penalty of expulsion, ( I ) can be
"discharged" by registering for certain courses beyond the required minimum
number, (2) and when one's chapel record (sic ! ) has clearly exceeded the semes­
ter's requirements, either in natura or by substitution, the accumulated opera
supererogationis can be credited toward subsequent semesters. (Weber [ 1906]
1 985 :7)

The historical apprehension and observation are real enough, but the gist
of the essay that follows qualifies them in substantial ways. What is never
taken back is Weber's concept of "Europeanization . " Weber invents the
term to describ;-;-fo�m of��·��i��i��ti�� fro� which , he hopes, America
may be i�mune. When secularization takes a European form, social life
.
escap es entl�eiy from the ethical effects of earlier religious life, not only
from the direct control of religion itself. Europeanization implies, in other
words, an indifference to substantive moral commitments in favor of
merely formal compliance .
--
·- It 18 just this formality and "absolute indifference" (Weber [ 1 906]
1 985 : 1 2) that characterizes the church as a form of religious organization.
Weber convicts churches of a "deep inner insincerity" about the religious
• It is in this sense that virtually Weber's entire corpus can be seen as a critical response

to German mandarin ideology. Thus, one concept missing from Weber's work which can be
found throughout much of the traditional academic literature is "Manchesterism, " with its
implication that modern industrial societywas a foreign thing invading Germany.
108 C U L T U R A L G R O U N D S O F R A T I O N A L I Z AT I O N

commitments of laity, and he believes that this insincerity lays the foun­
dation for "customary and expedient" behavior among citizens of nations
guided by churchly religion. To this phenomenon he contrasts the Amer­
ican form of secularization that emanates from religious sects. Where the
church breeds indifference and formalism, the sect fosters fierce commit­
ment and an almost fanatical concern for substantive obedience to the
spirit of the law. The passion that sects demand in the religious life of the
laity, moreover, fosters principled and radical forms of political partici­
pation.
Europeanization, then, means not simply secularization but rather the
encroachment of the "church" model of social organization upon a more
sect-like one . Weber ·is not talking, in other words, about the Gesellschaft
encroaching upon the Gemeinschaft, for he believed that America had no
real organic traditional entity, but about the eE�roachm�nt of one form <?f
qesellschaft upon another. For Weber, sect-like religion is not traditional,
i . e . , not gemeinschaftlich, a denial that is consistent with his assignment
of its origins to the Reformation. "Modernization , " Europeanization, and
"secularization" must be distinguished . While the three may be cotermi­
nous, they are not necessarily synonymous.
Because these concepts are not identical for yveber, he believe� t��t_ in
.
modern societies the functions of religion-the social patterns first estab­
lished by religious organization-can be maintained even while the sC::9.pe
of religious institutions is diminish�d. While worried about the possible
Europeanization of America, he believes that the "ecclesiastical character"
of America remains, even in the early twentieth century, "one of the most
powerful components of conduct as a whole" (Weber [ 1 906] 1 985 :7) .
I ndeed, it is this essay's central contention that ecclesiastic patterns can
be carried on by secular groups whose role is largely defined by the nature
of the religious community from which they grew. "Today , " Weber
reports about an America which is increasingly secular, "large number:s of
'orders' and clubs of all sorts have begun to assume in part the functions
of the religious community . " Noting that "almost every small business­
man who thinks something of himself wears some kind of badge in his
lapel, " he immediately reminds his readers that "the archetype of this
form which all use to guarantee the 'honorableness' of the individual, is
indeed the ecclesiastical community" (Weber [ 1906] 1 985 : 8 , original ital­
ics) . Shortly after this discussion, Weber describes how sect membership
"sanitizes" members who have bad debts by restoring their reputations.
 C U L T U RA L G R 0 U N D S 0 F R A T I O N A L I ZAT I O N 109

"This practice is in decline among the sects today ," he notes in parenthe­
ses (Weber [ 1 906] 1 985 : 8 ) , "but can be found in numerous 'orders. ' "
Near the end of the essay, Weber « ( 1 906] 1 985 : 1 0-1 1 ) asserts that,
insofar as Europeanization has not occurred , "the old 'sect spirit' holds
s�y with relentless effect" throughout American clubs and associations,
cepe it a football team or a political party."
Historically prior religious communities, then, establish the dominant
cultural code or schema, and succeeding secular forms embody this initial
�pu!�e: - "The tremendous flood of social structures which penetrates
every nook and cranny of American life," Weber writes ( 1 985 : 1 0) , "is
constituted in accordance with the schema of the 'sect . ' " The ethical and
moral identity of contemporary American institutions, particularly vol­
untary organizations, is determined by the moral and psychological qual­
ities of these earlier Protestant groups. No wonder Weber insists that "the
sects' importance extends beyond the religious sphere" ( [ 1 906] 1985 : 10) .•
This insistance on historical specificity- and the accompanying em­
phasis on the continuity between religious and moral commitments and
their possible centrality in contemporary societies-opens up links be­
tween Weber and other theoretical traditions which have usually been
considered antagonist ic Tocq1J eville , too , found the roots of American
.

democracy in America's " voluntadstic re�igion . " Durkheim emphasized

the religi�us foundations of modernity, and Parsons� with. - his notion of
cilltura f spedfication, very much followed suit.t This emphasis in Weber's
work, moreover, opens up a clear line to the fertile field of "American
Studies," whose research on the religious grounding of American demo­
cratic institutions has flourished from Perry Miller's pathbreaking studies
(e.g. , Miller 1 956, 1 965) to the present day (e.g. , Bloch 1 985 ) .
At least as important for the history o f sociology, however, is the
conflict which this alternative understanding establishes inside of Weber's
sociological theory itself. The contrast between Europeanization and sec­
ularization leads to a decisive critique of the univocal rationalization
thesis . If contemporary institutions do, indeed, inherit a society's initial
religious impulses in a more secular form, then rationalization, or mod-
· This emphasis should not be taken to imply an exclusively cultural explanation of
American democracy. At several points in "Churches and Sects," Weber shows he is
thoroughly aware of other variables. His point is that sect organization is the key variable
differentiating Europe and America in terms of the development of democracy.
t See my argument about D urkheim in chapter 4-6, below . For 'specification' in Parsons's
cultural theory , see Alexander 1 988 and chapter 6, below.
1 10 C U L T U R A L G R 0 U N D S 0 F R A T I O N A L I Z A T I O N

ernization, cannot be seen simply as an objective development that pos­

sesses a purely universal , cross-national character. Rather, modernization,
would have to be seen , in Weber's words , as occurring within historically
given "modes of life . " Weber himself seemed aware of the provocative
challenge this line of thinking implied . "We modern, religiously 'unat­
tuned' people, " he warned his German readers, "are hard pressed to
conceptualize or even simply to believe what a powerful role these reli­
gious factors had in those periods when the characters of the modern
national cultures were being stamped ( [ 1 906] 1 985 : I I , original italics) .
Yet while these reflections on modernization reflect the far-reaching
implications of "Churches and Sects, " Weber's concern in this essay is
less with such general questions than with the particular contrast between
America and Germany. "It is and remains the fate of us Germans, " he
writes ( [ 1 906] 1 985 : I I ) , " t h a t , due to numerous historical causes, the
religious revolution at that time [i.e . , the Reformation] meant a develop­
ment that favored not the energy of the individual but the prestige of the
' office. ' " The result was that "the religious community withheld from
itself the development of that community-forming energy which the school
of the 'sects' . . . had imparted to an Anglo-Saxon world so completely
different in these respects from the German" (p. 1 I ) . " By contrast, it is
the American history of sectarian religion which gives to "American
democracy its own flexible structure and its individualistic stamp"
(p. 10) .

III

So much for the general significance of religious forms . It is time to

consider what Weber means by the sect/church distinction in more detail.
I n one long passage Weber offers a succinct comparison.
A church sees itself as an "institution [AnstaltJ, a kind of divinely end�wed
foundation [Fideikomisstlftung] for the salvation of individual souls who are horn
into it and are the object of its efforts, which are bound to the "office" in principle.
Conversely, a "sect" . . . is a voluntary community of individuals purely on the
basis of their religious qualification. The individual is admitted by virtue of a
voluntary resolution by both parties. (Weber [ 1 906] 1 985 :9, original italics)

· In 1 906 Weber wrote to Adolf von Harnack: "It is an inherently difficult and typical
situation that none of us [Germans] can be a sect-person, Quaker, Baptist, etc. Each of us
must notice at first glance the dominance of, basically, the institutional church measured by
non-ethical and non-religious values" (Mommsen 1 974 : 83-84) .
 C U L T U R A L G R O U N D S O F R A T I O N A L I Z A T I O N III

Weber concentrates here o n the relation between individuals and organi­

zations and on the crucial mediation of entrance criteria-what he calls
"the concept of 'membership' " '( po 7) . In authoritarian groupings, indi­
viduals are objectified by the organizational structure ; they are conceived
as serving the organization's interests. In democratic organizations, by
contrast, the apparatus is conceived of as serving the ends of individuals
themselves. How is this affected by the particular membership criteria of
a sect as compared to a church ?
Weber stresses that sect religion is not individualistic. It organizes
individuals into powerful groups. "The entire social existence of the
borrower, " Weber writes in reference to the credit mechanism in sect
communities, "rests on his membership in that community" (p. 8) . The
membership concept in a sect is, however, in itself radically individualis­
t i c . Entrance is based on vo l u n tary decision. This is most obvious in the
sect's emphasis on conversion rather than birth as the condition for
religious election. "Whereas the baptismal ceremony itself, exclusively on
the basis of the voluntary resolution of adult followers, was the adequate
symbol for the 'sect-like' character of the Baptist community, " Weber
writes (p. 9 ) , "the intrinsic falsity of the 'confirmation' [in a church]
demonstrates the intrinsic contradiction of t he avowal , which is on ly
formally 'spontaneous . ' " Sect membership, moreover, usually involves
intensive individual scrutiny as well. Weber emphasizes, for example,
"the on-going inquiries about moral and business conduct which precede
acceptance" into the B aptist congregation (p. 8, original italics) .
The emphasis on voluntary entrance is responsible for the famous
exclusivity of sect religion. Because they are choosey, they are particular­
istic . "The 'purity' of its membership , " Weber acknowledges (p. 8 ) , "is a
vital question for the genuine 'sect. ' " The church , by contrast, is in
principle inclusive and tolerant : "The 'universalism' of the 'churches'
allows their light to shine on both the righteous and the unrighteous" (p.
8) . In Weber's view, however, its very intolerance ironically signals the
sect's fundamental contribution to democracy in the society at large. Sect
membership is exclusive because individuals must demonstrate that they
have been called by God himself. Universalism in church membership,
by contrast, is based o n a requirement to abide by institutional require­
ments and earthly religious authority.
It is for this reason , Weber believes, that only with sect development
does the democratic impulse in the Western religious tradition finally
1I2 C U LT U R A L G R O U N D S O F RA T I O N A L I Z A T I O N

emerge : "The principle that 'one must obey God above men , ' whose
various interpretations and explanations in a certain sense incorporate
the whole cultural mission of Western European Christianity, acquires
here its specific anti-authoritarian character" (p. 1 0 ) . Only the commit­
ment to religious exclusivity , Weber insists, can undermine the authori­
tarianism of the feudal past . "The exclusive appraisal of a person purely
in terms of the religious qualities evidenced in his conduct, " he writes ( p .
1 0 ) , "necessarily prunes feudal and dynastic romanticism from its roots. "
Because it is God who sets membership rules rather than man, sect
religion seeks to institutionalize individual freedom against the state.
Thus Weber (p. 1 0 ) attributes to sect development "the unconditional
rejection of all . . . demands that the state recognize 'freedom of con­
science' as the inalienable right of the individual. " It is not a vague
tolerance but a fierce commitment to the individual which, Weber con­
cludes, makes freedom possible : "The autonomy of the individual, then,
is anchored not to indifference but to religious positions ; and the struggle
against all types of 'authoritarian' arbitrariness is elevated to the level of a
religious duty" (p. 1 0 ) .
Voluntary membership and exclusivity also entail a continuous empha­
sis o n achievement rather than asc ri p tion as the basis for distributing
social rewards. "Life-long sober diligence in one's 'calling,' " Weber writes
"appears as the specific, indeed really the only, form by which one can
demonstrate his qualification as a Christian and therewith his moral legi­
timation" (p. 8 , original italics) . To remain a sect member one cannot
rest on one's laurels, one must always be "proving oneself in life" (p. 8 ) .
There are n o fixed o r rigid rewards upon which the member o f a sect can
rely. "Not objectivized contracts and traditions, " Weber writes, "but
rather the religiously qualified individual is seen as the bearer of revela­
tion which continues without ever being completed. " Thus, while the
individual is, in fact, enmeshed in a powerful form of social organiz�'tion,
the effect of that form is to create a situation in which the individual must
be treated and evaluated as an individual alone.

The idea that the religious qualifications bestowed on the individual by God are
alone decisive for his salvation , that no form of sacramental magic is of use to him
here, that only his practical conduct, his 'probation , ' can be taken by him as a
symptom that he is on his way to salvation , places the individual absolutely on his
own in the matter most important to him (p. 10, original italics) .
 C U L T U R A L G R 0 U N D S 0 F R t< T I O N A L I Z A T I O N I I]

The social milieu remains extraordinarily important, but it is a milieu

designed to create and sustain individual prowess . ... Thus, while Weber
insists on "the individual's need to constantly attend to his self-affirma­
tion , " he argues that "this task of 'proving' himself is present more than
ever within the group , in the circle of his associates" (p. I I , original
italics) . This emphasis on the possibility for an individual-centered group
life, we will suggest below, distinctively marks off Weber's position from
the traditionalist/academic approach to modern culture .
It seems clear that what \y'eber has tried to outline here is a form of
social organization which can sustain integration in a differentiated, indi­
vi cl uai istic, and democratic society . Th is form ensures that even in the
�ost modern society there will be "on-going inquiries about moral and
social conduct" (p. 8) . Such inquiries guarantee that the individuals with
whom one interacts have the proper "social qualities" (p. 8 ) - i . e . , quali­
ties linked to achievement . Organizations set standards for membership
that "are geared to specific types of action, not to qualities generated by
birth. Membership, then, is open, and it is such membership, or "achieved
quality, " that guarantees the honorableness of the individuals with whom
one interacts. "The old 'sect spirit' holds sway with relentless effect in the
intrinsic nature of such associations, " Weber writes (p . I I ) , for the sect
was the first mass organization to combine individual and social in
this way.
In the sect, the religious qualifications bestowed on the individual by
God could be evidenced only by this-worldly action. In sect society, grace
is an achievement by individuals, an achievement, ironically, that guar­
antees sociability. Sect-like organization , therefore, is the only way to
ensure trust in a differentiated and mobile society . Societies whose culture

+ It is for this reason, Weber suggests, that small size has usually been considered a
prerequisite of sect activity, in contrast to the great populations often encompassed by the
church. "The canonical limitation of the size of the unity, the congregation, to such
dimensions that all members personally know one another and, therefore, can judge and
supervise their "probation" reciprocally has always been a fundamental Baptist principle. A
form of this principle was also found in genuine Methodism in the cultivation of the so­
called class meetings in which members practiced (originally weekly) a kind of reciprocal
examination through confessions, just as it was in the small communities (ecclediolae) of
Pietism . One needs "only to see the Berlin Cathedral to know that the most consequential
form of the Protestant "spirit" is alive not in this caesaro-papist state hall but rather in the
small chapels of the Quakers and the Baptists which lack such mystical ornamentation" (p.
9). Yet while size is significant, Weber insists that membership criteria alone define sects as
opposed to churches.
I I4 C U L T U R A L G R O U N D S O F R A T I O N A L I Z A T I O N

is not rooted in sect religion, Weber suggests, may never be able to allow
trust to be produced through such autonomous, individual-centered, vol­
untaristic procedures . Yet is is upon the ability to produce just such a
fluid and responsive reservoir of trust that contemporary democracy de­
pends. ·

IV

In reflecting on the light which Weber's sect theory throws on the relation
between his work and the traditional German mandarin critique of mod­
ern society, it is important to note that in assigning the sect to one of
Tonnies's institutional ideal types, Weber chooses the Gesellschaft rather
than the Gemeinschaft. He writes :

The individual [sect member] . seeks to maintain his own position by becoming a
mem\Jer of a so,,-i!\l group . . . . The social association to which the individual
belongs is for him never something "organic, " never a mystical total essence which
floats over him and envelops him. Rather, he is always completely conscious of it
as a mechanism for his own material and ideal ends (Zwecke) . ( [ 1 906] 1985 : 1 I )

I t is precisely this c onceptu a l choice that allows Weber to emphasize the

rational individualism fostered by American sects. A description he offers
of a baptismal ceremony in North Carolina is a case in point.
On a cold Sunday morning in October, I attended a Baptist baptism in the
forelands of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina . Approximately ten
people of both sexes in their Sunday-best entered the icy water of a mountain

· It is in this sect theory of democracy, then, that Weber's understanding of contemporary

society converges with Parson's notion (e.g. , 1967 :297-382) that differentiated societies
depend upon the ability to communicate and coordinate actions through "generalized media
of exchange. " In Parsons's view, these media all depend on trust, but at the same time they
are acceptable to institutions and individuals only if they are drawn upon systems .which
perform in effective ways. Typically, Parsons couched this theory in systemic, geneful, and
universalistic terms, scarcely referring to the historical and comparative issues to' which
Weber- in this singular section of his work- paid such close attention. In other parts of
his work, however, Parsons was himself extremely sensitive to the long-term consequences
of what might be called religious foundations. The particular distinction he made, however,
was between denomination and church (Parsons 1 967 :385-42 1 ) , and he was more interested
in tolerance than in the promotion of individualistic motivation and self-control. Nor did
Parsons connect this comparative discussion to his theory of the generalized media. It does
not seem farfetched to suggest, however, that this exploration of individually centered,
credit-creating processes could only have occurred to a theorist immersed in a political
culture formed by sect-religion.
 C U L T U R A L G R O U N D S O F R A T I O N A L I Z A T I O N I lS

stream one after another and after voluminous declarations of allegiance bent their
knees, leaned back into the arms of a black-clothed reverend (who stood waist­
deep in the water during the entire procedure) until their faces disappeared under
the water, climbed out sneezing and shivering, were congratulated by the farmers
who had come in large numbers by horse and wagon, and quickly made for home
(which in some cases was hours away ) . Faith protects one from catching cold, the
saying goes. One of my cousins, who had escorted me from his farm and who
scorned the procedure by spitting irreverently (he abstained from joining a church
as a sign of his German descent) , showed a certain interest as an intelligent­
looking young man submersed himself. uOh see, Mr. X . I told you so ! " Pressed
to explain, he responded at first only that Mr. X intended to open a bank in Mt.
Airy and needed significant credit. From further discussion I learned that admit­
tance into the Baptist congregation was primarily of decisive importance not on
account of his Baptist customers but much more for the non-Baptist ones, because
the on-going inquin·es about moral and business conduct which precede acceptance
[into the Baptist congregation] are considered by far the strongest and most
reliable . ( [ 1 906] 1 985 :8)

Mr. X was not born into a religious group in which he felt some kind
of organic oneness with the other members . Rather, whatever his motives
- commercial , religious, or a mixture of the two - he made a conscious
decision to join the sect and uphold its ethical standards . While he will
reap certain advantages from his position , he will also accept the respon­
sibility to constantly " prove" his worthiness. Should he fail to meet these
individual responsibilities, the contract is broken and he is excluded. His
conduct reflects "cool objectivity" (Sachlichkeit) and "purposive activity"
(Zwecktiitigkeit) . The sect itself, then, is not an institution that is some­
how greater than the sum of its parts. Rather it is a collection of individ­
uals who engage in reciprocal acts of "probation" for the sake of certain
individual ideal and material ends . In this sense it is a classic Gesellschaft.
Yet, the sect differs from the mainstream German academic conception
'?� G�seii;chaft in that it is not barren of values. - While the conduct of the
• I ronically, Mitzman (1970 : 1 94-20 1 ) uses Weber's classification of the sect as a Gesell­
schaft to support his argument that Weber became increasingly taken with acosmic mysti­
cism. He cites Weber's discussion of a presentation by Troeltsch at the German Sociological
Convention of 1 91 0 in which Weber places mysticism at the opposite pole from sect­
rationality (cf. Mitzman 1973 ) . However, here Weber does not advocate one pole over the
other, but simply elaborates on Troeltsch's typology. Mitzman's error would seem to be a
faulty syllogism : the Gesellschaft is an iron cage ; the Protestant sect is a Gesellschaft;
therefore, the Protestant sect is an iron cage. The acosmic mystic Gemeinschaft stands
opposed to this Gesellschaft and thus represents the alternative to the reified iron cage.
While M itzman points to the existence of more than one form of Gemeinschaft in Weber's
1 16 C U L T U R A L G R 0 U N D S 0 F R A T I O N A L I Z A T I O N

sect members is rational , it is also strongly tied to values. The best

example Weber provides is that of the Quakers, for whom "the struggle
against all types of 'authoritarian' arbitrariness is e1e�ated to a rehgious
du ty" ( [ 1 906] 1 985 :9) . This vision of a modern actor whose very rational­
ity is rooted deeply in value standards allows us to understand a nonutili­
tarian aspect in Weber's later discus �i ons o f rationality. In much of W e­
ber's later writings, rational actio n takes on antivaluative tones (Alexander
1 983 : ch. 3-5 ) , just as terms like "objectivity" (Sachlichkeit) take on an
aura of reification . But even in his later writings there is another vision of
modern life which competes with this prophecy of the iron cage. The
antithetical notion is articulated by the concept of complex rationality,
which embodies a substantive moral definition of rational action . Not
until "Politics as a Vocation" can one gain the insight into this conception
of rational conduct provided by " Churches and Sects. ".
Our connection of these two essays goes beyond the fact that both talk
about rationality in a more complex way. The paradox of "Politics as a
Vocation, " it seems to us, is that, while Weber advocates an ethic of

thought, he seems unwilling to do the same for Gesellschaft. The result of this lack of
appreciation for complex rationality is that Mitzman is forced to treat the "ethic of respon­
sibility" almost as an anomaly. We, to the contrary, will describe it below as one of the most
significant concepts in Weber's later work.
• It is difficult to relate exactly this type of "complex rationality" to the formal conceptual
distinctions among the types of rational action that Weber introduced in the first part of
Economy and Society, in part because of the very problem we are pointing to here : it was
much less conspicuous in Weber's theorizing and empirical work during the years between
1 906 and the postwar period . This complex rationality could be considered a form of "value­
rationality" (Wertrationalitiit), though Weber generally conceived of this term as relating to
rationalized forms of religion, like Puritanism, that were precursors of truly "modern"
rational action. On the other hand, this complex rationality might be considered a form of
"purposive-rationality" (Zweckrationalitiit) . Yet, while Weber certainly intended that the
latter form refer to contemporary rational action, he tended to define this as instrumental
rationality in a utilitarian sense.
The very ambiguity of these two types reflects the difficulty Weber had in conceptualizing
a complex rationality that was both informed by values and disciplined by the universalistic,
contingent, and empirical commitments of the secular age. Levine ( 1 98 1 ) and Kalberg
( 1 980) both have recently provided extensive accounts of the "multivalent" character of
Weber's conception of rationality. Neither account, however, appreciates the profound
ambiguity that permeates Weber's treatment and the contradictory characterizations of
rationality that result . Both miss the historicist aspect of Weber's characterization , and the
way in which his anxiety about modern rationality creates difficulties in his conceptualiza­
tion. For an account which emphasizes the shifting quality of Weber's rationality definition,
see Alexander 1983 .
 C U L T U RA L G R 0 U N D S 0 F R A T I O N A L I Z AT I O N 117

responsibility, the political organizations he ascribes to modern societies

would make morally responsible participation in politics on any wide­
spread basis all but impossible . " For it is in that important essay that
Weber lays out the unenviable choice between the crassness of American
political machines and the charismatic domination of plebiscitarian lead­
ers, which is not really democratic at all (Alexander 1 983 :98- 1 27) . In
"Churches and Sects, " by contrast, Weber sharply criticizes the mass­
society image upon which such a theory of machine democracy rests.
Rather than embracing the notion himself-as he seems to in the later
essay - he decries atomization as produced by the fears of German ro­
mantics and by the policies of the bureaucratic state.

'Yh_o.�y_�r rl!pre!l�!}t��'4efI1�cra�y�' �s a !Da�s fragmented into atoms, as our roman­

ti�� prefer to do, is fundamentally mistaken so· far as the American democracy is
concerned . "Atomizlltion" Js usu�IIY ll coIlse.quence not of democracy but of
bureaucratic . rationalism and, therefore, it cannot be eliminated through the
tavor�d imposition of an "organizational structure" from above . ( [ I 906] 1 985 : 10)

Here again one sees Weber turning the tables on mainstream academicians
·
by attributing the rcifi� d typ� of Gesellschaft to a bureaucratic structure
·(;� -m Germany) rather than ' to a democr�tic one. In the essay's only
foot note ( 1 985 : 1 2-13) , he refutes his frie �d Troeltsch's attempt to equate
"aristocracy, " i.e. , an exclusivity based on certain standards, with tradi­
tional institutions, that is, with political conservatism. Rather, he implies,
there is a traditional form of exclusivity, based on ascribed status, and a
modern one, based on "personal qualities and achievements. " The latter
he sees as characteristic of American democracy.
Indeed, as Weber knows from his recent experience in America and the
insight into sect society that he has derived from it, American democracy
is itself filled with exc1usivities of every kind . It is this very membership
in particular groups which promotes high individual standards and re­
sponsibilities.

The genuine American society-and here we include especially the "middle" and
"lower" straia ofthe population-was never . . . a sandpile. Nor was it a building
where everyone who entered without exception found open doors. It was and is
permeated with "exclusivities" of every kind [and] the latter are always "artifacts"

• Yet, while a paradox, this is not a contradiction. I have explained in the essay preceding
how Weber insists the responsibility in the modern world can be conceived only in a
radically individualistic way.
1 18 C U L T U R A L G R 0 U N D S 0 F R A T I O N A L I Z A T I O N

of "�ocieties" [Gesellschaften} and not "communities" [Gemeinschaften}.

.. to use
the terminology of Ferdinand Tonnies ( [ 1 906] 1 985 : 1 0) .
Because i n democracies individuals are constantly confronting situa­
tions for which there is no authoritative interpretation and new individu­
als with whom there is no ascribed relation, new forms of control are
needed which are neither top-down nor rigid, but real and constraining
nonetheless. Democracy must allow for the possibility of face-to-face
organization in a differentiated society. Only the sect form provides con­
trol mechanisms that allow this possibility to be realized. Only sects,
moreover, were able to instill this capacity for democracy in broad masses
of people . Ironically, it is the very radicalism of the sect that allows
democratic behavior-a critical and antiiuthoritarian character- to be
positively incorporated into established communities. Church-organized
polities, by contrast, allow traditional elites to monopolize grace. The
result for these societies has been "to force all individual striving for
emancipation from 'authority, ' all 'liberalism' in the broadest sense of the
word, along the path of hostility to the religious communities" ( 1 985 : 1 1 ) .
I n these church-founded situations, antiauthoritarian and critical senti­
ments must be expressed outside the social and political mainstream , in
radical social movements. Only the sects, Weber argues, "have achieved
the combination of positive religiosity and political radicalism" ( [ 1 906]
1 985 : 1 0) . They can do so because they allow mainstream social and
political life to itself assume a democratic and antiauthoritarian form . "On
the basis of Protestant religiosity and political radicalism, " Weber main­
tains, sects "alone . . . have been able to instill in the broad masses, and
especially in modern workers, an intensity for ecclesiastical interests which
is elsewhere to be found only in the bigoted fanaticism of backward
peasants. "
In this essay, then, i n contrast to "Politics a s a Vocation, " Weber sees
democratic morality permeating the masses of people . Yet it ca,!hot be
gainsaid that American democracy in Weber's time was still a political
process dominated by big city machines. Is it possible to reconcile this
phenomenon with Weber's early sect theory ? We believe that it is and that
Weber himself actually makes a subtle attempt to do so.
The key to reconciliation is to understand that sects do not themselves
become directly involved in politics. In fact, they are purposely apolitical,
refusing to grant any divine legitimation to the political structure or to
court favor from the secular authorities. Weber (Mommson 1 974 : 76) sees
 C U LT U RA L G R 0 U N D S 0 F R A T I O N A L I Z A T I O N 1 19

the sects' demand for a constitutional guarantee of freedom of conscience

as one of their great contributions to modernity. He realized that such a
position could allow for machine politics, which was governed by zweck­
rational efficiency and was as devoid of values as the bureaucracy which
Germans contrasted with it. Yet, what comes through much more clearly
in this essay than in his later treatments is that Weber did not perceive
the American political machine as dangerous to individual responsibility.
Why not ? Because this aspect of political life could not be "consecrated"
by an idealist system of values. Noting the " 'lack of respect' typical of
modern Americans" vis-A-vis even "the highest social bodies , " Weber
makes the following observation .
Discounting bills of exchange is a business, as is the introduction of dispositions
into government records, and the latter cannot be distinguished from the former
by some sort of "consecration. " Unsuspecting German officials very often concede
with great astonishment, "it works that way as well ! " when they come to know
the excellent work accomplished by American officials which takes place hidden
from our eyes under a heavy blanket of big city corruption, party manuevers and
bluff. ( [ I 906] I 98S : I I )

It is the Gerl!111n established church, Weber notes here, not the political
riiachi��, that subordi �ates individual val ue s to the bureaucratic state It .

a!(.I �o py_gn!flt!ng the statd!;!gitim.3ticm in return for certain privileges.

��.�. g �rman . bureaucracy was a reified system disguised as a moral one.
The city machine, on the other hand , has no such pretensions ; devoid of
�().��l. 1t:g:itimatiol1' . it A ��s not represent the same threat to th� ethical
conduct of the individual.
American sect organization produced at least two important qualities
that Weber saw as crucial for the political rejuvenation of Germany : a
strong individualism and a tendency to form cohesive social groups open
to all social strata. The sect, for Weber, was a mass organization whose
cohesiveness was based neither on an organic spiritual unity nor on a
iliiterialistlcally organized interest ; rather it was based on individual
achievement and responsibility . When, at the end of his career, Weber
'
�e turried to the critical study of comparative political morality, this sect­
inspired quality emerges as the now famous "ethic of responsibility" -the
only substantively rational norm that can guide the modern political
vocation. Sect-like qualities were necessary if democratic political institu­
tions characterized by a union of moral commitment and rational perspec­
tive were to emerge in Germany. For this to happen, the existing bureau-
1 20 C U L T U R A L G R O U N D S O F RA T I O N A L I Z A T I O N

cratic system-the iron cage-would have to be dismantled, a task Weber

now assigned to charismatic political leadership . Weber's theoretical am­
bivalence , and the applied, programmatic nature of this later work led
him to discuss the sources of democratic change in this purely political ,
acultural way. Yet it seems clear that one lineage of his "ethic of respon­
sibility" goes back to his earlier emphasis on the role of sects. The
weakness of his later theory of plebiscitary democracy , in fact, may be
connected to Weber's inability make this link explicit and distinct . ...
The reasons for the eventual attenuation of Weber's sect-church dual­
ism can be linked to the predicament Weber faced in 1906. Despite his
admiration for sect-democracy and American political life , Weber saw no
way of transforming the socio-religious conduct of Germany in a similar
way. His optimism about the American Gesellschaft is matched by his
pessimism about the German one. At the same time, Weber saw the
American sect-like institutions being threatened by "Europeanization, " a
fear that became greater toward the end of his life (Weber [1918] 1 980 : 1 97) .
This tension between sect democracy and Europeanization, was, unfor­
tunately, a dialectic that Weber never explored further, for in his later
work he dropped the moral side of the antinomy altogether. If he had
explored it, his theory of modern society might have been able to point to
the possibilities for escaping the iron cage in a more sociological and less
existentialist way. That he did not develop this aspect of his theory
indicates, of course, as much about Weber's own time as it does about
Weber himself. t
I n the American religious sect Weber had discovered a unique creature
which, despite its importance, faced possible extinction from the form of
modernization represented by Europe . Weber's earliest hope seem to have
been to find a home for that creature in Germany- indeed, to use his

• It is the failure to see the relatively submerged theme of sect-democracy that mar" David
Beetham's fine study of Weber's "applied" political theory . Beetham argues (e.g. , 1 974 : 20 1 )
that in the writings Weber dedicated explicitly t o topical political issues-in contrast t o his
scholarly and systematic writings on politics- he emphasized the relation between politics
and class forces to the exclusion of the "importance of ideas. " Yet, Beetham ( 1 974 :205)
acknowledges that Weber, in his major discussion of the Russian revolution of 1 905 , listed
the failure of sect-religion as one of the three major reasons for the failure of Russian
democracy. It is true, of course, that Weber's approach to these issues was usually the
instrumental one of Realpolitik. Nonetheless, "Churches and Sects" demonstrates quite
clearly that Weber's thinking about reform did contain another element, albeit one that
became increasingly submerged.
t For a discussion of some of these possibilities, see the last section in chapter 2, above .
 C U L T U R A L G R 0 U N D S 0 F R A T 1 .0 N A L I Z A T 1 .0 N 121

knowledge o f the true underpinnings o f American democracy t o trans­

form Europe itself. This hope lay dormant until the turmoil at the end of
the First World War. I ronicallY ' it was at this later time that the revised
version of "Churches and Sects" appeared . In this later essay, some of the
most important elements we have discussed were omitted , and the main
effects of the sect phenomenon were placed distinctly in the past .

REFERENCES

Alexander, Jeffrey C. 1 983 . Max Weber: The Classical Attempt at Synthesis. Vol .
3 of Theoretical Logic in Sociology. Berkeley and Los Angeles : University of
California Press.
-- 1 988 . "Three Models of Culture and Society Relation : Toward an Analysis
of Watergate." In Alexander, Action and Its Environments, pp. 1 52- 1 74. New
York : Columbia University Press .
Beetham, David. 1 974. Max Weber and the Theory of Modern Politics. London :
Allen and Unwin.
Berger, Stephen. 1 971 . "The Sects and the Breakthrough into the Modern World :
On the Centrality of the Sects in Weber's Protestant Ethic Thesis. " The Socio­
logical Quarterly 12 :456-499.
B loch , Ruth . 1 98 5 . Visionary Republic: Millenial Themes in American Thought,
17s6 -1800 . New York : Cambridge University Press.
Dahrendorf, RaiL 1 969 . Society and Democracy in Germany. Garden City,
N. Y. : Doubleday.
Kalberg, Steven . 1 980. "Max Weber's Types of Rationality : Cornerstones for the
Analysis of Rationalization Processes in History. " American Journal of Sociol­
ogy 85 : I I 45- I I 79.
-- 1 987. "The Origin and Expansion of Kulturpessimismus. " Sociological The­
ory 5 (2) : 1 50- 1 64.
Konig, Renig. 195 5 . "Die Begriffe Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft bei Ferdinand
Tonnies." J(jjlner Zeitschrift fur Soziologie und Sozial-psychologie 7 : 348-420.
Lenk, Kurt. 1 91'.1.. Marx in der Wissenssoziologie. Neuwied : Luchterhand .
Levine, Donald N. 1 98 1 . " Rationality and Freedom : Weber and Beyond . " Socio­
logical Inquiry 5 1 :5-26.
Lindenlaub, Dieter. 19676. Richtungskiimpfe im Verein fUr Sozialpolitik. Wies­
baden : Franz Steiner.
Loader, Colin . 1 976. "German Historicism and Its Crisis . " Journal of Modern
History 48 :8S- I I9. On-demand supplement .
Miller, Perry. 1956. Errand Into the Wilderness. New York : Harper and Row.
-- 1 965 . The Life of the Mind in America. New York : Harcourt, Brace and
World .
122 C U L T U R A L G R 0 U N D S 0 F R A T I O N A L I Z AT I O N

Mitzman, Arthur. 1970. The Iron Cage: An Historical Interpretation of Max

Weber. New York : Knopf.
-- 1 973 . "Max Weber on Church, Sect, and Mysticism. " Sociological Analysis
34 : 140-1 49.
Mommsen, Wolfgang. 1 974. Max Weber: Gesellschaft, Politik und Geschichte.
Frankfurt : Suhrkamp .
Parsons, Talcott. 1 967. Sociological Theory and Modern Society. New York : Free
Press.
Ringer, Fritz . 1 969. The Decline of the German Mandarins. Cambridge : Harvard
University Press.
Weber, Marianne. 1 975 . Max Weber: A Biography.
Weber, Max. 1 906. " 'Kirchen' und 'Sekten. ' Frankfurter Zeitung 50 ( 1 02/ r 04) .
"

-- [ 1 906] 1 985 . " 'Churches' and 'Sects' in North America : An Ecclesiastical

Socio-Political Sketch. " (Translation by Colin Loader) . Sociological Theory
3 ( 1 )J- 1 3 ·
-- [ 1 9 1 8] 1 980. "Socialism. " In J . E. T . Eldridge, ed. Max Weber: The
Interpretation of Social Reality. London : Joseph .
-- [ 1 9 1 9] 1 946. "Politics as a Vocation. " In Hans Gerth and C. Wright Mills,
eds . From Max Weber. New York : Oxford University Press.
-- [ 1 920] 1946. "The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism. " In Gerth
and Mills, eds. From Max Weber.
-- 1 978 . Economy and Society. Berkeley and Los Angeles : University of Cali­
fornia Press.
 F O UR

Rethinking Durkheim's Intellectual

Develo p ment : On the Complex Origins
of a Cultural Sociology

Readings of great theorists are geared to the times. Just as Marx has
recen tly been decisively reinterpreted, so has Durkheim. On one thing
most of Durkheim's readers, past and present, have always agreed : he,
like Marx, emphasizes social structure . Durkheim helped to create classi­
cal sociology because he located social forces outside of the individual
�c tor. But at this point the serious theoretical problems only really begin.
The problem for Durkheim, as for Marx, is what does structure mean ?
How does structure hold individuals within its limits ? Of what are these
limits composed ? If structure exists, somehow, outside of the individual,
can it act only in opposition to freedom ? The problematics of Durkheim
interpretation, then, are precisely the ones around which Marxist inquiry
has also revolved . �he fundamental question has always been how Durk­
heim stipulates the relation between determinism and free action. People
Keep reading Durkheim, and arguing about him , to find out whether the
determinateness of social structures must involve the sacrifice of voluntary
control and, conversely , whether the postulate of individual control can
be purchased only at the price of denying the realities of external force.
How generations have understood Durkheim has fundamentaiIy shaped
the pattern of their sociological discourse. The debates over Durkheim's
work are, inevitably, arguments about the most basic directions of socio­
logical t hought.
Yet Durkheim has become the resource for such theorizing in funda­
mentally different ways and at fundamentally different levels of analysis.
Theorists have argued for and against the "Durkheimian solution" in
124 R E T H I N K I N G D U R K H E l M

ways that, ironically, have eliminated properly theoretical analysis alto­

gether. Merton ( 1 967 : 59-60) and Stinchcombe ( 1 968 : 25) insist that
Durkheim's greatness lies in the power of his empirical generalizations,
an insistance which would remove from our consideration of Durkheim
the power of his theoretical reflection as such . The mirror image of this
argument is that, far from being observational and scientific, Durkheim's
work must be viewed as the immediate product of his social environment.
For Zeitlin ( 1 968 :235) and Kagan ( 1 938 :243 ) , if Durkheim's conception
of social structure leads in one direction or another, it is for ideological
reasons, not for merely empirical ones.
The present essay insists, to the contrary, that Durkheim's understand­
ing of the critical relation between individual and society cannot be
reduced to either of these anti-theoretical extremes. It involves, rather,
reference to sui generis analytic issues that are neither simply ideological
nor completely empirical , issues that revolve around the "proble m of
.
order" in a strictly delineated sense. This analytical problem of order has
been seriously misunderstood in the recent history of sociological debate.
-
I n the fi rst place, it has been falsely conflated with theoretical issues of a
much more specific kind . For Coser ( 1 960) , Nizan ( 1 932 : 19 1 -92) , Rex
( 1 96 1 : 1 05 - 1 08) , and Kagan ( 1 938) , "order:" means simply assumptions
about the empirical frequency of conflict or equilibrium, and on these
grounds they find Durkheim's insistance on a modicum of social stability
to be seriously deficient. In Kagan's words, Durkheim "is the anti-revo­
lutionary par excellence in the sense that he is profoundly attached to
tradition" ( 1 93 8 :243 ) . Yet those who defend Durkheim frequently make
the same theoretical mistake. Nisbet ( 1 965 :28) claims that Durkheim's
acceptance of social harmony and obedience constitutes "a massive attack
on the philosophical foundations of liberalism," and for this attack he
applauds and embraces him. Following the same narrow definition of the
order problem but rejecting Nisbet's reading of where Durkheim stdod in
relation to it, Giddens ( 1 972b :41 ) claims that because of Durkheim's
concern with change and historicity "it can perfectly well be said that it
[the problem of order] was not a problem for Durkheim at all" (d.
Giddens 1 972a : 3 5 8-36 1 ) . Much of this confusion, of course, can be
traced back to Parsons' infl{;�ntial interpretation in The Structure of
Soaa { A�iiori ( 1 937 : 3 1 3 , 346- 347) , f� r while Parsons sharply di ff�;en­
ti aied the concern with empirical stability from any necessary ideological
orientation, he often linked DJ.!rklleim's a.nalytical solution to the order
- - _. • . - _ . . . . .. . ". - .
.. -'- --- . ...
 R E T H I N K I N G D U R K H E I M I 25

pro�lem- which Parsons himself did so much to illuminate- \!ith Durk- '
h�i � ; s perception of empirical equilibrium.
" I� terms of the present essay, the "problem of order" involves two
distinctive theoretical issues, each of which concerns the fundamental
nature of social relationships. First, the order problem involves a decision
about the random versus structured quality of human events, about w�ether
the sources of individual interaction are individuaiistic o!. <:().11.«:.£ti.ve and
�� pra-individual. This question, which involves the s�ciological reformu­
lation of the nominalism/realism debate, must be crosscut by assumptions
about the nature of human action. Wh�ther or not individ\1:als act simply
in an instrumentally efficient and purely calculating way or whether every
act �nvolves reference to a nonrational and ideal standard vitally affects
the nature of the individual or collective order that a theorist describes. It
is a s a result o f s u c h decisions about the nature of action that individual­
istic order is portrayed as an "exchange" (e.g. , Homans 1 96 1 ) or a "sym­
bolic interaction" (e.g. , B lumer 1 969 ) , and that collective orders are
described as external and coercive (e.g. , Marx [ 1 847] 1 962) or internal
and voluntaristic (e.g. , Parsons 1937) . ·
The conflict between Marxism and Durkheimian sociology, I contend,
revolves precisely around this latter issue. V a r io u s theorists, of course,
have contended that this conflict does not exist, that Durkheim, like
Marx, is a "structuralist" who emphasizes social organization and external
control . But the notion of "structure, " as I insisted above, is where
sociological theory begins, not where it ends. The most critical issues in
theoretical logic are lost if Durkheim's and Marx's common collectivism
is taken to exhaust their theoretical relationship. While Marx and Durk­
heim agreed that social science must focus on supra�individual social

• I n so defining the "problem of order" as concerned with instrumental versus nonrational

action and with the problem of individualism versus collective structuration, I am following
a long tradition of epistemological and ontological debate in social thought, a debate which
for present purposes may be said to have begun with Marx's "Theses on Feuerbach" ( [ 1 8451
1 965) and the most important contemporary articulations of which have been presented by
Parsons ( 1 937) and Habermas ( 1 973) . The problem of action involves conflicts over idealism
(e.g. , purely norm,alive action) , and f(i.l!terililisIp. (purely efficient, amoral action) . The
problem of individualism versus collectivism centers on the probiem of 'wlie.ifier· ord�r is
simply negotiated byindiy.i ��a! int���ct�Q.�.�r. VI'hether it �a� sui generis, emergent proper­
ties. ·'F'or ' -ail - .mpo'rtant· treatment of this hitter problem in terms of the split between
�ominalist and realist tendencies in the Chicago school of sociology, see Lewis and Smith
( 1 980) . I have discussed these "presuppositional" issues at much greater length in Alexander
Alexander ( 1 982C, 1988 :222-257) , and in Alexander and Giesen 1 988.
126 R E T H I N K I N G D U R K H E I M

structure, they disagreed profoundly about the nature of action upon

which such structures are based .
This profound disagreement with the Marxist understanding of order
was, at least , the position at which Durkheim arrived by the time of his
fully mature theoretical work. What has not been understood is that, on
the way to this latter position, Durkheim seriously considered a variety of
theoretical alternatives. Indeed, in the process of his early theoretical
development he came, in his own view, precariously close to the position
of Marx himself. It is on the nature of this early development, and on the
rationales for Durkheim's changes in theoretical position, that this essay
will focus . In so reconstructing the dialectic between Durkheim and the
shadow of Marx, the following argument seeks to illuminate not just the
central dilemmas of classical sociology, but those of contemporary thought
as well . It will also refer to some of the most basic controversies in
contemporary studies of science and knowledge production in a more
general sense .

Durkheim 's Early Wn'tings:

Ideological Consistency and Theoretical Change

Durkheim came to maturity in the late 1 870S and 1 880s, in the crucible
�f the formation of the Third R epublic in France. From the very begin­
ning of his identification as a sociologist-which Mauss dates from 1 88 1
- he linked his intellectual vocation to certain normative o r ideological
goals : first, French society must be changed so that it could become
stable ; second� ihi� stability could be achieved only if there were justice,
particularly justice in economic distribution ; third, the increased state
organization necessary to create justice should never occur at the expenl:\e
?! il1� ividual fr� edom . Durkheim described these goals as socialism, but
he insisted, to use contemporary terms, that this be socialism with a
voluntaristic or human face . This ideological dimension of order re­
mained constant throughout the course of his life. The problem, for
Durkheim, was the translation of these goals into a theoretical and empir­
ical perspective. It is precisely here that the changes in Durkheim's
sociology occurred.
From the beginning, Durkheim was convinced that the achievement of
democratic socialism depended upon avoiding the kind of instrumentally
rationalistic theory of collective order that was proposed by the English
 R E T H I l\i K I N G D U R K H E I M 1 27

utilitarians and by Marxist socialists. Such a reductionist and instrumen­

tal understanding of the issue, Durkheim believed, could describe the
reformist state only as an exterrial and coercive force vis-a-vis individual
will (Durkheim [ 1 888] 1 975 : 3 79) . Quoting approvingly from Schaeffle,
the German socialist of the chair, Durkheim ( 1 886 :77) insists that the
concept of socialism "could be unburdened of all contradictions" only if
"the fundamental principles of Marx's theory are renounced" (cf. Durk­
heim [1 888] 1975 :387) . *
Yet in the years between the publication o f Durkheim's first essay
reviews, in 1 88 5 , and the appearance of his first mature work, The Divi­
sion of Labor in Society, in 1 893 , Durkheim proved unable to transform
this general analytic conviction into a viable and precise theory . Although
the full story of Durkheim's earliest writings cannot be recounted here,
the fundamental lines of his frustrating early development can briefly be
presented. In the eight-year period that defines Durkheim's early writings
-a period that covers sixteen essays and two major monographs-one
can discern an ambivalent yet nonetheless distinctive theoretical evolution
away from his ideological goal of combining collective order with individ­
ual freedom. In the earliest of these writings, Durkh�im emphasized the
;-. _ . . .

i.!!l.pQrJ;JJI C e_of u.sympath�tic instincts" . inherent in every human being.

Since these natural sentiments led to associations, Durkheim (e.g. ,
1 886 : 309) thought he had discovered �. "Y.�y that moral order could be
social and individual at the same time . Yet eventua�ly' �€: . r�j�c�C!g this
�·o l�tio� �s too precarious. Such independently ��otf�ated individuals, he
came to believe, would develop no sense of the social whole outside of
their own selves. Even if they were enmeshed in society, they would not
be conscious of any subjective connection (e.g. , Durkheim 1 885 :45 3 ,
[ 1 885] 1978 : 1 14) . As an alternative to this vision, Durkheim considered
the position that morality was in some way external to the individual and
could, therefore, more powerfully control him . Yet even as he elaborated

- It is an undecided historical questions whether or not Durkheim actually knew Marx's

own work. Although there is some evidence that he did, he was surely responding more
immediately to the mechanical Marxism of the German and French "Marxists" of the First
International . Whether his criticism, therefore, can be considered a valid response to Marx's
original theory depends on what one considers the relation to be between Marx and his
immediate followers. In my view, D urkheim's understanding of Marxism as a mechanistic
theory was essentially correct, although this judgment is not relevant to the argument of the
present essay, which concerns only Durkheim's understanding of Marx and Marxism . For
an extensive comparison of Marx's actual theory with Durkheim's, see Alexander 1 982a.
1 28 R E T H I N K I N G D U R K H E I M

this new position, he worried about the status of the individual in such a
scheme, and to resolve this worry he postulated that such a moral order
could grow out of the individual action itself. F.ollowing Wundt , he
portrayed the individual as permeable and "anti-substantialist, " so order
could be internal and external at the same time (Durkheim 1 887b : 1 28) .
Yet t�is flirtation with Wundt turned out to be brief, for, once agaill,
Durkheim ( 1 886 :76) concluded that if individual volition were involved,'
social order was bound to be unstable. ...
Because he did not yet understand the process by which social order
could be outside the isolated individual and still be subjective, or "inside, "
at the same time, Durkheim was compelled at this early point t o turn to
the notion that order could be stable only if it were external in, an
ontological sense. He turned , in other words, back to an instrumenta! ,
quasi-materialist position. Even in his earlier work he had often evoked,
in a hesitant and ambivalent way, a model of the actor as an adaptive and
rationalizing force (e.g. , Durkheim 1 886 :60-69) . This model now be­
came explicit : the. .adaptive actor was endowed with egoistic motiv�tU!!ld
- - > .. . -, ," . . , ' " ... . . . . . . . . . . -_. .

portrayed as responding primarily to external c�llditi�ns. What has hap-

pened, ironically, is that Durkheim has retreated to the very instrumental
position he had , at the very beginning of his career, so criticized in Marx.
He has l�id the groundwork for a vision of state and society which was-as
mechanical and coercive as what he has supposed to be, Marx's own.
What is extraordinary is that Durkheim himself seemed to feel that
exactly the opposite was true. In his opening lectures at Bordeaux in 1 888
and 1 889, during which he first developed this more instrumentalist
perspective, and in his 1 892 Latin dissertation when he first systematized
it, Durkheim asserted that this instrumental transformation would, in
fact, allow him finally to reconcile individual freedom and social order.
The trick was his empirical focus on the division of labor. Like the
classical economists whom he had earlier criticized, at this point ift his
• It is interesting to recall that Wundt also had a profound infl1,lence on th� .social
behaviorism of George Herb�r1; Mead :--M �ad took over the same "anti-substantialist" under­
st and i ng of th � ·i �dividual that so attracted Durkheim, and for the same reason : only with
this conception could order be both collective and "voluntary" at the same time. The
s� !J�guen� lIl isrep resent!lt�on of Mead's th,()ught as a f()rm of "lIubstantialist" iQqiyidualiam
- by Blumer and others-has obscured this commonality between the two thinkers, as has
" '
the reading of Durkheim that concentrates only on such semi-materialist works as The
Division of Labor ( [ 1 893] 1 964) . Yet although Durkheim rejected Wundt's understanding
in these early writings, he returned to it, in a more sophisticated way, in the later work I
will discuss below.
 R E T H I l'l K I "N G D U R K H E l M 1 29

development Durkheim ( [ 1 888] 1 978 : 2°7) believed that the division of

labor was a device for reconciling free choice with the collective ordering
of individual interests . With this new understanding of modern life, he
announced in the preface to The Division of Labor ( [ 1 893] 1 964 :37) , the
"apparent antinomy" between individual autonomy and social determin­
ism had been resolved : " social solidarity would be transformed in a manner
beneficial to both individual and society, and this would occur because of
"the steadily growing development of the division of labor. " ...
In fact, of course, these hopes were illusory. Durkheim's earliest pre­
monitions were correct : He could not maintain voluntarism if order was
to be given a purely external and material cast. In Book I of Division,
Durkheim ( 1 864 [1893] , p . 1 27) begins by eulogizing labor division in an
extremely individualistic way. "It is in the nature of special tasks, " he
writes, "to escape the action of the collective conscience. " The contract
itself, according to this logic, becomes the prototypical form of coopera­
tion "and aggregation. Since "society is made up of a system of differen­
tiated parts which mutually complement each other" (p. 1 5 1 , translation
altered) , it is only natural to assume that "the involvement of one party
results either from the involvement assumed by the other, or from some
service already rendered by the latter" (p . 1 24, translation altered) . But
as Durkheim's argument develops, he very quickly sees through the
individualistic quality of such reasoning. As he does so, he emphasizes
the noncontractual, supra-individual controls which are necessary if the
freedom inherent in labor division is to be balanced by stability and
collective control . In the course of the remainder of Book I , Durkheim
vascillates between describing these collective elements as normative and
nonrational, or as state-directed and instrumentally coercive . Durkheim's
normative version of noncontractual social control is best known, and the
notion of the diffusion of the collective conscience in modern society is
certainly a significant point in Durkheim's fifth chapter (pp . 1 47-73) '
What is much less widely recognized, however, is that alongside this

• The preceding analysis of the gradual but nonetheless distinctive shift from moral
individualism to moral collectivism and , finally, to instrumental collectivism in the course
of Durkheim's early writings suggests that earlier interpreters have been wrong to stress the
internal consistency of this period and its continuity with the rest of Durkheim's work (e.g. ,
Giddens 1970 ; Wallwork 1 972 : 27-46 ; Filloux 1 977 :23-34) ' Such an insistance on the
continuity of Durkheim's early writings makes it virtually impossible to understand his
emerging perspective on the importance of the division of labor and, even more importantly,
his eventual dissatisfaction with this position.
130 R E T H I N K I N G D U R K H E l M

exposition of the normative dimension there also exists in Durkheim's

first book a strongly instrumentalist approach to social order. The resti­
tutive law that creates the noncontractual regulation of contract is por­
trayed by Durkheim (p. 1 I ) as "only a means" (e'est seulement un
moyen), and he insists (p. I I 2) that "these prescriptions do not corre­
spond to any sentiment in us. " Modern law becomes a purely rational and
coercive vehicle, and the modern regulating state merely "the essential
cog in the machine" (p. I I 3) .
In the second Book of Division, this instrumental perspective on collec­
tive order emerges with full force : labor division becomes the product not
of free and rational choice or the normatively regulated pursuit of interest,
but the result of "the struggle for existence" - "la lutte pour la vie JJ

(Durkheim [ 1 893] 1 964 :226) -a struggle that is itself determined by

changes in ecological volume and density and, ultimately, by unequal
control over scarce resources. By Book 3, the results of this shifting
theoretical logic are clear : Durkheim is forced to recognize , and eventu­
ally to give causal primacy to, unequal material conditions and to the
purely coercive state . Because of the "great inequality of the external
conditions of the struggle [la lutte] ,' (p. 370 n. 26) , the modern worker is
subject to the "forced division of labor, " an order that operates with
unstoppable mechanical force. If Durkheim had begun the Division of
Labor with an empirical emphasis on individualism that belied his emerg­
ing - if somewhat anomalous- theoretical determinism, he had con­
cluded it with an explanation of order that seemed emphatically to con­
firm it.
I f one class of society is obliged , in order to live, to take any price for its services,
while another can abstain from such action thanks to resources at its disposal
which, however, are not necessarily due to any social superiority, the second has
an unjust advantage over the first at law. (Durkheim [ 1 893] 1 964 :384) .

Durkheim 's Middle Pen·od: Dissatisfaction,

Misinterpretation, and Radical Revision

Despite the fact that Durkheim trumpeted the results of Division of Labor
as demonstrating the empirical power of his new science, there is good
reason to believe that, consciously or unconsciously, he felt enormous
dissatisfaction with what he had wrought in his first great work. First, of
 R E T H I )II K I N G D U R K H E I M IJI

course, there is the great discrepancy between his theoretical development

i� Divisi��_of wbor and the goals he had set out eight years before. He
had started out to provide an alternative to the Marxian understanding of
soCiaii�t i";du�tri �l society ; he had concluded , in the third Book of Divi­
s!·on� oif�ring a model of capitalism that differed from Marx only in its
inability to describe fully the class origins of the material inequality it
described (see, e.g. , O'Connor 1980) . 1 Second , there is evidence for this
&ssatisfaction in the ambiguous and contradictory quality of Division
itself. If Durkheim had concluded with an instrumental and coercive
understanding of modern social order, he had certainly given ample
evidence elsewhere in the work, particularly in the individualistic and
normative passages in B ook I , that he still valued more voluntaristic
understandings even if he could not successfully articulate them .
Still more powerful evidence ()J Durkheim's theoretical dissatisfaction
can be found i;} two litti�-known essays that he published in 1 893, in the
very shadow of The Division of Labor. In the first, a review of Gaston
Richard's Essai sur l 'o1igz·ne 4e ['idee de droit, Durkhei� argues against
ihe-;}oti��-th;t-'th� �imple cakulu� oi. interest, �t�uctured by a powerful
;tate; -can t:each humanity to follow a more just path. It is, he writes
(i 893b : 292) , only "completely interior sentiments" that can be relied on,
for "it is insid� the c�nscience and not outside, it is in the sympathetic
and altruistic disposition and not in the sentiments of interest that it is
necessary to go look for the solution . " Later that year, in his "Note sur la
definition du socialisme, " Durkheim makes this challenge to the latter
Books of Division even more forcefully. The problem of capitalism, he
writes ( 1 893a : 5 1 0) , does not derive from its failure to provide "material
contiguity. " That it did, of course, had been a central argument in
Division (Book 3 ) . Durkheim acknowledges that businesses may well have
material relations with one another, "acting and reacting" among them­
selves . Workers, too, may pursue their interests alongside of their fellows.
He now argues, however, that problems of industrial society arise because
such material contiguities do not, in and of themselves, guarantee that
businesses or workers "have ends which are common to them ," do not
ensure that they can actually form among themselves any "moral commu­
nity." It is the moral community, he now insists , that must be the object
of soci';iist change, not the economic redistribution and reorganizatio� he
hi,CTdentified in Division. One must understa�d, he insists, that "a
IJ2 R E T H I N K I N G D U R K H E l M

revolution could not occur without a profound moral transformation , "

and that the famous "social question" o f Marxist socialism is not economic
but moral.
These essays, in fact, presaged long-term shifts in Durkheim's theory
of order, shifts that Durkheim himself (with a single brief exception to be
discussed below) never admitted as having occurred at all. In the follow­
ing year, in an essay that would become the first chapter of Rules,
Durkheim ( 1 938 [ 1 895] ) laid out an affective and normative understand­
ing of the roots of social life that systematically called into question the
instr�mental theory of interaction, volume, and de�sity that had inf�rin�d
Book 2 of Division of Labor. "
Durkheim begins innocuously enough, claiming in his preface ( [ 1 895]
1938 : I X ) that he wishes only "to expound the results of our work in
applied sociology , " yet in the very first paragraph he reveals that this is
hardly the case. "When I execute my contracts, " Durkheim writes (p. I ) ,
"I perform duties which . . . conform to my own sentiments and I feel
their reality subjectively . " The social order that contracts represent, ap­
parently, need not be based primarily on the external sanctions of state
supported law. Durkheim proceeds in the following pages to define soci­
ological facts in a startlingly subjective way. They are, he writes (p. 2) ,
"ways of acting, thinking, and feeling, " a phrase that he often reduces (p.
9) to the short-hand "beliefs and practices" (les croyances et les pra­
tiques) . Durkheim still insists that social facts be grounded in a substra­
tum, but he (p. 3) now defines this organizational base as "religious
denominations, political, literary, and occupational associations. " The
"actions and reactions" that create social organization-and which in
Book 2 of Division were ecological and economic-are here completely
emotionalized . They refer to the "special energy" that is created when
individual consciences interact, and their product is "collective sentiment"
(p. 9) . �_�Ue.�t!Y.(: facts, Durkheim now insists, consist only of m��t: Qr
less crystallized emotion . In periods of pure association, this emotion is
stili close to the primordial "liquid" form, and the significant collective
facts are volatile phenomena like "transitory outbursts" and "great move­
ments of enthusiasm" (p. 4) . Eventually , however, emotion acquires a
certain "rigidity"; it develops "a body, a tangible form" that is more
sharply differentiated from the individual psyches that first produced it

- The essays that became Rules were first published in I894 in the Revue philosophique.
 R E T H I N K I oN G D U R K H E l M 133

(p. 7) . Social order, in sum, is simply "currents of opinion" more or less

solidified, currents that reflect the state of the collective "soul" or "spirit"
(/'arne collective) at different times (p. 8 ) . ·
� � h.i.�Je_�tur�s o n socialism i n 1 895-96, Durkheim used his new per­
spective to elaborate his remarks in the 1 894 "Note " about socialism as a
voluntary moral system . He now insists ( [ 1 895-99] 1 958 : 204) that the
crucial reforms suggested in Book 3 of Division, political reorganization
and economic redistribution , will be ineffective unless the "state of our
morality" is also reformed. The PEQ!?Jletn pf �)f(ier is posed here as one of
�� ewed symbolic or moral authority.
What i s needed if social order i s t o reign i s that tile mass of men b e content with
their 10t.° But what is needed for them to be content, is not that they have more or
iess but that they be convinced that they have no right to more. And for this, it is
absolutely essential that there be an authority whose superiority they acknowledge
and which tells them what is right. ( [ 1 895-96] 1 958 : 200)

In Suidde, written the following year, this new insistence on solidarity

- -- _ . . - . ..... . . -.. . . '. ... .. - ' ', .. . . -,
' -

and affectivity as the sourceo of collective order is applied to a wide range

or-modern social institutions . If the object of Suicide is the social fact
-�hi�h burkheim calls "suicidogenic currents, " the status of this supra­
individual fact is th e inverse of the economic or political "facts" that
Durkheim had early emphasized. Durkheim ( [ 1 897] 1 95 1 :299) defines
suicidogenic currents as composed of a "collective force of a definite
amount of energy. " They reflect a social substratum which is itself com­
posed of "beliefs and practices" ( [ 1 897] 1 9 5 1 : 1 70) and they form a society
that Durkheim ( [ 1 897] 1 9 5 1 : 3 1 0) describes as only in the last analysis
having "a physical existence. "
I n the same year that Suidde was written-indeed, b y the time that
monograph had appeared in print-Durkheim was embarked on a radi­
cally new, more explicitly spiritualized elaboration of this subjective mode
of theorizing. I will discuss this later development in the final section of
this essay. Before doing so , the extratheoretical sources of Durkheim's
intellectual shift must be closely examined, for it is only in this fuller
context that the true ramifications of Durkheim's development can clearly
be understood.
I have insisted on "theoretical" dissatisfaction as the trigger to this
• "L 'ame " is translated as "mind" through Rules - and in Durkheim's other work as well

- but it seems more appropriate in light of the emerging direction of Durkheim's theorizing
to translate it more literally as "soul" or "spirit. "
IJ4 R E T H I N K I N G D U R K H E l M

upheaval in Durkheim's work. Indeed, no major social or personal event

could have created such a rapid disavowal, for the intellectual changes
began almost simultaneously with the publication of Division itself. What
I would like to suggest, however, is that Durkheim's profound intellectual
misgivings made him particularly sensitive to change in his social and
cultural environment. France was changing in a way that could only have
hastened the theoretical evolution Durkheim was experiencing.
The early 1 890S marked the renewal of Marxism in French society.
This was stimulated in part by increased class conflict in the political and
economic realms , as indicated, for example, by the election in 1 893 of
fifty socialists-by no means all of the Marxian variety- to the French
parliament and by the great upsurge in strikes and worker protests that
characterized this period ." These social developments were certainly not
primarily stimulated by Marxian ideology, but they constituted , nonethe­
less, important reasons for the growing attention that French intellectuals
paid to Marxist theory. t Leading journals like the Revue de metaphysique
et de morale and the Revue philosophique, where Durkheim had published
most of his important early work, now published ongoing discussions of
socialist theory and reviewed numerous works by Marx and Engels and
their followers. The first exclusively sociological journal in France, the
Revue interna tionale de sociologie, also devoted considerable space to
articles on socialism and Marx, and in the first issue of the Annales de
l 'institut international de sociologie, historical materialism became the
focus of a number of the authors. This new enthusiasm for Marxism
spread even to Durkheim's inner circle. "Some of the most brilliant
among his own students, " writes Durkheim's nephew and collaborator,
Marcel Mauss ( [ 1 928] 1958 : 2-3 ) , "were converted to socialism, especially
Marxism. " Mauss adds that "in one 'Social Study' circle some examined
Capital as they elsewhere considered Spinoza".
This contextual knowledge helps us to reconstruct- hypotheticallY, to
be sure - Durkheim's predicament in the early 1 890S . He had just con­
cluded his first major work, a treatment that evidently he had already
begun to regret and apparently had already begun to revise. Moreover, he

· For an excellent discussion of this political development and its relation to new and
more normative developments in Durkheim's work, see Tiryakian ( 1 978 :23 3-234) .
t This portrait of the impact of Marxian and socialist ideas on French intellectual circles
draws upon Vogt ( 1 976) and Llobera ( 1 978) , although I disagree substantially with the
interpretations these authors give.
 R E T H I N K I N G D U R K H E l M 135

was in the midst of the revival in popularity of a system of thought­

Marxism- that seemed closely to resemble the one he had just publicly
proclaimed, not only in its ideological commitment to socialism and
science but, more importantly, in its analytical theory and its empirical
analysis of modern society. One might imagine that Durkheim wished
very badly to distinguish his new ideas from those of Marxism. At the
same time, he would not wish to indicate that these new ideas differed in
any way from those he had previously held. We will shortly see, in fact,
that this was precisely the course Durkheim took. First, we must examine
Durkheim's situation in more detail ; we will discover that Durkheim's
"predicament" was far from being purely an imagined one.
In the very midst of D urkheim's theoretical shift away from the instru­
mentalism of Division, he was confronted with what could only have been
an enormously frustrating realization : his French audience viewed him as
a confirmed materialist very much in the Marxist mode, if not a Marxist
himself ! Almost without exception, the reviews that Durkheim received
in the four years following publication of Division presented his subse­
quent writing-as he himself had asked for it to be read- merely as the
extension of that first work. * The reviewers were in universal agreement,
32reover, th at Division h ad itself been one-sidedly materialist in its ori­
entation. In the first and probably most important review, Brunschvicg
and Halevy ( 1 894) wrote that even if Durkheim refused to accept all the
consequences of his position, the Division of Labor was, in the last
analysis, "mechanical and material" in its causal analysis. Reading Divi­
sion into the later Rules, they argued ( 1 894 : 565-67) in the face of D urk­
heim's very explicit theorizing that his proposed method excluded all
psychological elements from society. And in a series of concluding argu­
ments that must have been especially grating to Durkheim, they offered
suggestions that Durkheim had actually already taken up. Social laws,
they write ( 1 894 : 571 ) , should be studied in terms of the spontaneous
interaction of the individuals whose spirit gives them life. Only in this

· The sole exception that I have been able to locate to these negative reviews is an essay
written by Paul Lapie ( 1 895 :309-3 10), "L'Annee sociologique, 1 894. " Lapie saw very
clearly the subjective, normative basis that Durkheim gave to social facts in the essays that
became Rules, and he applauded him for it. Later, as director of primary education in
France, Lapie introduced Durkheimian sociology into the required national curriculum.
This movement toward subjectivity may have pleased Lapie because he shared Durkheim's
opinion that scientifically based Republican ethics were essential to the survival of French
democracy.
136 R ET H 1 N K I N G D U R K H E l M

way could these so-called laws be seen for what they really are, namely,
common ideas and sentiments.
The same perspective on Durkheim's sociology is expressed in the 1 896
issue of the same review. Charles Andler finds the determinism and
fatalism of Durkheim's sociological analysis to be antithetical to the dem­
ocratic culture he is trying to create . In concluding, he accuses Durkheim
of the "Marxist error. "
The 'conditions of economic production' are an example where Durkheim's theory
could no doubt be better applied [than to society as a whole] , without, however,
still being completely relevant. Monsieur Durkheim generalizes the economic
thingism [Ie choisismeJ of Marx while making from it a thingism that is specifically
sociological . In doing so, he generalizes the marxist error. ( 1 896 : 252 n. I ) .

And in a review published i n Germany in 1 897 b y Paul Barth, a follower

of Dilthey, Durkheim had evidence that this materialist misinterpretation
had spread beyond the border of France alone . Barth's Die Philosophie
der Geschichte als Soziologie discusses Durkheim's work in his chapter
entitled "The Economic Conception of History. " He attacks Durkheim
for being, like Spencer, "an almost superstitious worshiper of the con­
tract" and he argues (Barth [1 897] 1 922 : 6 1 2 ) that, in his early works at
least, Durkheim views morality as a "hindrance to economic progress"
and as "unfavorable to the autonomy of the individual . "
As if to confirm this materialist evaluation by his non-Marxist critics,
Durkheim was hailed in 1 895 by Sorel, the major Marxist intellectual in
France, as a kindred spirit . In the lead article of the first issue of the
Marxist journal, Le Devenir, Sorel ( 1 895 : 1 6- 1 7) applauds Rules for its
antipsychological emphasis on coercion and constraint. Neatly summing
up the prevailing perspective on Rules as in complete continuity with
Division, he notes ( 1 895 : I ) that Durkheim had "just brought together in
a small volume of very modest style, what is essential in his doctrine. " As
for the earlier Division, Sorel ( 1 895 :23) calls it an exposition of "gteat
beauty" and makes a direct parallel between it and the theory of Marx.
"With Durkheim, " he writes, "we are placed on the ground of real sci­
ence, and we see the importance of struggle [la lutteJ. " But Durkheim
seems to hesitate, Sorel regretfully notes, before taking the final step
toward a fully materialist history. In order to define the conditions of
existence more specifically, "he would have to place himself on the ground
of Marxist philosophy" ( 1 895 : 1 77) . If Durkheim could borrow from
Marxism the conception of classes, "I would be the first, " Sorel affirms
 R E T H I N K I N G D U R K H E l M 137

( 1 895 : 180) , "to acclaim him my master, " for he is the "only French
sociologist who possesses a sufficient philosophical preparation and well
developed critical spirit to be able to perceive in historical change scien­
tific laws and the material conditions of becoming. " Durkheim could only
have read Sorel's essay with alarm.
Insofar as they referred to Durkheim's Division of Labor, these reviews
must be read as fully legitimate criticisms of key elements of his work,
and they must have brought home to Durkheim with unassailable force
certain vital implications of his first theoretical work. As such, they could
only have reinforced his growing conviction that radical theoretical reno­
vation was necessary . The intensity of Durkheim's feelings on this issue
are revealed, ironically perhaps, by the vehemence with which he rejected
these critical claims. D urkheim protests too much : he never acknowl­
edged even their partial validity. Indeed, he carried a bitter resentment
against these criticisms throughout the rest of his life . In his preface to
the first edition of Rules, in 1 895 , he ( [ 1 895] 1 938 :xxxiv) protests against
"what critics have called our 'positivism, ' " objecting that although his
method "will perhaps be judged crude and will possibly be termed 'mater­
ialistic , ' it is actually nothing of the kind . " In 1 896 , he ( 1 896) responded
to Andler's review by writing to the editor that "I regret absolutely the
ideas that are attributed to me . " He ( 1 896) insists Andler "has been able
to attribute them to me only by taking advantage of several isolated
words, while I had myself taken greater care to put the reader on guard
against such an abuse . " I n a private letter the following year that refers to
the German review by Barth, he writes to his follower Celestin BougIe
that he had "never dreamt of saying that one could do sociology without
any psychological background, or that sociology is anything other than a
form of psychology" ( Lukes 1 972 : 234 n. 3 5) .
Durkheim's frustration could only have been increased by the realiza­
tion that this critical response to his work failed completely to recognize
the enormous changes that he himself had introduced in Rules changes -

that were intended to circumvent the very errors of which he stood

accused. But Durkheim himself had never acknowledged that a break
existed. Is it any wonder that his reviewers simply took him at his word ?
They saw in Rules only the formalization of the method of Division. "On
the very points on which we had expressed ourselves most explicitly, "
Durkheim ( [ 1 895] 1 9 3 8 : xli) writes i n exasperation i n his preface t o the
second edition of Rules in 1 90 1 , "views were freely attributed to us which
1J8 R E T H I N K I N G D U R K H E l M

had nothing in common with our own ; and opponents held that they were
refuting us in refuting these mistaken ideas. " The critics, he wrote
( [ I 89S] I 938 :liii) , "claimed that we are explaining social phenomena by
constraint. " But this, he insists rather lamely, "was far from our intention
- in fact, it had never even occurred to us that it could have been so
interpreted, so much is it contrary to our entire method . "
Such disingenuousness can be explained only if we understand the true
quandary in which Durkheim found himself. He had realized, consciously
or not, that the theory that informed so much of Division was a drastic
mistake . Yet his positivist faith that scientific objectivity would reveal the
very consistency of social life, his intellectual pride in the integrity of his
theorizing, and perhaps also his lack of critical self-consciousness- all of
these factors prevented Durkheim from acknowledging in the mid- I 890s
that he was, in fact, embarked upon a drastic theoretical revision. To his
understandable but, nonetheless, illegitimate indignation, no one seemed
aware of this fateful turn - neither his antagonistic critics nor his faithful
students. If his new path were to be recognized- if his divergence from
the theory of Marxian socialism were ever to be recognized for what it
was- his innovation would have to be asserted in a much more emphatic
and radical way.

The Transition: "Revelation " and

Anti-Materialist Reconstruction

At a later and more secure point in his intellectual career, Durkheim

talked about the "revelation" that had allowed him to resolve this quan­
dary . "It was not until 1 89S , " he wrote in the 1 907 letter (Durkheim
1 907) that protested a polemical review of his oeuvre, "that I achieved a
clear sense of the essential role played by religion in social life . "
It was in that year that, for the first time, I found the means of tackling the �tudy
of religion sociologically. This was a revelation to me. That course of 1 895 marks
a dividing line in the development of my thought, to such an extent that all my
previous researches had to be taken up afresh in order to be made to harmonize
with these new insights . . . . [This reorientation] was entirely due to the studies
of religious history which I have just undertaken, and notably to the reading of
the works of Robertson Smith and his school . ( 1 9°7 :6 1 2- 1 4) .•

· 1 have made a few alterations here from Lukes' translation ( 1 972 :237), the most impor­
tant of which is that in the original Durkheim employs the verb marquer (to mark) in the
 R E T H I N K I.N G D U R K H E l M 139

Durkheim refers here to the course on religion that he first offered at

Bordeaux in the school year I 894�95, a course in which he encountered
the new historical approach t� 'religion. Smith's work was revolutionary
because 'it linked the theological ideas of the great religions to religious
practice and r�tual association, and it argued that this interaction is what
gave to symbols thei r ' sacred power. =II: Knowledge of Smith's work was
cruciai f� Durkl?-�i!!1' because i! all()wed him to transform the scheme of
affective and moral interaction of his middle period work into a more
conip-�ehenslve understanding that linked the power of solidarity to the
s;cred ideational forces he called collective representations.
- Few analysts have been aware of this formative break in Durkheim's
development, and those who have noted it have almost always taken this
encounter with Smith as being revolutionary in itself, as constituting an
"epistemological break" sui generis. t In view of the preceding discussion,
however, it is clear that this encounter must be seen in the context of
Durkheim's ongoing development : it offered him an escape from the
quandary he faced. Durkheim felt compelled to find a way of making his
subjectification of social order at once more explicit and more refined . It
was only within this context that he gave his course on religion and
encountered the new anthropological writings of Smith and his followers .
Durkheirn could have been so attracted to Smith only because he

present tense , whereas Lukes translates it in the past tense, as "marked. " The literal
translation gives a more vivid sense of the fact that Durkheim feels as if the "revelation"
about the role of religion w hich he is recounting some ten years subsequent to the event is
still, in fact, occurring.
· The work that had the most impact on Durkheim was Smith's Lectures on the Religion
o/ the Semites, written in 1 887.
t Those who emphasize the continuity of Durkheim's work, of course, ignore the break
(see n. 1 above) . As for those who make the opposite mistake- taking the encounter with
Smith's work as constituting, in itself, an epistemological break-see, for example, Beidel­
man ( 1974), who overemphasizes Smith's effect on Durkheim primarily because he is not
aware of the movement of Durkheim's thought before he encountered Smith's work. Lukes
( 1 972 : 238-239) is guilty of the same exaggeration when he tries to demonstrate the impact
of Smith simply by comparing his religious theory with Durkheim's earlier writing on the
narrow topic of religion itself, igoring the considerable shifts that had taken place in
Durkheim's general social theory in the immediately preceding years. While Filloux's ( 1 977 :91-
92) assessment is more cautious on this point, he moves too far over to the other side by
claiming that Durkheim knew "in principle that an is religious" as early as 1886 and 1 887,
and that Smith merely gave him a better understanding of how this social permeation of
religion could come about. Filloux, in other words, inverts an interpretation like Giddens',
asserting that Durkheim's work consistently emphasizes religion from beginning to end.
1 40 R E T H I N K I N G D U R K H E l M

himself had already embarked on a similar path . Moreover, while Smith

shared with Durkheim an emphasis on the human practice, or association,
that underlined any commitment to ideal beliefs, S.mith applied this
thinking about the relation between beliefs and practices only to religious
activity, not to social action itself. Why, then , does Durkheim's public
statement insist that his encounter with Smith initiated a much more
radical break, one that forced him completely to rethink all his previous
work ? Because, quite simply, Durkheim had never publicly admitted,
and may himself never consciously have been aware, that his own writing
had already taken a dramatic turn with the earlier publication of Rules.
Nonetheless, Durkheim did not, in fact, really abandon all of his pre-
1 895 sociology. I ndeed, it was the momentum created by his earlier shift
that led him to find in the anthropology of religion the more voluntaristic
vocabulary he so urgently sought. The subjective model of association
was already in place in early 1 894' When he encounters religion later that.
year, or in 1 895 , there is more of a convergence than a radical break.
Rather than a call to start anew, Durkheim must have seen in Smith's
writing on religion a means of finally completing a renewal already well
underway. He read this theory of religion in a way that meshed perfectly
with his own developing theory of associati on .
The result was a theory that, no matter how flawed by an idealist
strain , allowed Durkheim to solve the theoretical problems that had
always prevented him from achieving his fundamental theoretical and
ideological goals. He now understood how society could be det�rIIlillate,
organized, and vohintary at the same time : collective order would be
accepted because it was held to be sacred . It would be revered alid
sanctified in the very same moment that it would be obeyed. Although
Durkheim's systematic understanding of the religious nature of society
did not appear until 1 897, he had already begun to express this intuition
in 1 896, and in the final Book of Suicide we find him arguing that Iigal
and moral precepts are the "sacrosanct" form of living sentiments. After
making this point, in fact, he makes a footnoted assertion that strikingly
reveals the polemical animus that is behind this new religious reference :
We do not expect to be reproached further, after this explanation, with wishing to
substitute the exterior for the interior in sociology. We start from the exterior
because it alone is immediately given, but only to reach the interior. Doubtless
the procedure is complicated ; but there is no other unless one would risk having
 R E T H I .N K I N G D U R K H E l M 141

his research apply to his personal feeling concerning the order of facts under
investigation, instead of to this factual order itself. ([ I 897] 1 95 I : 3 I 5 n. I 2)
Two years later, in the conclusion to his first attempt to describe
religious representations as the center of secular order, he makes precisely
the same point . "Nothing is wider of the mark," he writes, "than the
accusation of materialism which has been levelled against us. " Quite the
contrary, he argues ( [ 1 898] 1 974 : 34; italics in original) , "from the point
of view of our position, if one is to call the distinctive property of the
individual representational life spirituality, one should say that social life
is defined by its hyperspirituality. " And perhaps most revealing, in the
1 902 preface to the second edition of Division of Labor, he announced
( [ 1 893] 1 964 :4) that his earlier explanation had been "incomplete. " " I f it
is true, " he writes, "that social functions spontaneously seek to adapt
themselves to one another, provided they are regularly in relationship,
nevertheless this mode of adaptation becomes a rule of conduct only if the
group consecrates it with its authority. " The strain of mechanistic func­
tionalism in Division has here been publically disavowed.
With the spiritualization of his understanding of . order, Durkheim
could , therefore, finally fulfill his thwarted theoretical and ideological
ambition. In doing so, moreover, he meets head on the threat of misinter­
pretation produced by the increasingly polarized intellectual and political
climate of the day. It seems only fitting that, as soon as his new under­
standing has been articulated , Durkheim should return to the problem of
instrumental Marxism, the theoretical tradition against which he had tried
initially to direct his work and with which he felt he had so mistakenly
been identified . In the very first year that his first explicitly "religious"
sociology appeared, D urkheim initiated debate with two of the leading
Marxists of the day.
One of these, Paul Lafargue, the son-in-law of Marx himself, was
engaged only indirectly (see Vogt 1 976) . Lafargue had reviewed a book
on Marxist socialism by Gaston Richard , at the time a member of Durk­
heim's circle and the author of the book on law that had earlier been the
occasion of Durkheim's first break with the Division of Labor. Lafargue
denounced Richard's work on socialism as anti-Marxist and idealist.
Durkheim chose to reply to Lafargue with a review of his own. For the
most part, this review consisted of a complimentary summary of Richard's
sharp rejection of Marx's ideas. Toward the end of the review, however,
1 42 R E T H I N K I N G D U R K H E l M

Durkheim took Lafargue directly to task. "We . . . find at once surprising

and regrettable , " he wrote ( [ 1 897] 1 978b : 1 3S ) , "the attacks to which he
[Richard] has been subject on the part of the authorized representatives
of socialist doctrine. " After this rebuke, Durkheim stresses that his own
position on socialism is similar to Richard's. Socialism has no validity as a
scientific theory, he writes. It must, rather, be viewed as a collective
representation : "Socialism is, above all , the way in which certain strata of
society which have been tested by collective suffering represent the latter
to themselves" ( [ 1 897] 1 978b : 1 37) . " The popularity or persuasiveness of
socialism must not be viewed , in other words, as evidence for the validity
of Marx's theory about the coercive and external nature of social order.
To the contrary, s�cialism itself was a "religious" force ; its power, there­
fore, only demonstrated the representational character of social life . So­
cialism could be understood, Durkheim concludes, only by penetrating
the und"��Yi�i ��raT;ea�ity. t��t produced it: It was Durkheim;g new
ability to define socialism specifically as a "representation" that evidently
gave him the confidence to make the challenge to Marx much more direct .
More important, however, is Durkheim's challenge to Antonio Labriola
in a review that directly engages Marxism as a theoretical system. Labrio­
la's Essay on the Materialist Conception of History had just been trans­
lated into French, and George Sorel , in an introduction to the work, had
hailed its publication as a "landmark in the history of socialism" ( Labriola
1 897 : 1 9) . Labriola was one of the premier Marxist philosophers of his
time, and he presented his master's theory in anything but a vulgar light.
In making his review, therefore, Durkheim could publicly confront the
major alternative to the nascent sociological theory of his middle-period
work. He could finally respond to the gauntlet Sorel had thrown down
two years before.
Durkheim organized his response to illuminate the differences between
his theory and Marx's at the most general level. After a balanced presen­
tation of Labriola's argument, he approvingly discusses the anti-individu­
alist position of historical materialism. Rather than focusing on pure
ideas, or on isolated individuals, historical materialism focuses on a much
more fundamental level, on "the artificial milieu which the work of asso­
ciated men has created of whole cloth and then superimposed on nature"
(Durkheim [ 1 897J 1 978a : 1 26) . Durkheim insists (p. 1 27) , however, that
this kind of collective emphasis is not exclusive to Marx. What is peculiar
is that Marx's collectivist theory emphasizes the primacy of material
 R E T H I N K I .N G D U R K H E l M 1 43

factors. "Just as it seems true to us, " Durkheim writes (p. 1 28 ) , "that
causes of social phenomena must be sought outside individual represen­
tations, it seems to that same degree false that they can be reduced, in the
final analysis, to the state of industrial technology, and that the economic
factor is the mainspring of progress. " Durkheim then demonstrates this
Marxist error by discussing his own newly discovered view of the impor­
tance of religion . In opposition to historical materialism, he claims that
"historians tend more and more to meet in the confirmation that religion
is the most primitive of all social phenomena . " "Everything, " he insists
(pp . 1 29- 1 3°) , "is religious in principle . " Is it not probable, he asks,
"that the economy depends on religion much more than the second on the
first ? "
Durkheim's interpreters have often mistakenly read his religious theory
as a kind of deracinated materialism . Others , when they have recognized
the seriousness of the break, usually insist on seeing in the theory that
results from it an alternative that subsumes Marx's by being much more
multidimensional in scope . This 1 897 confrontation with Marxism dem­
onstrates that both views are incorrect .2

The Spin·tual Program

of Durkheim 's Later Writings

The vast implications of Durkheim's religious revelation have never been

fully appreciated. It is scarcely realized that after 1 896 he systematically
revised every piece of his sociological writings, and every one of his sets
of lectures as well, to make them reflect his new understanding of the role
that ritual, sacred authority, and representation played in secular life.
� urkheim's society became a hierarchy of institutions that were composed
of crystallized emotions, not material forms. At the top were sacred
symbols of culture, the themes of individualism that provided the most
universalistic imperatives of modern social life. At, the i;>mtom were two
spheres of particularist spirit, the family and occupational group . The
state and legal orders mediated between these institutions an.d general
culture . through representations that had a more transcendent nature.
-
ifduc�ti�� was- another institution that provided a universalizing spiritual
f()r(:e ; - as such, it provided the background for any effective functioning
of. law and government policies. In this scheme, the coercive aspects of
order are eliminated. Economics, for example, was either moralized as a
144 R E T H I N K I N G D U R K H E l M

form of cultural particularism or relegated to the position of a residual

category-an instrumental, individualist, and profane fact that simply
could not be explained.
At the heart of this later religious sociology was Durkheim's journal,
L 'Annee sociologt'que. I t is important to connect this act of professional
entrepreneurialism to a theoretical program . Durkheim created the jour­
nal as an intellectual vehicle only after he had achieved his symbolic
breakthrough in the years 1 895-97. Although many of his students implic­
itly demurred, he himself fully intended to make L 'An nee into a statement
of his religious model of social order. "This year, as well as last , " he wrote
( [ 1 899] 1 960 : 35°) in his important Preface to the L'Annee 's second issue,
"our analyses are headed by those concerning the sociology of religion . "
H e acknowledges that "the according o f the first rank to this sort of
phenomenon has produced some astonishment, " but he defends this de­
cision on grounds that clearly derive from his recent theoretical insights. to
"It is these [religious] phenomena , " he writes (p. 3 50) , "which are the
germ from which all others-or at least almost all others- are derived . "
Religion contains i n itself from the very beginning, even if an indistinct state, all
the elements which in dissociating themselves from it, articulating themselves,
and combining with one another in a thousand ways, have given rise to the various
manifestations of collective life . . . One cannot understand our perception of the
world, our philosophical conceptions of the soul, or immortality, or life, if one
does not know the religious beliefs which are their primordial forms. " (Pp, 350-
51)

L 'An nee would concentrate on demonstrating exactly these historical

connections and, by implication, Durkheim's analytic points as well.
Durkheim concludes this defense of his organizational format by empha­
sizing that religion is important not only from an historical perspective ; it
is equally crucial in terms of the general theoretical framework it pro­
vides. "A great number of problems change their aspects completely, ': he
writes, "as soon as their connections with the sociology of religio J:\ are
recognized. " He concludes by insisting that "our efforts must therefore
be aimed at tracing these connections . "
• Evidently, this "astonishment" was not limited to Durkheim's critics. Paul Lapie, the

reviewer turned follower who had earlier applauded the subjective turn of Durkheim' Rules,
complained in an 1 897 letter to Celestin BougIe, one of Durkheim's collaborators on the
L'Annee, that "Durkheim explains everything, at this time, by religion ; the interdiction
against marriages between relatives is a religious affair, the punishment is a religious
phenomenon , all is religious" (quoted in Lacroix 1 976 :2 1 3 n. 2 ) .
 R E T H I !'I K I - N G D U R K H E I M 145

With the single exception of the brief reply to a critic which I have
noted above, Durkheim never admitted the extent to which his encounter
with religion had transformed his sociology. Indeed, he never admitted to
any radical break in his work at all. He never disclaimed the instrumental
presuppositions of Division of Labor, nor did he ever acknowledge that
Rules was not a codification of the theory employed in that earlier work
but, instead , a blueprint of things to come . Nor, needless to say, was the
religious encounter that transformed his later writing ever accorded its
due. This silence about the true inner development of his work is perhaps
the major reason for the gross misinterpretation to which Durkheim's
work has been subject, not just among contemporary critics but among
observers in his own time and even among his own students. Like all
great sociological theorists, Durkheim desperately wanted to present his
work as a consistent whole . To do anything else, to acknowledge, for
example, that an encounter with religion could cause major theoretical
upheaval, would imply that his towering oeuvre was not completely "sci­
entific, " that it was not, in other words, derived simply from acute insight
into the structures of the empirical world. "What caused the failure of
Saint-Simonianism," he wrote in his lectures on socialism ( [ 1 895-96]
1 958 :24°) , was that " S aint-Simon and his disciples wanted to get the
most from the least, the superior from the inferior, moral rule from
economic matter. " Only too late had Saint-Simon realized that self-inter­
est "was no longer enough, " that "without charity, mutual obligation, and
philanthropy, the social order- and still more the human order-was
impossible" (p. 185) . Durkheim was determined that this mistake would
not happen to him . What Saint-Simon had realized only at the end of his
life, Durkheim had been able to understand while there was still enough
time left to change his theoretical direction in a drastic and fundamental
way . Durkheim had learned that to create social order without sacrificing
voluntarism, men must "feel a positive bond among them" (p. 1 85) , and
the model of this bond, he had discovered , must be the communion of
religious life.
From his first day as a sociologist, it had been one of D urkheim's
principal ambitions to create an alternative to instrumental Marxism.
Only after his breakthrough to symbolic religious order, however, did he
feel ready to create a theoretical alternative to Marxism that could match
its generality and scope. This new theory, he insisted, was just as collec­
tive and structural as M arxism, but because it was also resolutely anti-
1 46 RET H I N K I N G D U R K H E I M

instrumental it would avoid the problem of coercion that seemed to

correspond to the Marxist understanding of social control . Durkheim
finally had differentiated his own theory from Marx's in a conclusive way .
That in doing so he had created a theory whose voluntarism was as
exaggerated as the determinism he despised did not, apparently, occur to
him. He was in flight from The Division of LAbor, with all the intellectual
and social consequences it had implied.
Like Marx's critique of Hegelian idealism, Durkheim's attempt to
counteract the exaggerations of an antagonistic theory-Marxist materi­
alism-became paradigmatic of an approach to social structure that de­
nied to this theoretical emphasis any status at all . It is for this reason that ,
from the time of its initial conception to the present day, Durkheim's
subjective structuralism has represented for sociological thought the the­
oretical antithesis to the objective structuralism of Marx.

Conclusion

The argument in this essay has been made at three levels. First, I have
made an argument about the course of Durkheim's theoretical career.
Most interpreters have seen this career as continuous, yet even those who
have appreciated its discontinuity have viewed the movement in Dur­
kheim's thought in positive, progressive and developmental terms. I have
argued, by contrast, for a distinctive circularity. Durkheim went over the
same intellectual problems again and again. The period between 1 885 and
1893 constitutes one "full time through" these constitutive problems of
Durkheim's life. This first time through was a failure, and The Division
of Labor in Society, far from being his crowning achievement, is emblem­
atic of this early difficulty . Durkheim began his "second time through"
immediately after Division's completion . This second time was a success, '
but it was so only partly because of Durkheim's theoretical growth. �He
had also narrowed his ambition in a significant way. I nterpreter�
have insisted on the weaknesses of Durkheim's idealist project have failed
to appreciate the precisely delimited framework of his later work, and the
enormous intellectual growth he evidenced within it. Those who have
seen his career simply as a success have failed to see this framework's
limitations, and the personal and restrictive definition of growth it pro­
duced.
This first argument, about the nature of Durkheim's theoretical career,
 R E T H I N K I N G D U R K H E l M 1 47

has implied at every point a second one-an argument about the nature
of sociological theory per se. I suggested at the beginning of this essay
that sociologists keep returning to Durkheim in order to think through
problems that remain unresolved. While arguing about Durkheim, we are
really arguing about contemporary ideas, indeed about contemporary
society. Some interpreters have seen in Durkheim's career a marvellous
vindication of historical materialism ; others have testified that its course
indicates a rapprochement with interactionism ; still others see in it the
affirmation of a purely normative sociology. I n part because my own
theoretical interests and commitments are none of the above, I have been
drawn to understand Durkheim's development in a very different way.
Durkheim's sociology, I have argued , is about the meaning of struc­
ture . He rejected individualism, yet he also rejected theories that postu­
lated the external determination of individuals. To understand why Dur­
kheim rejected these alternatives is to understand something vital about
sociological theory today. ! n the last two decades, individualistic theories
have permeated contemporary sociology : antistructuralist hermeneutic,
phenomenological and action theories, symbolic interactionism, ethno­
methodology, and models of rational choice. To describe Durkheim's
development in the way I have is to see, through Durkheim's eyes, why
such individualism is inadequate." Though they illuminate the voluntary
qualities of . action, these theories u�d��e�timate the problem of order .
Each ·p�sit� either a natural identity of interests (an inherent social stabil­
�iy) o�· ;· Jate�t sQ<;i�l structure (a residual patterning) .
Now, in rejecting such individualism, it is tempting to move, as Dur­
kheim did in Division, to a so-called structural solution, that is, to its
antithesis. Such objectivisit structuralism also is omnipresent in contem­
porary thought : in Althusserianism, in political theories like Skocpol's
and Tilly's, in stratification theories like Treiman's, in development theo­
ries like Moore's. Yet the logical quandaries and personal anxieties pro­
duced by Durkheim's own experiment with such structuralism allow us
to see a continuing truth. The very impersonality that is structuralism's
"scientific" achievement is its existential undoing, for in explaining order,
structuralism negates order's individual base (see Alexander 1 988 : 1 1 - 45 ) .
The theoretical step w e must take today i s the same as Durkheim took
l?�g ag().: we must recognize that questions ()f order are separated from
o
- For a more systematic, analytic approach to the inadequacies of the retical individual·
ism, see Alexander ( 1 987) : 1 56-329 ; and ( 1 988b) a 93-333 .
1 48 R E T H I N K I N G D U R K H E I M

qll estions of action. Structure can be based on normative and affectual , as

well as instrumental , motives. If contemporary arguments wish to pre­
serve both order and volition, they must evolve in the same way as
Durkheim's thought. �olition must be seen as a social act, and structure
must be seen as involving individual actions in turn. The social must be
given some power- sacred or otherwise- to structure by virtue of its
subjective attraction, and the individual must be given some capiJci�y for
ordering that comes out of his or her personal wish (Alexander 1 988 :222-
257) . This, I have argued, is precisely what Durkheim set out to do in
h!s }ater work. He described "representation" as just such a social and
individual process. It is because Durkheim faced the very same quandar­
ies that sociology is experiencing today that the story of his personal
development resonates so deeply . We need not follow him into idealism
to appreciate his achievement, or indeed, to make it part of our own
(Alexander, ed . 1 988, and chapters 5 and 6 below) .
The third level of my argument concerns the sociology of knowledge ,
more specifically the sociology of science . To understand the nature of
Durkheim's development and the issues it involved is to see the error of
the positivist view that sociology is a science whose theories proceed only
through accumulation and falsification. Durkheim was one of the greatest
founding scientists of our discipline, but such empiricist criteria had little
to do with the growth of his work. For more appropriate criteria we must
consider issues raised by post-positivist philosophy and history of science,
issues central to the sociology of knowledge more broadly defined .
Kuhn's work, and the controversy it has generated (see, e.g. , Alexander
1 982b) have raised in an acute form an issue that has d?gged tht! _�2ciol�gy
of knowledge since Mannheim : what is the relationship between the
internal development of scientific thought and its external e l1vir()I1 ��l1t ?
_
In response t o the limits o f earlier empiricism, contemporary science
studies have shifted to environmental and group explanations ; in Jhis
emphasis, of course, they resemble most Mannheimian exercises in the
sociology of knowledge. The dangers of this shift are familiar. Just as the
sociology of knowledge has too often led to a dangerous relativism, so
have contemporary "externalist" studies in science. These dangers spark
defenses of scientific realism that are often too internalist in turn .
The account I have presented of Durkheim's development responds to
these issues in two ways. I have, of course, relativized Durkheim's science
by showing that it continually responded to the social and cultural con-
 R E T H I N K I N G D U R K H E I M 1 49

texts of his time ; as these contexts changed, so did his work. Yet this
externalism has not produced a complete relativism. I have sought to
maintain a reconstructed realism by insisting that there were elements
internal to Durkheim's th e oriz i ng that were relatively autonomous vis-a­
vis external events. These elements derive not from the empirical logic of
internal observati on or inductive generalization but from a "theoretical
logic " that p rocee d s from generalized understandings about action and
order that are of a more metaphysical scope. O nl y by mainta ining an
analytical framework that encompasses such independent, generalized
concerns can we fairly evaluate the success of Durkheim's theory in terms
of s om e relatively sp eci fic criterion of truth . "
Historians o f social t h ough t once believed that Marxism mattered little
to Durkheim. It is now beginning to be understood that the origins and
growth of Marxism and so c ia l i sm in France had enormous repercussions.
Yet these rep ercussions did not, as vulgar Mannheimian or orthodox
Marxist interpretations would have it (e.g. , Llobera 1 978) , u nfo l d in
purely i deo logical and class-related ways. I have shown that while political
d evelopme nts were vital for Durkheim, they were so o n ly as they were
mediated by his scholarly milieu and by the inte rn al l ogic of his work. A
t he oris t 's responsiveness to external facto rs de pends upon the anxieties
and sensibilities generated by developments in h i s scientific work. After
he had experienced the travails of Division, for example, Durkheim be­
came part ic u l arly sensitive to the challenge of Marxism. Yet external
factors are actually twice mediated : political, economic, and "social" events
are filtered through a scientist's more immediate and personal intellectual
environment. For Durkheim, th is milieu was constituted, in part, by the
reviews he receive d. S ocial develo pme nts , combined with the theoretical
problems of Division, p ut Durkheim into an objectively vulnerable posi­
tion ; still, only changes in an environment toward which he was person­
ally cathected could make him /eel that vul nerability . By acc u s i ng him of
materialism, these reviews "spoke" Durkheim's doubts. S cie nce is a com ­
municative situation where information is exchanged for recognition
( Hagstrom 1 965 ) . If rec ogn i tion is denied, or indeed, if i t i s wrongly
i mputed , scientific information may be withdrawn or reformulated.
The reformulation of scientific theories, then, cannot be understood in
• In terms of my argument in chapter I , above, the discursive arguments in the present

essay have been conducted in relation to explicit, rather than immanent, truth criteria. In
this way, the truth criteria themselves can become objects of debate.
IS0 R E T H I N K I N G D U R K H E I M

purely cognitive and rational ways. Theorists present themselves, of course,

as guided by purely rational considerations, for not only do they them­
selves accept the official norms of science but their audiences do as well.
The impact of external and internal developments, however, can be
understood only if a more complex social psychology is maintained . De­
nial, self-deception, and deceit are the favored defense mechanisms of
social theorists, as they are of other mortal men and women . The careers
of great theorists, therefore, must be understood as psychological gestalts
and not just as intellectual ones. Each of their ideas has for them an
emotionally laden and highly personal meaning ; it is for this reason that
the stakes of intellectual combat are so enormous, that the interpretive
and critical debates over their work often resonate so deeply. Their own
theories have emerged from hidden, and sometimes not so hidden, oppo­
'
sitions, oppositions that often take the form of systematic misunderstand­
ings of their predecessors' works ( B loom, 1 973 ) .
What could be more frustrating for a great theorist, then, and more
provocative of further theoretical change, than the anxiety of being mis­
understood ?

NOTES

I . The changing and contradictory nature of Durkheim's argument in Division

has not been recognized by most of his interpreters. This has occurred in part
because of an understandable yet unfortunate tendency to defer to Durkheim's
own perspective on the work's contents. In discussing B ook 2, for example, critics
have accepted Durkheim's claim that he is measuring not simply demographic but
also moral density. Pope ( 1 973) , for example, views Durkheim's emphasis on
population expansion and exchange as simply another example of the "social
realist" approach to morality that dominates the entire work. This perspective,
however, collapses the problem of individualist-versus-collectivist reasoning with
the problem of action, failing to distinguish the radically different approaches to
the "social" that are possible even when a collectivist, social realist posit ion is
accepted. Though much more nuanced and generally more accurate than Pope's
account, Lukes' ( 1 972 : 1 54, 1 69) discussion similarly fails to distinguish the tre­
mendous differences between moral and material density in Book 2. In his discus­
sion, Lukes ( 1 972 : 1 68-72) too often simply reproduces the vagueness and the
contradictory quality of the Durkheimian original. While he accuses Durkheim of
technological determinism and of being inconclusive about the basic details of the
social change he describes ( 1 972 : 1 64) , these charges are never systematically
documented. One reason for this failure is Lukes' argument for the close continu-
 R E T H I N K I N G D U R K H E I M lSI

ity of Division with Durkheim's earlier writings. In fact, Lukes views the whole
sequence of Durkheim's writings from 1 885 to 1 893 as clarification and specifica­
tion rather than as involving the dev,el opment of contradictory theoretical logics.
Filloux ( 1 977 :74-78) adopts much the same sanguine posture. Giddens has gone
so far as to argue not only for the internal continuity of Division but for its
centrality in Durkheim's corpus as a whole . The work provided, Giddens writes
( 1 97 1 : 1 90) , "a definitive perspective upon the emergence of the modern form of
society which Durkheim never abandoned and which constitutes the lasting ground
of all his later works. "
Even the critics who have emphasized discontinuity i n Division have insisted
that there exists within this work a developmental and logically coherent move­
ment toward "better theory. " Nisbet ( 1 965 :36-47), for example, argues that a
normative perspective on social order gradually overshadows an earlier instrumen­
tal one . Earlier, Parsons ( 1 937 : 3°8-324) had argued for much the same position,
claiming that Book I , chapter 7-the chapter I have identified as a point where
Durkheim turned toward a troublesome instrumentalism- represented the emer­
gence of a more satisfactory normative perspective.
While Durkheim's French interpreters have been much more willing to recog­
nize the economistic and even Marxist elements of Division (e.g. , Aimard 1 962 :2 1 7-
2 1 8 ; Cuvillier 1948 :83 ; K agan 1 938, passim) , they have , almost without excep­
tion, merely turned the error of English and American critics on its head : the
instrumental perspective on order, they have argued, was consistent and continu­
ous throughout Durkheim's 1 893 work.
2. Perhaps the major failure of interpretation of this crucial phase in Dur­
kheim's theoretical development rests with the widespread inclination of writers
to describe the issue he was grappling with as exactly parallel to the Marxian
concern with base versus superstructure. Thus, Emile Benoit-Smullyan ( 1 948 :5 I I )
writes about the crucial relationship for Durkheim of "material substratum" and
"collective representation . " Pope ( 1 973) talks about whether or not "material
foundations" still play a significant role . Giddens ( 1 977 : 290) tries to indicate the
continuing impact, and therefore anti-idealist reference, of social institutions on
ideas in Durkheim's sociology of religion. This same dichotomy is the principal
organizing rubric for Lukes' ( 1 972 :237-244, 45°-484) thinking about the shift in
Durkheim's theory initiated by religion, as it is for La Capra ( 1 972 : 245-29 1 ) ,
Marks ( 1 974) , Gouldner ( 1 958) , and Aron ( 1 970, pp. 53-79) . These interpreters
take different positions on whether or not a shift did occur, but the error is the
same no matter what their conclusion. For the issue in this confrontation with
religion is not whether or not the material base will be dominant. This issue had
already been decided by Durkheim in 1 894. The issue rather is what will be the
nature of the normative order to which Durkheim is already committed.
Many interpreters, of course, have simply failed to appreciate the significance
of this early encounter with religion altogether. In his influential earlier work on
Durkheim, Parsons ( 1 937 : 409) , for example, viewed Durkheim's religious under­
standing as coming into play only with the publication of Elementary Fonns. (It
1 52 R E T H I N K I N G D U R K H E l M

is an extraordinary testimony to the sensitivity of this early interpretation that

Parsons was able to describe the transition to subjectivity in Durkheim's middle
writings despite the fact that he was not aware of the early significance of religion . )
Yet, even among those who have seen the importance of this encounter, none
have adequately assessed its enormous impact on Durkheim's later theory of
society. Lukes ( 1 972) , for example, who is much more aware of this crucial
biographical fact than most, basically considers this religious breakthrough as a
separate line of analysis culminating in Elementary Fonns, and he integrates it
hardly at all with Durkheim's writing on education, politics, and other institu­
tions. The only important exceptions, to my knowledge, are Gianfranco Poggi
( 1 97 1 :252-254, and passim ) , and the important dissertation by Lacroix ( 1 976) .
Poggi's analysis, however, is mainly programmatic, failing to link the new impor­
tance of religion to any decisive break in Durkheim's work. Lacroix's excellent
work has two problems, from my perspective . First, although he firmly exposed
"Ia coupure " that Durkheim's religious revelation created in his theoretical devel­
opment, he tries to tie this religion-inspired shift too closely to the middle-period
work. Any definitive resolution of this question, of course, must await firmer
historical evidence, but at this point it seems evident that Durkheim's theory
underwent two shifts after the publication of Division of Labor, not one . The first ,
which begins even as the latter work is published- in the 1 893 "Note" and
socialism review cited above- reorganizes his schema in a subjective manner
without any particular reference to collective representations or religion . The
second phase , which is barely visible in the lectures of 1895 and which does not
become explicit until 1 897, brings "spiritual" considerations into the center of this
newly subjectified theory. Only the second development, it would seem, can be
linked to the "revelation" of 1 895 . The second problem is that Lacroix's analysis,
valuable as it is, does not expose the "religious dimension" of Durkheim's later
institutional theory in a systematic way. Bellah's interpretation ( 1974) takes some
initial steps in the direction in which such an analysis would have to go. For a full
exploration of the manner in which D urkheim's entire body of post- 1 896 writing
is reorganized around the religious model , see Alexander 1 982a.

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.
taires de France .
Alexander, Jeffrey C. 1982a. The Antinomies of Classical Thought: Marx and
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-- 1 982b. "Kuhn's Unsuccessful Revisionism : A Reply to Selby. " Canadian
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-- 1 982C. Positivism, Presuppositions, and Current Controversies: Vol. 1 of
Theoretical Logic in Sociology. Berkeley and Los Angeles : University of Califor­
nia Press.
 R E T H I N K I N G D U R K H E l M 1 53

-- 1 987. Twenty Lectures: Sociological Theory Since World War II. New York :
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-- 1 988. Action and Its Environm{!n is: New York : Columbia University Press.
Alexander, Jeffrey C . , ed. 1 988. Durkheimian Sociology: Cultural Studies. New
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Alexander, Jeffrey C. and Bernard Giesen. 1988. " From Reduction to Linkage :
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Andler, Charles. 1896. " S ociologie et democratie." Revue de mhaaphysique et
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Beidelman, T. O. 1974. W. Robertson Smith and the Sociological Study of Reli­
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Bellah , Robert N . 1974. I ntroduction to Emile Durkheim on Morality and Soci­
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-- 1 972b. I ntroduction to Anthony Giddens, ed . , Emile Durkheim: Selected
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Labriola, Antonio. 1 897. Essai sur la conception materialiste de l 'histoire. raris :
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Lacroix, Bernard . 1 976. "Durkheim et la question politique. " Ph . D . dissertation.
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 R E T H I N K I N G D U R K H E l M 1 55

Llobera, Joseph R. 1978 . "Durkheim, The Durkheimians, and their Collective

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Parsons, Talcott. 1 937. The Structure of Social Action . New York : Free Press .
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American Sociological Review 38 :399-41 5 .
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A. Nisbet, eds. , A History of SociologicaI Analysis, New York : Basic Books.
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Harvard University Press.
Zeitlin, Irving. 1 968. Ideology and Development of Sociological Theory. Engle­
wood Cliffs, N .J . : Prentice-Hall.
 F I VE

Durkheimian Sociology and

Cultural Studies Today

The human studies are in the midst of an explosion of cultural interest.

In diverse disciplinary orientations throughout Europe and in literary
studies in the United States, semiotics and structuralism- and the
poststructuralist movements that have followed in their wake- have
fundamentally affected contemporary understandings of social exper­
ience and ideas. In American social science there has emerged over the
last twenty years a complementary movement within anthropology.
This symbolic anthropology has begun to have powerful ramifications
in related disciplines, especially in American and European social his­
tory.
In the discipline of sociology, however-particularly but not only in
its American form-researchers and theorists are still fighting the last
war. In the 1960s there was a general mobilization against the hegemony
of structural-functional theory in the "idealist" form associated with Par­
sons. This challenge has triumphed , but theorizing of an equally one­
sided sort has taken its place. The dis�ipline ) s now dominat� d by micro
and macro orientations which are either anti-systemic , anti-cultural , or
both. The ant.i-cul t� ral macro approach, which emphasizes .confli� f a.nd
social "structures , " made positive, innovative contributions in the ' early
p hase of the fight against functionalism. It helped stimulate, for example,
the reaction against the reigning consensus perspective in history. But the
new social history, as it has been called for two decades, is by now old
hat ; it is in the process of being overtaken by a different kind of social
history, one that has a pronounced cultural bent. Sociology, meanwhile ,
remains mired in presymbolic thought . It is as if in this small corner of
the intellectual world the Reformation and Renaissance have been re-
 D U R K H E l M I A N S O C 1 ·0 L O G Y T 0 D A Y 1 57

versed . Sociologists are still trying to reform the Parsonian church . For
them the cultural renaissance has yet to come . In sociology there is
scarcely any cultural analysis at all.
The irony is that important intellectual roots of the current cultural
revival can actually be traced to one of sociology's own founders, Emile
Durkheim. Sociologists know Durkheim primarily through the works he
published in the middle 1 890s, The Division of Labor in Society , The
Rules of Sociological Method, and Suicide . On the basis of these works
sociologists have identified "Durkheimianism" - and to some extent soci­
ol ogy �� su ch � with an emph �sis ' on external constraint and "coercive
social facts, " on t h e one hand , arid with positivistic, often quantitative
methods, on the other .
.'
But it was only after the completion of these works that Durkheim's
distinctively cultural program for sociology emerged (see chapter 4,
above) .·It is true, of course, that even in his earlier works there is an
unmistakable concern with subjectivity and solidarity. But only in the
studies that began in the later 1 890S did Durkheim have an explicit theory
of symbolic process firmly in hand . It was at this time that he became
deeply interested in religion. "A great number of problems change their
aspects completely," Durkheim ( [ 1 899] 1 960 : 35 1 ) wrote, "as soon as their
connections with the sociology of religion are recognized. " Durkheim
came to believe, indeed, that theories of secular social process have to be
modelled upon the workings of the sacred world. This turn to religion,
he emphasized, was not because of an interest in churchly things. It was
because he wanted to give cultural processes more theoretical autonomy.
In religion he had discovered a model of how symbolic processes work in
their own terms.
In scattered essays in the late 1 890s, and in the monographs and
lectures that followed until his "de�th i n 1 9 1 4, Durkheim developed a
theory of secular society that emphasized the independent causal impor­
ta"iice of symbo i ic classification, the pivotal role of the symbolic division
'
het�een � acred and profane, the social significance of ritual behavior, and
'
the interrelation between symbolic classifications,. r.itual proces�es; 'and
the format ion �f social solidarities. i t w�s an unfortunate if largely fortui­
tous fact that the published work in which Durkheim announced and
systematically developed this new theory-which he called his "religious
- For an overview and explication of Durkheim's intellectual development which empha­
sizes the shift toward subjectivity in his thought, see Alexander ( 1 982, 1 986) .
158 D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y T 0 D A Y

sociology" - was devoted to archaic religion and to what would today be

seen as anthropological concerns. Only in his unpublished lectures did
Durkheim elaborate this new perspective in regard to the secular phenom­
ena of modern life .
If Durkheim had lived beyond the First World War, the perspective of
these lectures would be much more widely known today, for he would no
doubt have converted them into published scholarly works. We would
then have available to us systematic explorations of the "religious" struc­
tures and processes that continue to inform contemporary life. The post­
humous publication of the lectures (Durkheim 1 956, [ 1 928] 1 958, [ 1 950]
1958, [ 1 925] 1961 , [ 1 938] 1 977) has certainly made his ambition and
preliminary thinking in this regard perfectly clear (Alexander 1 982 :259-
298 ) . In a series of profound and probing discussions of education,
politics, professional organization, morality, and the law, Durkheim dem­
onstrated that these �oden� sph eres must be studied in terms of symbolic
,
classifications. They are structured by tensions between the fielgs_ of the
sacred and profane ; their central social processes are ritualistic ; their most
-
�ignificant structural d yna mics concern the construction arid destruction
of social solidarities. These lect u res demonstrate the truth of Durkheim's
remonstrance in the opening pages of The Elementary Forms of Religious
Life , the late masterpiece in which he outlined his "religious sociology. "
H e has not devoted himself t o "a very archaic religion , " Durkheim de­
clares, "simply for the pleasures of telling its peculiarities. " If he has
taken Aboriginal religion as his subject, he (Durkheim [ 1 9 I I ] 1 965 : 1 )
argues , this is only "because it has seemed to us better adapted than any
other to lead to an understanding of the religious nature of man , that is,
to show us an essential and permanent aspect of humanity. " His point, he
insists, is that it is not only archaic man who has a religious nature, but
also the "man of today . "
The problem , however, i s not only that Durkheim failed to enun C iate
this new and quite radical view of secular society in his published work.
It is also that this late Durkheimian perspective eventually ceased to be
articulated at all . For some years after his death, Dl,lr�heim's _ closest
s�udents, and those whom they influenced, continued to carry out studi es
that forcefully demonstrated the power of his later cultural approach.
Halbwll�h's (e.g. , 1 9 1 3 , 1 950) research on working class consumption and
collective memory, Simiand's ( 1934) on money, Mauss' ( [ 1925] 1 967) on
 D U R K H E l M I A N S � C 10 L O G Y T a D A Y 1 59

exchange, BougIe's ( 1 908) on caste -these are merely the best known
illustrations of how "late Durkheimianism" was carried into practice by
the Durkheim school.
The possibilities that these studies opened up , however, were never
extensively mined. In the aftermath of the First World War, the influence
of the Durkheim school waned. The movements that sought to carry
forward its legacy, moreover, distorted key elements of its thought. The
Annales school of history began with a Durkheimian thrust, but its
" sociological" emphasis soon tilted toward demographic and socio-politi­
c� l structures and away from consciousness. On the other hand, under
Mauss' influence, what was left of the school proper veered increasingly
toward ethnography (see Vogt 1 976) . Because of these and other devel­
opments, the theoretical ambitions manifest in Durkheim's later pro­
gram gradually faded away . By the 1 930s, the French intellectual
community viewed Durkheimianism either as apolitical , archaicizing eth­
nography or as scientistic sociological determinism. It was rejected on both
grounds.
As Durkheimian ideas made their way beyond French borders they
were pushed in directions equally opposed to the symbolic interests of his
later work. Radcliffe-B rown founded British social anthropology in Dur­
kheim's name, but his mechanistic functionalism might be better identi­
��( r';i th the theorizing against which Durkheim's later writing had been
aime9,. When Parsons ( 1 937) initiated sociological functionalism, he de­
Ci;;ed Durkheim to be one of its founders. But while Parsons saw more
of the cultural Durkheim than most interpreters, he explicitly criticized
the later focus on autonomous symbolic processes. �_a��e� t?an symbolic 'i
.
systems, Parson.�.jnsis.ted that .sociology bc l;oncerned with social values
- - _ .. _-_ .. _ . . . . . ' . ' . . . . .. "
----- _ . _ .
.
, ."

and t �C!i� .tll§tity.tionalizatian. He tied this value emphasis (e.g. , Parsons

1 967) , moreover, to his searc h for the foundations of consensual social
2!.g�r. '* In the posi� Parsons period , sociologists who have consp ic uously
taken up Durkheim's mantle (e.g. , Bloor 1 976 ; Douglas and Wildavsky
• In the work of the other major American expositor of functionalism, R obert Merton , this
distortion of Durkheim's actual theoretical intention took a much more radical form. Mer­
ton's ( [ 1 93 8] 1 968) influential essay, "Social Structure and Anomie, " came to be regarded
as a prototypical application of the Durkheimian perspective. Merton drew here, however,
entirely from Durkheim's earlier work. The extent to which he ignores the later sociology
can be seen from the fact that when he labels one of his four categories of deviance
"ritualistic, " he does so in dismissive and pejorative terms.
160 D U R K H E l M 1 A N S O C 1 0 L O G Y T 0 D A Y

1 982 ; Traugott 1 985) have tended to conceptualize culture 10 an even

more reductive way.·

Yet, while the challenge of Durkheim's later writings has not been
taken up by sociology, in other branches of the human studies it has been
actively pursued (d. Thompson 1982 : 1 38- 1 45 ) . The relationship has
often been indirect, the influence subterranean. Those pursuing a "late
Durkheimian" program are often unaware that such a link exists and
when the possibility is recognized, it has often been denied. Nonetheless,
a compelling case can be made that, more than to any other classical
figure, it is to Durkheim that the contemporary cultural revival to which
I earlier referred is most deeply in debt.
Consider, for example, Ferdinand Saussure, whose centrality is widely
acknowledged because it was he who first conceived of modern structural
linguistics and conceptualized "semiotics" as the science of signs. While
Saussure never cites Durkheim directly- his major work, too, consisted
of posthumously published lectures-parallels between his intellectual
system and Durkheim's are striking indeed. In contrast with his linguistic
c�nt;emporaries, Saussure ( [ 1 9 1 6] 1964 : 107) insisted on the "institu­
tional" character of language. He called language a social fact ( un fait
social) (p. 2 1 ) , that e�erged from th�:;�o.71sCie71�e collective " (p. 1 04) of
society, the linguisti� �leme�ts of which were "consecrated throlJg� u_s.e"
(Godel 1 957 : 1 45) . Saussure depended, in other words, on a number of
key concepts that were identical with the controversial and widely dis­
cussed terms of the Durkheim school. Most historians of linguistics (e.g. ,
Doroszewski 1933 :89-90 ; Ardener 1971 :xxxii-xiv) have interpreted these
resemblances as evidence of Durkheim's very significant influence on
Saussure. In doing so, moreover, they have conceived of Durkheim in his
later, more symbolical guise. t
Whether a direct relationship can actually be demonstrated, however,
is not the most important concern. The echoes in Saussurian linguistics
· My reference here is to Douglas' grid/group theory, which she identifies as the blIsis for
a general theory of culture (cf . , Douglas and Wildavsky 1982) . In other parts of her work
(e.g. , Douglas 1 966, Douglas and Isherwood 1 979) , as I will note below, she has, in fact,
made important contributions to cultural theory in a late Durkheimian vein . Similar ambi­
guities mark Traugott's position (compare, e.g. , Traugott 1 984, 1 985) .
t E.g. : "One sees, in sum, that the langue of Saussure not only corresponds exactly to the
fait social of Durkheim, but, in addition, that this langue , half physical and half social,
exercising constraint on the individual and existing in the collective conscience of the social
group, was in some way modelled on Durkheim's 'collective representations. ' " (Doro­
szewski 1 933 : 90) .
 D U R K H E l M I A N S ,0 C 1 ' 0 L O G Y T O D A Y 161

of Durkheim's symbolic theory are deep and substantial. Just as Dur­

kheim insisted that religious symbols could not be reduced to their inter­
actional base, Saussure emphasized the autonomy of linguistic signs vis­
a-vis their social and physical referrents. From his own insistance on
cultural autonomy Durkheim was led to an interest in the internal dynam­
ics of symbolic and ritual systems. From Saussure's emphasis on the
arbitariness of words there followed a similar concentration on the struc­
tures of symbolic organization in and of themselves.
Similar p��_al! els. �� i st . . lJ�.tw,�.�I) Jatt!� Dl,Irkheimian theory and Levi­
.
Strauss' structural ,anthropology. Levi-Strauss insists that societies must
bestud.i ed i � t;�ms of. symbolic classificatio �s, that these symbolic sys­
tems are p.att��n�q a� . .,�nary oppositions, and that social action (at least
-' '
i� p'�emo dern societies) is expr�� s i�e and c � ltural rather than instrumen­
'
tal and contingent . Here is another influential cultural program, in ot her
words, that bears a striking similarity to the late Durkheimian program I
have' outlined above. Once again , moreover, while direct linkage is impos­
sible to establish, a compelling case of significant influence can be made.
In linguistics, Levi-Strauss acknowledges the influence not only of Jakob­
son but Saussure : I'D ant h ro p ology, he recognizes primarily his debt to
i\farcel Mauss, whose earlier work on symbols he (Levi-Strauss 1 968)
.
..... - .

P!'!lises for emphasiz!l)g the autonomy of classification and the antipathies

and homologies of which it is composed . That Levi-Strauss often takes
sh arp issue with Durkheim cannot, therefore, be taken at full face value.
In the first place, such denials (e.g. , Levi-Strauss 1 945) associate Dur­
kheim with an antisymbolic "sociologism" that is at odds with the empha­
sis of Durkheim's own later work. In the second place, not only was
Mauss himself Durkheim's closest student, but the work of Mauss that
Levi-Strauss (e.g. , 1 968 :xxxi) most applauds, the essay translated as
Primitive Classification , was co-authored with Durkheim and represents
only one of many exemplifications of the later Durkheimian program .
From Saussure and Levi-Strauss some of the most important contem­
porary cultural movements have been derived . It was structural thinking
more than any other current that stimulated Roland Barthes to elaborate
his enormously influential studies in social and literary semiotics. Over
the last thirty years � arthes and ,o ther semioticians have explicated the
�?��s -::-:: the systems of symbolic classification-that regulate a wide array
of secular institutions and social processes, from fashions (Barthes 1 983)
and food production (Sahlins 1 976) to civil conflict (Buckley 1 984) .
162 D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y T O D A Y

Post structuralists like Foucault have carried this emphasis on the struc­
O
t u ring power of symbolic patterns, or discourses, even further into the
social domain .
On occasion these thinkers have made their relation to Durkheim ex­
plicit. These acknowledgments, however, often serve to emphasize rather
than to reduce the distance between Durkheim's later program and soci­
ology as it has come to be conventionally understood . Barthes ( 1 983 : 1 0)
insists in his methodological introduction to The Fashion System , for
example, that while "the sociology of Fashion is entirely directed toward
real clothing [ , ] the semiology of Fashion is directed toward a set of
collective representations . " He follows with the extraordinarily reveal­
ing statement that his own , semiotic emphasis leads "not to sociology
but rather to the sociolog,:cs postulated by Durkheim and Mauss" (orig­
inal italics) , identifying the latter , nonsociological approach, by re­
ferring to the same essay on primitive classification cited by Levi­
Strauss.
In most cases , however, these Durkheimian roots are simply not rec­
ognized at all. In A History of Sexuality , Foucault devotes a major section
of his argument to demonstrating the religious roots of the modern "ra­
tional" insistence on exposing the sexual basis of various activities . This
contemporary discourse, he insists ( 1 980 : 68) , has "kept as its nucleus the
singular ritual of obligatory and exhaustive confession, which in the
Christian West was the first technique for producing the truth of sex. "
Secularization, then, consists i n "this rite [having] gradually detached
itself from the sacrament of penance . " A more clear-cut exemplification
of Durkheim's later program for sociology would be hard to find . It was
Durkheim ( [ 1 899] 1960 :350) who insisted that religious phenomena "are
the germ from which all others . . . derived, " and the treatment in his
late lectures of such secular phenomena as contract and exchange find
their echoes in Foucault. That Foucault himself never entertained the
possibility of a Durkheimian link is in a certain sense beside the point.
His work rests on an intellectual base to which late Durkheimian thought
made an indelible contribution.
Both as theory and empirical investigation, poststructuralism and semi­
otic investigations more generally can be seen as elaborating one of the
pathways that Durkheim's later sociology opens up. Indeed, they have
demonstrated the importance of his later theory more forcefully than any
 D U R K H E l M I A N S .o C 1 . 0 L O G Y T 0 D A Y 163

discipline in the social sciences more narrowly conceived. As such, they

constitute primarily theoretical resources from which the effort to create
a cultural sociology will have to draw.
In emphasizing this extra-sociological Durkheimianism, however, I do
not want to suggest that within the social science disciplines there has
been no work related to late Durkheimian theory at all . There have, in
fact, been some interesting developments, and, even if they have not been
of comparable scope or influence, they are all endebted to late Durkhei­
mian theory . Without , for the most part, explicitly acknowledging Dur­
kheim's work, these efforts have joined his emphases to other theoretical
frameworks in order to develop a more symbolic kind of discourse about
secular life.
It is ironic, perhaps, that most of the important developments of this
type emerged f!0!D: _t_��_ �issolution of the Parsonian camp . As disaffection
with structural-functionalism increased, three of Parsons' most important
students and co-workers tried to push his framework toward a distinc­
t"lvelY Durkheimian emphasis on symbolism, sacredness, and ritual. Shils
( i<J7S) argued that secular, differentiated societies have symbolic "cen­
ters" which inspire awe and mystery and that it is the proximity to these
sources of sacredness which allocates such "structural" qualities as social
�tatus. In a series of critical essays in the 1960s, Geertz ( 1973) argued
that whether cultural systems are "religious" has nothing to do with their
supernatural quality and everything to do with the degree to which they
are sacralized, inspire ritual devotion, and mobilize group solidarity.
Since that time, Geertz has interpreted secular phenomena from Balinese
cockfighting (Geertz 1 973a) to American political campaigns, (Geertz
1 983) in more or less similar symbolic and culturalist terms.
�hils and Ge��tz never acknowledged their debt to Durkheim. It is
true, of course, that they drew widely from cultural theory, and in this
sense their failure to make the reference explicit merely reflects the
permeation of later Durkheimian thinking into the general intellec-
1:"ual milieu . It also, however, reflects the resistance toward, and misunder­
standing of, late Durkheimian ideas within social science itself. The
result is that, while Geertz's work especially has been enormously influ­
ential outside the field of sociology, this turn toward cultural theo­
rizing from within the social sciences has had only a limited impact on
traditional sociological work (for exceptions, see Stivers 1 982, Zeli-
16 4 D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y T0 D A Y

zer 1 985, and Prager 1 986) . • It is only the third disaffected Parson­
ian, Robert Bellah, who openly acknowledged the link to Durkheim ; in­
deed , he has made this connection the linchpin of his newly cultural
work.
Bellah ( 1 970, 1 980b) has argued that secular nations have civic reli­
gions. These are symbolic systems that relate national political structures
and events to a transcendent supra-political framework that defines some
"ultimate" social meaning. Bellah calls this framework religious not be­
cause it must refer to God but, rather, in order to emphasize the sacred­
ness of its symbols and the ritual power it commands. In these terms,
even atheistic, communist nations possess civil religions. Not ontological
properties but historically determined social conditions determine the
effect of a civil religion on society .
More than any other social scientific formulation , the civic religion
concept promised to open sociology to the power of Durkheim's later
work . In the years since Bellah's original formulation, the concept has,
indeed, been used to explain a wide variety of political and cultural
situations (e.g. , Coleman 1 970 ; Moodie 1 974 ; Wolf 1 975 ; Bellah 1 980a,
1 980b, 1980c ; Hammond 1 980 ; Albanese 1 976 ; Liebman and Don-Ye­
hiya 1 983 ; Rothenbuhler 1 985) . Yet civil religion has not, in fact, entered
the language of social science in a central and powerful way. Rather, it
has been taken up primarily in "religious studies, " by historians and
sociologists who specialize in religion (e.g. , Hammond 1 980a, 1 980b) and
by theologians (e.g. , Lynn 1 973 ; Marty 1 974 ; Wilson 1 979) with a special
interest in society . The reasons, I think, have to do not only with the
• In addition to the quite profound effect Geertz has had on general intellectual life in the

United States, his ideas have been closely associated with the cultural turn in American
social history which I noted at the beginning of this essay . His influence can be seen
directly, for example, in the work of Sewell ( 1 980) , Darnton ( 1 984) , and Wilentz ( 1 985) .
That broader intellectual currents are also involved, however, is demonstrated by the more
or less simultaneous development within France of more symbolic approaches to Jocial
history . In "The Sacred and the French Revolution, " Hunt ( 1 988) discusses th& most
important of these contributions- most of which concentrate on the French revolution­
and she points out that they can be seen as elaborations of Mathiez ( 1 904) , who worked
within a late Durkheimian program. Hunt's ( 1 984) own major work on the French revolu­
tion represents an important combination of this French Durkheimian turn with Geertzean
ideas and cultural theory. It is revealing of the lack of contact between sociology and this
recent cultural turn in social history that Sewell's ( 1 985) incisive culturalist critique of
Skocpol's ( 1979) macro-structural theory of revolution appeared-along with Skocpol's
response-not in a sociological review but in The Journal of Modern History.
 D U R K H E l M I A N S, O C I 0 L O G Y T O D A Y 165

resistance of social science to embracing cultural work but also with

central ambiguities in the original concept.
Bellah first conceived the civil religion idea in a discussion that argued
for the close relation between American politics and Protestant religiosity.
He suggested that, while the connection was not necessary in principle,
in practice the American civil religion did in fact center on traditional
Christian symbols. I ndeed, he argued that growing agnosticism could
undermine the status of American civil religion vis-a-vis secular power.
Moreover, the most significant expositor of Bellah's concept, the sociolo­
gist of religion Phillip Hammond ( 1 980a, 1 980b) , has sought to limit civil
religion explicitly to the kind of formation that exists in the American
case. A nation has a civil religion, in his view, only if it has institutional­
ized a cultural system that ties politics to churchly symbols but is inde­
pendent of an established church. But such an argument, while certainly
illuminating particular empirical issues (cf. , Thomas and Flippen 1 972 ;
Wimberly et a1. 1976 ) , narrows the more far-reaching and general impli­
cations of the concept, for it effectively cuts the concept off from its late
Durkheimian base, although Hammond ( 1 974) disagrees. I ronically, it
was against precisely this kind of narrowing that Durkheim launched his
later arguments, which in turn formed the basis for Bellah's original
conception of the term.
While the innovative work of these American cultural theorists expands
Parsonian functionalism, the other major development within the disci­
plinary matrix of sociology approprlates' b'i:i�kh�i� from a Marxist and
Weberian slant. Over the list"-t�� decad�s Bourdieu has elaborated a
syriiboHcalfy.':�Q phisticated theory of social conflict and class domination.
From semiotics and structuralism he has accepted the notion that every
facet of social life, from institution to individual act, is regulated by
densely. �tr���u��� sy�bolic codes. \\!.�,t � out le�l.rI1:ing these codes, individ­
.
uals- and groups cannot participate in the relevant social institution, whether
work piace, classroom (Bourdieu and Passeron 1 977) , or museum of art
(Bourdieu 1968, 1984) . Bourdieu believes that capitalist domination makes
access to these institutions a privilege of birth and wealth, but he does not
believe that the simple possession of wealth or birthright explains the
reproduction of class p ower from one generation to the next. ���.i!!�n
must be l?���� on at least the appearance of personal prowess and only if
an llctor has internalized the appropriate system of representations can
166 D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y T 0 D A Y

such achievement be made. To have learned these codes is to possess

"cultural capital" ( 1 968 ) . To d�!I1€:�t the interrelation of cultural a lld
eco�()�ic c�pital has been the point of Bourdieu's work.
Yet, while Bourdieu's critical cultural sociology could not have been
conceived outside- of 'the -ll11:elle�tu�i �iiieu that Durkheim initiated, it is
a theoretical COnt:l�_c. tj(}n that Bourdieu himself underplays. The reasons
can be found primarily in the rtlse of French intellectual history. Jt is to
�� miotics and structural anthropology, not to "Durkheim , " that' Bourdieu
�s cc:>nscious of owing a debt ; if Levi-Strauss cannot incorporate praxis,
_
_

Durkheim is more determinist still (Bourdieu 1 977 : 23 ) . Bourdieu would

prefer to present himself as the follower of Weber, although it is his
Durkheimian revision of Weber's status theory that has allowed him to
speak of class distinctions in fully symbolic ways . ..
Bourdieu, Bellah , and Shils are sociologists, and while Geertz i s not­
he is an anthropologist- he was trained by Parsons, a theorist of sociol­
ogy. The work of these four thinkers constitutes another significant re­
source from which cultural analysis must draw.
The other source of significant ideas that has emerged from within the
social sciences comes from anthropology. The Durkheimian sociologists
pushed theories about modern society to incorporate concepts previously
applied only to premodern ones. Late-Durkheimian anthropologists have
used Durkheim's theories of premodern society to move to a study of
modern life. While beginning from opposite directions, in other words,
they have ended up in much the same place.
Of these anthropological developments, Turner's work on the ritual
process is undoubtedly the most important (see, e.g. , Moore and Meyer­
hoff 1 975) ' T��e�_ ( � 969) argues that the basic components of ritual can
be abstracted from the specific situations of archaic societies and treated
as fundamental aspects of social behavior as such. Because all rituals _

involve transitions from one patterned position or structure to anotner,

lie suggests that ritual can be seen as possessing not simply -an - i-ntegtative
but an "antistructural" dimension. During this antistructural, or 'iiminal
phase, he suggests, participants experience intense solidarity, or "com­
munitas . " Since this condition of liminal solidarity constitutes a deviant
status , it o!!:_e n _provides an an opening for social chall�e . In his later work ,
· The connection between Bourdieu and Durkheim is forcefully made by Collins ( 1 988) ,
who argues for the importance of a "conflict Durkheimian" strain more generally.
 D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y T 0 D A Y 16 7

Turner (e.g. , 1 974) tried to separate these elements from an association

with actual ritual events . He demonstrated that liminality and communi­
tas could be seen as central features of such widely divergent secular
phenomena as political confrontations, athletic contests, and countercultures.
Once again, the relationship between this new development in cultural
theory and Durkheimi an thought is never explicitly made . For his specific
terminology, Turner drew on the work of Van Gennep, the contemporary
of Durkheim's who criticized his explanation of Aboriginal religion . But
the similarities between Turner's ideas and Durkheim's later project are
plain, which is not to say that Turner did not go beyond his master in
valuable ways . He demonstrated much more clearly than Durkheim , for
example, how rituals can depend on contingent behavior and can be
deeply involved in social change.
Much the same can be said for the work of Mary Douglas , the other
anthropologist whose work has contributed significantly to broader cur­
rents in cultural studies . She has documented the classifying and symbolic
functions of what are usually taken to · be merely physical and adaptive
activities (e.g. , Douglas and Isherwood 1979) . Most particularly, she
( 1 966) has shown that pollution is a form of social control that societies
use against symbolically deviant, profane things. Even in such clear ef­
forts to generalize from religious to secular activity, however, Douglas
dissociates her efforts from Durkheimian work. Still, it is the Durkhei­
mianism of Radcliffe-B rown that she is fighting, not the symbolic theory
of Durkheim's own later work. Her conception of pollution expands
Durkheim's notion of profanation by relating it directly to issues of social
control .·
My argument is that, even while references to Durkheim's later theory
have virtually disappeared, his "religious sociology" has significantly in­
fluenced the developments in cultural studies that are invigorating the
i� e i h ;ctu�l wor1 d today. t Two conclusions follow, both of which have to

-The connection becomes more easily seen if the "correction" of Caillois ( [ 1 9391 1959) ­
one of the last productive members of the Durkheimian school -is taken into account.
Caillois argued that Durkheim's contrast between sacred and profane must be expanded to
include a third term, because profane implied for Durkheim both routine (as compared with
effervescent and charismatic) and evil (as compared with good ) .
t The only major contemporary current which i s not a t least indirectly indebted to
Durkheim is the German hermeneutical tradition, which began its ambitious and distinctive
program of cultural interpretation with Dilthey, whose writings (e.g. , Dilthey 1976) ap·
168 D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y T 0 D A Y

do with the benefits of making this framework explicit. The first relates
to cultural studies more generally. By making this Durkheimian frame­
work explicit, the inner connections between these different develop­
ments can much more easily be seen . Only if these inner connections are
established can the theoretical basis for contemporary cultural analysis be
clearly articulated. The full array of theoretical resources is necessary if a
general and comprehensive social scientific understanding of culture is
finally to emerge (cf. Alexander, forthcoming) .
The second conclusion is more limited. It has to do with cultural
studies in a more disciplinary sense, specifically with the prospects for a
cultural sociology. Disciplinary practice is defined by its classics (see
chapter I , above), and for sociology Durkheim's work is arguably the
most classic of all . At the present time, "Durkheim" is perceived largely
in terms of the structural concerns of his middle-period work . Insofar as
the Durkheimian reference of contemporary cultural studies becomes
explicit, however, this narrow understanding becomes increasingly diffi­
cult to sustain . If it cannot be sustained , if the understanding of Dur­
kheim shifts toward the later work, then there will be increasing pressure
to bring cultural analysis squarely into the practice of sociology. This, I
have agreed, was precisely the ambition of Durkheim himself.
It is certainly not coincidental that it has been in the midst of this
outpouring of Durkheim-inspired cultural work that a new and much
more sophisticated phase of Durkheim scholarship has emerged. The
scope of Durkheim's lectures in the later period was evident only after
Lukes ( 1 972) published the first fully annotated account of Durkheim's
life and work. Lukes' research also brought to light biographical material
that underscored not only the existence of Durkheim's turn to religion
but also the personal significance religion may have had for him. Later in

peared over roughly the same period as Durkheim 's own. In the present period, however,
the significance of hermeneutics has been more directed to providing a philosophical j u stifi­
cation for cultural analysis than toward carrying it out (e.g. , Gadamer 1 975 ; Bernstein
1 976 ; Taylor [ 1 97 1 ] 1 979) . In this context I would have to take issue with Lukes ( 1 982) ,
who draws a sharp line between Durkheimian sociology and contemporary cultural analysis
on the grounds that Durkheim took a positivist rather than hermeneutic position . While
there is no doubt about the limitations of the formal methodology to which Durkheim
adhered, for example in a middle-period work like Rules, his later writing demonstrated a
clear commitment to the hermeneutic method in practice. If this were not true, his ideas
could not have provided the basis from the which so much of contemporary cultural analysis
has drawn.
 D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y T 0 D A Y 169

the 1 970S there emerged a group of scholars around Philippe Besnard and
La Revue francaise de sociologie who initiated a new wave of historical
explorations of Durkheim and" his school . Once again, these historical
investigations revealed the importance of the religious turn, not only for
Durkheim himself but for the direction of his students' work (e.g. , B irn­
baum 1976 ; Besnard 1 979, 1 983) . Neither Lukes nor the French group
argued that there emerged a later "religious sociology" more generally
conceived . The interpretations that succeeded these pioneering studies,
however (e.g. , Filloux 1 977 ; Jones 1 977 ; Lacroix 1 98 1 ; Alexander 1 982) ,
not only followed up on these leads but also , on the basis of this new
understanding, read the extant Durkheim material in an altered way.
Gradually, a more general perspective did begin to emerge. While some
interpreters still do not accede (e.g. , Giddens 1 977 ; Traugott 1 978) , there
is increasing agreement today that in the later period Durkheim's sociol­
ogy underwent an important shift, even if there is little consensus about
the " precise nature of this shift or its ramifications in Durkheim's work.
Only by recognizing the crucial distinctiveness of this later work, indeed,
can the Durkheimian roots of contemporary cultural studies be traced.
It is time, now, for sociology finally and decisively to take up Dur­
kheim's path. His mandate has been established . Contemporary work in
cultural studies demonstrates where this mandate might lead. Significant
exemplars of such work exist within the field of sociology itself." It is not
a question of adopting D urkheim's general theory of society, much less
the ideological perspectives he brought to his work. The late Durkhei­
mian perspective will be integrated with the traditions of Weber, Marx,
and Parsons, or it will not be taken up at all . None of these other
traditions, however, can supply the opening to cultural studies that soci­
ology needs. For this , Durkheim's later program must be revived. In a
fragmented way it has been at the heart of cultural analysis all along. In a
more explicit form it can help to revitalize the practice of sociology today.

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 170 D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y T 0 D A Y

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 S I X

Culture and Political Crisis :

'Waterg ate' and
Durkheimian Sociolo gy

Durkheim's legacy has been appropriated by generations of social scien­

tists in strikingly different ways. Each appropriation depends on a reading
of Durkheim's work, of its critical phases, its internal crises and resolu­
tions, and its culminating achievements. Such readings themselves de­
pend upon prior theoretical understandings, for it is impossible to trace a
textual development without seeing this part within some already glimpsed
whole. The texts, however, have constituted an independent encounter in
their own right, and new interpretations of Durkheim have given crucial
impetus to the development of new theoretical developments in turn.
Almost every imaginable kind of sociology has been so inspired, for it
is possible to see in Durkheim's development sharply contrasting theoret­
ical models and presuppositions . Ecological determinism , functional dif­
ferentiation, demographic expansion, administrative punishment and le­
gal control , even the distribution of property- the study of each has been
taken as sociology's decisive task in light of Durkheim's early work. From
the middle and later work have emerged other themes . The centrality of
moral and emotional integration is undoubtedly the most pervasive leg­
acy, but anthropologists have also taken from this work a function al
analysis of religion and ritual and a structural analysis of symbol 'and
myth. None of these inherited exemplars, however, takes fully into con­
sideration the actual trajectory of Durkheim's later and most sophisticated
sociological understanding. Given Durkheim's classical stature, this fail­
ure is extraordinary, the importance of remedying it, very great.
 W A T E R GAT E A N D D U R K H E I M IAN S O C I O L O G Y 175

It has become more widely accepted in recent years that Durkheim's work
shifted sharply toward the subjective as early as 1 894. Indeed, it was in
the very first chapter of Rules that Durkheim ( [ 1 895] 1 938) suggested
that ecological forces, or social morphology, actually consisted in concep­
tual and emotional interaction. In Sodalism ( [ 1 895-96] 1958) and Suicide
( [ 1897] 1 95 1 ) this insight was elaborated, yet, in fact, by 1 896 and 1 897
Durkheim was already engaged in extensive revision of this decisive
break. Emotional interaction, he now perceived , never occurred sepa­
rately from the symbolization of ideational values. Religion, and particu­
larly religious ritual, now became the model for Durkheim's understand­
ing of social life . Interaction produces an energy like the "effervescence"
of religious ecstasy. This psychic energy attaches itself to powerful sym­
bols- things or ideas- which in turn crystallize critical social facts. Sym­
bols', in turn, have their own autonomous organization. They are orga­
nized into the sacred and profane, the latter being mere signs, the former
being redolent with energy and mystery, and this symbolic division con­
stitutes authority. These sacred symbols, Durkheim came to believe,
could themselves control the structure of social organization. The liquid
character of sacredness makes it contagious and precious. Societies must
elaborate rules to contain it, for it must be rigorously separated not only
from impure substances but from profane ones. Complicated ceremonies,
furthermore, must be developed for its periodic renewal.
Although many interpreters have discussed this movement toward the
sociology of religion , none have appreciated its full significance. From
1 897 onward, Durkheim's intention was not just to develop a sociology of
religion but, rather, a religious sociology. In everything he turned his
hand to after that transitional time, his intention was always the same : to
transform his earlier, secular analyses into religious ones. The division of
labor and theory of history, the explanation of social pathology and crime,
the theory of law, the analyses of education and family, the notions of
politics and economics , and of course the very theory of culture itself­
Durkheim sought in his later years to explain all these by analogy to the
internal structuring of religious life (Alexander 1 982 : 259-298 ; d. chapter
4, above) . Each institution and process was made strictly analogous to the
ritual model . Each structure of authority was conceived of as sacred in
form, a sacralization that depended upon periodic propinquity and emo-
176 w A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y

tion. The developmental processes of each were alternating phases of

sacred and profane, and the attenuation of effervescence constituted, for
each, the turning points of its development.
Only by understanding the full scope of this theoretical shift can one
appreciate the challenge that Durkheim's legacy poses to contemporary
social science. Durkheim's challenge is to develop a cultural logic for
society : to make the symbolic dimension of every social sphere a relatively
autonomous domain of cultural discourse interpenetrated with the other
d imensions of societY. Few of Durkheim's own students picked up this
gauntlet, some because they failed to understand it, others because they
rejected it on some principled ground. It has taken the rest of us the
better part of a century to come back to it. Durkheim's later religious
sociology makes fundamental advances over the thought of his classical
contemporaries. Marx developed scarcely any theory of contemporary
culture, working instead at the other side of the epistemological contin­
uum. We�er did make fundamental contributions to a theory oLculture
a� d society, but his h��()�i � i �t insistence on the moder.� destruction .of
meaning makes the incorporation of his insights extraordinarily difficult,
though no less necessary (see chapter 2 , above) . Durkheim alone lrisisted
on the centrality of meaning in secular society, and only in his work does
a systematic theory of contemporary cultural life begin to emerge. This
theory also goes beyond the most important postclas�i�al Jbeory-func­
tionalism- in significant ways. F !-l nctionalism either has closely ti�(<:':l l­
tural values to social structual strain or, in Parsons' case, it has concep­
tualized culture's autonomJ � nly by speaking . of "v:a�.u��, , ; an i mp ortant
_
but ultimately limiting framework for approaching the question of mean­
ing and society.
For all of this, however, it must be frankly acknowledged that Durk­
heim's religious sociology is difficult to understand. This difficulty does
not reside simply in the interpreter ; it rests also on deep ambiguities in
the theory itself. Durkheim's religious sociology works on three diff�rent
levels : as a metaphor, as a general theory of society, and as a special
theory of certain social processes. It is necessary to separate these theories
from one another and to evaluate them independently if the permanent
contributions of Durkheim's later work are to be properly understood and
incorporated into contemporary thought.
It is clear that, in one sense, Durkheim's insistence after 1 896 that
society is religion plays a metaphorical role. He has invented here a
 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E � M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y 1 77

vigorous and compelling way of arguing for the value-imbeddedness of

action and order� Far - from being a mundane utilitarian world, modern
s'Ociety still has a cl �se relationship to strongly felt ends that compel the
acquiescence of powerful means. These supra-individual ends are so strong,
indeed, they may be likened to the other-wordly ends established by God.
This metaphor of "n;ligious society" produces accompanying similes :
social symbols are like sacred ones, in that they are powerful and compel­
Hng; t�� co':'flict between social values is like the conflict between sacred
and profane, or pure and impure sacredness ; political interaction is like
�ltual participation in that it produces cohesion and value commitment.
Considered as metaphor and simile- as, in other words, a series of
rhetorical devices- D urkheim's religious sociology is "true. " It effec­
tively communicates the i�portance of anti-utilitarian qualities in the
modern world. As a conceptual or theoretical vocabulary, however, basic
problems remain. For as a general theory of society-the second level at
which it operates-Durkheim's religious sociology is certainly wrong. It
is wrong in the first place for epistemological reasons, because it inscribes
a dualistic social life that reflects Durkheim's overwhelming idealism. But
Durkheim's religious sociology qua general theory is wrong also on empir­
ical grounds . To make a strict analogy between society and religion leads
to an overly condensed, undifferentiated, all-or-nothing understanding of
social life . It implies that values can be communicated only through
intensive high �nergy symbols that generate awe and mystery. These
�mbols are held to be constituted through "social experiences" with a
capital " S , " periods of renewal -that are without conflict or material in­
tegument, whose integrative denouement is neat and complete. This
world of symbol and ritual , moreover, is conceived as opposed to a
profane world of individuals, economic institutions, and merely material
structures. Because they are profane these objects are held to be nonso­
cial , and because they are nonsocial they are seen neither as socially
structured nor as sociologically comprehensible.
But highly energized symbols are not, of course, the only way meaning
is generated and maintained in modern societies. The profane world,
defined as the routine world of relatively reduced excitation, remains
firmly value-directed. It is also decidedly social and as ordered as it is
conflictual. The social experiences that constitute intense and awesome
symbols, moreover, are not necessarily harmonious and thoroughly inte­
grating. They may be subject to intensely competitive processes, to indi-
1 78 w A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y

viduation and reflexivity, and they may integrate some parts of society
rather than the whole.
As a general theory, indeed, Parsonian functionalism seems in all these
respects to be superior to Durkheim's later theory, and Parsons expressly
sought to incorporate this later theory into his own . Parsoni�I'! . .t.� �() ry
clarifies levels of generality and establishes the independent social logics
of various spheres. Rather than dichotomizing culture and mat�riaJ lift:, it
a!'gue for the simult";neol.ls independence and interpent:tr�t��� ..Qi..Q.e_g�on­
ality, social system, and culture. �ymbolism and values, then, are. always
part of social and individual life. While social system processes are not
usually highly affective or intense, the specificity of role relationships is
dependent, nonetheless, on normative prescriptions of more general cul­
tural values. While functionalism acknowledges that value renewal occurs
in time of crisis-though its analysis of such processes, I will argue, is
seriously deficient- it also quite correctly sees that values are also ac­
quired through more routine processes like socialization and learning,
through leadership, and through exchange of the generalized media that
facilitate communication between groups, individuals, and subsystems.
"Authority" presents a good example of the contrast between function­
alism and Durkheimianism as general theory. For the religious theory,
authority is always numinous ; to the degree that it is profaned and
routinized , it becomes meaningless, approximating mere power and force.
By contrast, Parsonian functionalism draws upon Weber to argu.�Jh!l.�l in
modern socie ties at least, routinized authority becomes "office . " This
d esignation i rp.p lies a symbolic code that regulates powe� by condensing,
�ndeed by secularizing, previously vivid, long-standing religious v.alues,
values like the impersonal transcendence of God and dIe duty for all . men
-
t� carry out His will . Through the concept of office, Friedrichs ( 1 964)
has argued , mundane legal forms like constitutions can ensure the mean-
- -
. �
ingful regulation �f "profane" politic!ll life .
If this were the full extent of Durkheim's later sociology, if it were
merely successful metaphor and failed general theory, we could leave
Durkheim's legacy alone, satisfied with Parsons and Weber . But that is
not so. Durkheim's later work also presents us with a special theory
referring to specific kinds of empirical processes. This special theory is
true and enlightening, and its implications have scarcely begun to be
mined.
The ritualistic model of religious life that Durkheim developed in his
 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E � M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y 1 79

later years is a hermeneutics of intense, direct value experience. It inter­

prets the structure and effects of unmediated encounters with transcen­
dent realities. The religious vocabulary of such experience, as Durkheim
rightly insisted, derives not from the unique qualities of divine encounters
but rather from the fact that such encounters typify transcendent experi­
ence as such . This religious experience, then , is one manifestation of a
general form of social experience. These experiences are called religious
simply because, in the course of human history, they have occurred most
frequently in a religious form . In this sense , therefore, the "religious
model" can indeed be taken not as metaphor, but as a strict analogy for
certain universal processes of secular life.
Such a direct, unmediated encounter with transcendent experience is
relevant to secular processes in at least two crucial ways. First, social
system processes themselves are never thoroughly bound to normative
prescriptions and differentiated roles. They are never, that is, completely
routinized or profane . The terror and awe of simplified and general
symbols-the purely cultural level that is experienced as religious or
transcendent reality- always remains in the interstices of social life. We
may continue here with our earlier example of politica l authority. While
its use in modern societies is hedged in by elaborate norms of office,
authority also carries with it the pregnant symbolism of sacred things.
Roger Caillois ( [ 1939] 1 959) was the first Durkheimian to insist that
sacredness often has the ecological corollary of centeredness, and that for
this reason political power is often associated with the same kind of
prohibitions and proscriptions as religious life. �dward Shils ( 1 975 ) was
the second Durkheimian to do so , and in his work the ambiguous inter­
play of the center's material and symbolic power is profoundly illumi­
nated." Bernard Lacroix ( 1 98 1 ) is the third to pick up this theme. Though
he is wrong, I believe , to insist that Durkheim's own analysis is concerned
with power in a political sense, Lacroix is quite right to urge that the
categories of this religious theory have an important political applica­
tion .
Since this religious quality of secular power often, for better or worse,
overpowers the specific role obligations of office, it is ironic that it recalls

· It is one of the ironies of the intellectual history of sociology that Shils has developed
�his Durkheimian insight u nder the ostensible rubric of Weberian thought (see chapter 5 ) .
Eisenstadt ( 1 968) elaborates these Shilsian insights within a similarly "Weberian" frame·
work.
180 w A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y

the religious qualities from which specifically office obligations were de­
rived. This concealed dialectic points to the profound relationship that
exists between normative obligations and the much more generalized
meaning-creating processes of cultural life . Values are created and re­
newed through episodes of directly experiencing and re-experiencing
transcendent meaning. While these experiences are never completely shut
out by the walls of routinized life, the periods of peak experience consti­
tute an independent mode of "religious" experience.
In periods of social conflict and strain, the broad cultural framework
for specific role definitions itself becomes an issue for examination. Parts
of societies, or even societies as such, may be said to experience a "gener­
alization" (Parsons and Smelser 1 957, ch. 7 ; Parsons and Bales 1955 :
353-396 ; Smelser 1 959, 1 963) away from the specificity of everyday social
life . Though utilitarian factors like faction and interest are often crucial
in determining the specific course of such generalized crisis, nonrational
ritualization is the order of the day. This ritualization, which can occur
massively or episodically, involves the direct reexperiencing of fundamen­
tal values (d. Tiryakian 1 967) and often their rethinking and reformulat­
ing as well as their reaffirmation. The classificatory system of collective
symbols can sometimes be drastically changed through these experiences ;
the relation of social actors to these dominant classifications can also be
shifted and transformed. Cultural myths are recalled and extended to
contemporary circumstance. Social solidarities are reworked. Yet, while
solidarity is always the concomitant of ritual, it may be expanded or
contracted, depending on the specific case. Finally, role relationships are
certainly changed, not only in terms of the structure of opportunities and
rewards, but in terms of subjective role definitions.

II

A discussion of the Watergate crisis in the United States between 1 972

and 1 974 can continue , in a more detailed and specific way, this analysis
of political authority . After analyzing Watergate, I will return to a more
general consideration of the specific explanatory structure of Durkheim's
religious theory .
In June 1 972 , employees of the Republican party made an illegal entry
and burglary into the Democratic party headquarters in the Watergate
Hotel in Washington, D . C. Republicans described the break-in as a
 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E I M I A N S O C I O L O G Y 181

"third-rate burglary," neither politically motivated nor morally relevant.

Democrats said it was a major act of political espionage, a symbol, more­
over, of a demagogic and amoral Republican president, Richard Nixon,
and his staff. Americans were not persuaded by the more extreme reac­
tion . The incident received relatively little attention, generating no real
sense of outrage at the time . There were no cries of outrage . There was ,
in the main, deference to the president, respect for his authority, and
belief that his explanation of this event was correct, despite what in
retrospect seemed like strong evidence to the contrary . With important
exceptions, the mass news media decided after a short time to play down
the story, not because they were coercively prevented from doing other­
wise, but because they genuinely felt it to be a relatively unimportant
event. Watergate remained, in other words, part of the profane world in
Durkheim's se nse Even after the national e l ection in November of that
.

year, after Democrats had been pushing the issue for four months, 80
percent of the American people found it hard to believe that there was a
"Watergate crisis" ; 75 percent felt that what had occurred was just plain
politics ; 84 percent felt that what they had heard about it did not influ­
ence their vote. Two years later, this same incident, st ill called "Water­
gate, " had initiated the most serious peace-time political crisis in Ameri­
can history. It had become a riveting moral symbol, one which initiated a
long passage through sacred time and space, and wrenching conflict
between pure and impure sacred forms. It was responsible for the first
voluntary resignation of a president.
How and why did this perception of Watergate change? To understand
this we must see first what this extraordinary contrast in these two public
perceptions indicates, namely that the actual event, "Watergate, " was in
itself relatively inconsequential . It was a mere collection of facts, and
contrary to the positive persuasion, facts do not speak. Certainly, new
"facts" seem to have emerged in the course of the two-year crisis , but it is
quite extraordinary how many of these "revelations" actually were already
leaked and published , in the pre-election period . Watergate could not , as
the French might say , tell itself. It had to be told by society ; it was, to
use Durkheim's famous phrase, a social fact. It was the context of Water­
gate that had changed, not so much the raw empirical data themselves.
To understand how this telling of a crucial social fact changed, it is
necessary to bring to the sacred/profane dichotomy the Parsonian concept
of generalization . There are different levels at which every social fact can
1 82 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y

be told ( Smelser 1 959, 1 963 ) . These levels are linked to different kinds of
social resources, and the focus on one level or another can tell us much
about whether a system is in crisis- and subject, therefore, to the sacral­
izing process- or is operating routinely, or profanely, and in equa­
librium.
First and most specific is the level of goals. Political life occurs most of
the time in the relatively mundane level of goals, power and interest .
Above this, as it were, at a higher level of generality, are norms-the
conventions, customs, and laws that regulate this political process and
struggle . At still a higher point there are values : those very general and
elemental aspects of the culture that inform the codes which regulate
political authority and the norms within which specific interests are re­
solved . If politics operates routinely the conscious attention of political
participants is on goals and interests. It is a relatively specific attention.
Routine , "profane" politics means, in fact, that these interests are not
seen as violating more general values and norms. Nonroutine politics
begins when tension between these levels is felt, either because of a shift
in the nature of political activity or a shift in the general, more sacred
commitments that are held to regulate them. In this situation, a tension
between goals and higher levels develops. Public attention shifts from
political goals to more general concerns , to the norms and values that are
now perceived as in danger. In this instance we can say there has been
the generalization of public consciousness I referred to earlier as the
central point of the ritual process.
It is in light of this analysis that we can understand the shift in the
telling of Watergate. It was first viewed merely as something on the level
of goals, "just politics , " by 75 percent of the American people . Two years
subsequent to the break-in, by summer 1 974, public opinion had sharply
changed. Now Watergate was regarded as an issue that violated funda­
mental customs and morals, and eventually- by 50 percent of the Popu­
lation- as a challenge to the most sacred values that sustained poiitical
order itself . By the end of this two-year crisis period almost half of those
who had voted for Nixon changed their minds , and two-thirds of all
voters thought the issue had now gone far beyond politics. · What had
happened was a radical generalization of opinion. The facts were not that
· These figures are drawn from the 1 972,- 1 97'1- panel survey taken by the American
National Election study conducted by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social
Science Research.
 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y 183

different, but the social context in which they were seen had been trans­
formed.
If we look at the two-year transformation of the context of Watergate,
we see the creation and resolution of a fundamental social crisis, a resolu­
tion that involved the deepest ritualization of political life. To achieve this
"religious" status, there had to be an extraordinary generalization of
opinion vis-a-vis a political threat that was initiated by the very center of
established power and a successful struggle not just against that power in
its social form but against the powerful cultural rationales it mobilized .
To understand this process of crisis creation and resolution we must
integrate Durkheim's ritual theory with a more muscular theory of social
structure and process. Let me lay these factors out generally before I
indicate how each relates to Watergate .
What must hap pen for an entire society to experience fundamental
crisis and ritual renewal ?
First, there has to be sufficient social consensus so that an event will be
considered polluting, or deviant, by more than a mere fragment of the
population. Only with sufficient consensus, in other words, . can "society"
itself be aroused and indignant.
Second , there has to be the perception by significant groups who
participate in this consensus that the event is not only deviant but that it
threatens to pollute the "center" of society.
Third, if this deep crisis is to be resolved, institutional social controls
must be brought into play. However, even legitimate attacks on the
polluting sources of crisis are often viewed as frightening. For this reason,
such controls also mobilize instrumental force and the threat of force to
bring polluting forces to heel .
Fourth, social control mechanisms must be accompanied by the mobi­
lization and struggle of elites and publics that are differentiated and
relatively autonomous from the structural center of society. Through this
process there begins to be the formation of countercenters.
Finally, fifth, there has to be effective processes of symbolic interpre­
tation, that is, ritual, and purification processes that continue the labeling
process and enforce the strength of the symbolic, sacred center of society
at the expense of Ii. center which is increasingly seen as merely structural,
profane, and impure. In so doing, such processes demonstrate conclu­
sively that deviant or "transgressive" qualities are the sources of this
threat.
184 w A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y

In elaborating how each one of these five factors came into play in the
course of Watergate, I will indicate how, in a complex society, reintegra­
tion and symbolic renewal are far from being automatic processes. · Much
more than a simple reading of Durkheim's work might imply, reintegra­
tion and renewal rely on the contingent outcomes of specific historical
circumstances.
First, the factor of consensus. Between the Watergate break-in in June
of 1 972 and the Nixon-McGovern election contest in November, the
necessary social consensus did not emerge . This was a time during which
Americans experienced intense political polarization, though most of the
actual social conflicts of the '60S had significantly cooled. Nixon had built
his presidency , in part, on a backlash against these '60S' conflicts, and the
Democratic candidate, McGovern, was the very symbol of this "leftism"
to many . Both candidates thought that they, and the nation , were contin­
uing the battles of the '60S . McGovern's active presence during this
period, therefore, allowed Nixon to continue to promote the authoritarian
politics that could justify Watergate. One should not suppose, however,
that because there was not significant social reintegration during this
period that no significant symbolic activity occurred . It is terribly impor­
tant to understand that agreement in complex societies occurs at various
levels. There may be extremely significant cultural agreement (e.g. , com­
plex and systematic agreement about the structure and content of lan­
guage) while more socially or structurally related areas of subjective
agreement (e.g. , rules about political conduct) do not exist. Symbolic
agreement without social consensus can exist, moreover, within more
substantive cultural arenas than language.
During the summer of 1 972 one can trace a very complex symbolic
development in the American collective conscience, a consensual devel­
opment that laid the basis for everything that followed even while it did
not produce consensus at more social levels. t It was during thi$ four­
month period that the meaning complex "Watergate, " came to be defined.
In the first weeks which followed the break-in to the Democratic head­
quarters, "Watergate" existed , in semiotic terms, merely as a sign, as a
· In developing this scheme, I have relied on-in addition to Shils and the other Dur·
kheimians whose work I have already mentioned- Douglas ( 1 966) , Keller ( 1963 ) , and
Eisenstadt ( 197 1 ) , among others. For an application of this scheme to another empirical
case, see Lewis and Veneman ( 1 987) .
. t I am drawing here upon my reading of the televised news reports on Watergate-related
issues available in the Vanderbilt Television Archives in Nashville.
 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I AN S O C I 0 L O G Y I 8S

denotation. This word simply referred, moreover , to a single event. In

the weeks that followed, the sign "Watergate, " became more complex,
referring to a series of interrelated events touched off by the break-in,
including charges of political corruption, presidential denials, legal suits,
and arrests. By August of 1 972 , "Watergate" had become transformed
from a mere sign to a redolent symbol , a word that rather than denoting
actual events connotated multifold moral meanings.
Watergate had become a symbol of pollution, embodying a sense of evil
and impurity. In structural terms, the facts directly associated with Wa­
tergate-those who were immediately associated with the crime, the
office and apartment complex, the persons implicated later-were placed
on the negative side of a system of symbolic classification. Those persons
or institutions responsible for ferreting out and arresting these criminal
elements were placed on the other, positive side. This bifurcated model
of pollution and purity was then superimposed onto the traditional good/
evil structure of American civil religion, whose relevant elements ap­
peared in the form indicated in figure 6. I . It is clear, then, that while
significant symbolic structuring had occurred , the "center" of the Ameri­
can social structure was in no way implicated .
This symbolic development, it should be emphasized, occurred in the
public mind . Few Americans would have disagreed about the moral
meanings of "Watergate" as a collective representation . Yet while the
social basis of this symbol was widely inclusive, the symbol just about
exhausted the meaning complex of Watergate as such. The term identified
a complex of events and people with moral evil, but the collective con­
sciousness did not connect this symbol to significant social roles or insti­
tutional behaviors. Neither the Republican party, President Nixon's staff,
and least of all, President Nixon himself had yet been polluted by the
symbol of Watergate. I n this sense, it is possible to say that some symbolic
generalization had occurred but that value generalization within the social
system had not.
It had not because the social and cultural polarization of American
society had not yet sufficiently abated. Because there was continued
polarization, there could be no movement upwards toward shared social
values ; because there was no generalization, there could be no societal
sense of crisis. Because there was no sense of crisis, in turn , it became
impossible for the other forces I have mentioned to come into play. There
was no widespread perception of a threat to the center, and, because there
186 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y

FIGURE 6. 1
Symbolic Classification System as of August 197.2

The Wate71rate "Structure "

Evil Good

Watergate Hotel Nixon and Staff/White House

The Burglars FBI
Dirty Tricksters Courts/Justice Department's Prose­
cution Team
Money Raisers Federal "Watchdog" Bureaucracy

American Civil Religion

Evil Good

Communism/Fascism Democracy
Shadowy Enemies White House-Americanism
Crime Law
Corruption Honesty
Personalism Responsibility
Bad Presidents Great Presidents
(e.g. , Harding/Grant) (e.g . , LincolnlWashington)
Great Scandals Heroic Reformers
(e.g. , Teapot Dome)

was none, there could be no mobilization against the center. Against a

powerful, secure , and legitimate center, social control forces like investi­
gative bodies, courts, and congressional committees were afraid to act .
Similarly, there was n o struggle by differentiated elites against the threat
to (and by) the center, for many of these elites were divided, afraid, and
immobilized. Finally, no deep ritual processes emerged-that could have
happened only in response to tensions generated by the first four f�ctors.
Yet in the six months following the election the situation began to be
reversed . First, consensus began to emerge. The end of an intensely divis­
ive election period allowed a realignment that had been building at least
for two years prior to Watergate. The social struggles of the 1 960s had
long been over and many issues had been taken over by centrist groups . ·
• This observation i s based o n a systematic sampling o f national news magazine and

televised news reports from 1 968 through 1 976 .

 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y 187

I n the 1 960s struggles, the left had invoked critical universalism and
rationality, tying these values to social movements for equality and against
institutional authority , including, of course, the authority of the patriotic
state itself. The Right, for its part, evoked particularism, tradition, and
the defense of authority and the state .
In the post-election period, critical universalism could now be articu­
lated by centrist forces without being liked to the specific ideological
themes or goals of the Left, indeed, in defense of American national
patriotism itself. With this emerging consensus, the possibility for com­
mon feeling of moral violation emerged, and with it began the movement
toward generalization vis-a.-vis political goals and interests. Once this first
resource of consensus had become available, the other developments I
have mentioned could be activated.
The second and third factors were anxiety about the center and the
invocation of institutional social control. Developments in the postelec­
tion months provided a much safer and less "political" atmosphere for the
exercise of social control by the courts, the Justice Department, various
bureaucratic agencies, and special congressional committees. The very
operation of these social control institutions legitimated the media's ef­
forts to extend the Watergate pollution closer to central institutions. It
reinforced public doubt about whether Watergate was, in fact, only a
limited crime. It also forced more facts to surface . Of course, at this point
the ultimate level of generality and seriousness of Watergate remained
undetermined. With this new public legitimation, and the beginnings of
generalization it implied, fears that Watergate might pose a threat to the
center of American society quickly spread to significant publics and elites.
The question about proximity to the center preoccupied every major
group during this early postelection Watergate period. Senator Baker, at
a later time, articulated this anxiety with the question that became famous
during the summertime Senate hearings : " How much did the President
know, and when did he know it ?" This anxiety about the threat to the
center, in turn, intensified the growing sense of normative violation,
increased consensus, and contributed to generalization. It further ration­
alized the invocation of coercive social control. Finally, in structural
terms, it began to realign the "good" and "bad" sides of the Watergate
symbolization. Which side of the classification system were Nixon and his
staff really on?
The fourth factor was elite conflict. Throughout this period , the gen-
188 wA T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y

eralization process- pushed by consensus, by the fear for the center, and
by the activities of new institutions of social control-was fueled by a
desire for revenge against Nixon by alienated institutional elites. These
elites had represented "leftism" or simply "sophisticated cosmopolitanism"
to Nixon during his first four years in office, and they had been the object
of his legal and illegal attempts at suppression or control. They included
journalists and newspapers, intellectuals, universities, scientists, lawyers,
religionists, foundations, and, last but not least, authorities in various
public agencies and the U . S. Congress. Motivated by a desire to get even,
to reaffirm their threatened status, and to defend their universalistic
values, these elites moved to establish themselves as countercenters in the
years of crisis.
By May of 1 973 , almost one year after the break-in and six months after
the election , all of these forces for crisis creation and resolution were in
motion. Significant changes in public opinion had been mobilized and
powerful structural resources were being brought into play. It is only at
this point that the fifth crisis factor could emerge. Only now could there
emerge deep processes of ritualization- sacralization, pollution, and pu­
rification- though there had certainly already been important symbolic
developments.
The first fundamental ritual process of the Watergate crisis involved
the Senate Select Committee's televised hearings, which began in May
and continued through August. This event had tremendous repercussions
on the symbolic patterning of the entire affair. The decision to hold and
to televise the Senate's hearings responded to the anxiety that had built
up within important segments of the population. The symbolic process
that ensued functioned to canalize this anxiety in certain distinctive, more
generalized, and more consensual directions. The hearings constituted a
kind of civic ritual which revivified very general yet nonetheless very
crucial currents of critical universalism and rationality in the American
political culture. It recreated the sacred, generalized morality upon which
more mundane conceptions of office are based, and it did so by invoking
the mythical level of national understanding in a way that few other events
have in postwar history.
These hearings were initially authorized by the Senate on specific
political and normative grounds, their mandate being to expose corrupt
campaign practices and to suggest legal reforms. The pressure for ritual
process, however, soon made this initial mandate all but forgotten . The
 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H EI � I A .N S O C I 0 L O G Y 189

hearings became a sacred process by which the nation could reach a

judgment about the now critically judged Watergate crime . The consen­
sus-building, generalizing aspect of the process was to some extent quite
conscious. Congressional leaders assigned membership to the committee
on the basis of the widest possible regional and political representation
and excluded from the committee all potentially polarizing political per­
sonalities. Most of the generalizing process, however, developed much
less consciously in the course of the event itself. The developing ritual
quality forced committee members to mask their often sharp internal
divisions behind commitments to civic universalism . Much of the com­
mittee staff, for example, had been radical or liberal activists during the
'60S. They now had to assert patriotic universalism without any reference
to specific left-wing issues. Other staffers, who had been strong Nixon
supporters sympathetic to backlash politics, now had to forsake entirely
that justification for political action.
The televised hearings, in the end, constituted a liminal experience
(Turner 1 969) , one radically separated from the profane issues and mun­
dane grounds of everyday life. A ritual communitas was created for
Americans to share, and within this reconstructed commu nity none of the
polarizing issues that had generated the Watergate crisis, or the historical
justifications that had motivated it, could be raised . I nstead, the hearings
revivified the civic religion upon which democratic conceptions of "office"
have depended throughout American history. To understand how a lim­
inal world could be created it is necessary to see it as a "phenomenological
world" in the sense that Schutz described . The hearings succeeded in
becoming a world "unto itself. " It was sui generis, a world without
history. Its characters did not have rememberable pasts. It was in a very
real sense "out of time. " The framing devices of the television medium
contributed to the deracination that produced this phenomenological sta­
tus. The in-camera editing, the repetition, juxtaposition, simplification,
and other techniques that made the mythical story were invisible . Add to
this "bracketed experience" the hushed voices of the announcers, the
pomp and ceremony of the "event , " and we have the recipe for construct­
ing, within the medium of television , a sacred time and sacred space . to
A t the level o f mundane reality, two ferociously competitive political
forces were at war during the Watergate hearings. These forces had to
• For an important general discussion about how the medium of television can transform

social occasion into ritual "events," see Dayan and Katz ( 1 988) .
190 w A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y

translate themselves into the symbolic idioms of the occasion ; as a result,

they were defined and limited by cultural structures even as they strug­
gled to define and limit these structures in turn. For Nixon and his
political supporters, "Watergate" had to be defined politically : what the
Watergate burglars and cover-uppers had done was "just politics, " and
the anti-Nixon senators on the Watergate Committee (a majority of whom,
after all, were Democratic) were characterized simply as engaged in a
political witchhunt . For Nixon's critics on the committee, by contrast,
this mundane political definition had to be opposed . Nixon could be
criticized and Watergate legitimated as a real crisis only if the issues were
defined as being above politics and involving fundamental moral con­
cerns . These issues, moreover, had to be linked to forces near the center
of political society .
The first issue was whether the hearings were to be televised at all . To
allow something to assume the form of a ritualized event is to give
participants in a drama the right to forcibly intervene in the culture of the
society ; it is to give to an event, and to those who are defining its
meaning, a special, privileged access to the collective conscience. I n
primitive societies, ritual processes are ascribed : they occur at preor­
dained periods and in preordained ways. In more modern societies, ritual
processes are achieved, often against great odds. I ndeed, in a modern
society the assumption of ritual status often poses a danger and a threat to
vested interests and groups. We know, in fact, that strenuous efforts were
made by the White House to prevent the Senate hearings from being
televised , to urge that less television time be devoted to them, and even
to pressure the networks to cut short their coverage after it had begun.
There were also efforts to force the committee to consider the witnesses
in a sequence that was far less dramatic than the one eventually followed .
Because these efforts were unsuccessful, the ritual form was achieved. I
Through television, tens of millions of Americans participated symboli­
cally and emotionally in the deliberations of the committee. Viewing
became morally obligatory for wide segments of the population . Old
routines were broken, new ones formed . What these viewers saw was a
highly simplified drama-heroes and villains formed in due course. But
this drama created a deeply serious symbolic occasion .
I f achieving the form of modern ritual is contingent, so is explicating
the content, for modern rituals are not nearly so automatically coded as
earlier ones. Within the context of the sacred time of the hearings, admin-
 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E 1 M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y 19 1

istration witnesses and senators struggled for moral legitimation, for defi­
nitional or ritual superiority and dominance. The end result was in no
sense preordained. It depended on successful symbolic work. To describe
this symbolic work is to embark on the ethnography, or hermeneutics, of
televised ritual .
The Republican and administration witnesses who were "called to
account for themselves" pursued two symbolic strategies during the hear­
ings. First, they tried to prevent public attention from moving from the
political/profane to the value/sacred level at all. In this way, they repeat­
edly tried to rob the event of its phenomenological status as a ritual. They
tried to cool out the proceedings by acting relaxed and casual . For ex­
ample, H . R . Haldeman, the presidential assistant who was compared to
a Gestapo figure in the popular press, let his hair grow long so he would
look less sinister and more like "one of the boys. " These administrative
witnesses also tried to rationalize and specify the public's orientation to
their actions by arguing that they had acted with common sense according
to pragmatic considerations . They suggested that they had decided to
commit their crimes only according to standards of technical rationality.
The secret meetings that had launched a wide range o f illegal activities,
and considered many more, were described not as evil, mysterious con­
spiracies but as technical discussions about the "costs" of engaging in
various disruptive and illegal acts.
Yet the realm of values could not really be avoided. The symbol of
Watergate was already quite generalized, and the ritual form of the hear­
ings was already in place . It was within this value realm, indeed, that the
most portentous symbolic struggles of the hearings occurred, for what
transpired was nothing less than a struggle for the spiritual soul of the
American republic. Watergate had been committed and initially justified
in the climate of cultural and political "backlash , " values which in basic
ways contradicted the universalism, critical rationality, and tolerance upon
which contemporary democracy must be based . Republican and adminis­
tration witnesses evoked this subculture of backlash values. They urged
the audience to return to the polarized climate of the 1 960s. They sought
to justify their actions by appealing to patriotism, to the need for stability,
to the "un-American" and thereby deviant qualities of McGovern and the
Left. They also justified it by arguing against cosmopolitanism, which in
the minds of backlash traditionalists had undermined respect for tradition
and neutralized the universalistic constitutional rules of the game. More
190 w A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y

translate themselves into the symbolic idioms of the occasion ; as a result,

they were defined and limited by cultural structures even as they strug­
gled to define and limit these structures in turn. For Nixon and his
political supporters, "Watergate" had to be defined politically : what the
Watergate burglars and cover-uppers had done was "just politics, " and
the anti-Nixon senators on the Watergate Committee (a majority of whom,
after all, were Democratic) were characterized simply as engaged in a
political witchhunt . For Nixon's critics on the committee, by contrast,
this mundane political definition had to be opposed. Nixon could be
criticized and Watergate legitimated as a real crisis only if the issues were
defined as being above politics and involving fundamental moral con­
cerns. These issues, moreover, had to be linked to forces near the center
of political society.
The first issue was whether the hearings were to be televised at all . To
allow something to assume the form of a ritualized event is to give
participants in a drama the right to forcibly intervene in the culture of the
society ; it is to give to an event, and to those who are defining its
meaning, a special , privileged access to the collective conscience . In
primitive societies, ritual processes are ascribed : they occur at preor­
dained periods and in preordained ways. In more modern societies, ritual
processes are achieved, often against great odds. Indeed, in a modern
society the assumption of ritual status often poses a danger and a threat to
vested interests and groups. We know, in fact, that strenuous efforts were
made by the White House to prevent the Senate hearings from being
televised, to urge that less television time be devoted to them , and even
to pressure the networks to cut short their coverage after it had begun.
There were also efforts to force the committee to consider the witnesses
in a sequence that was far less dramatic than the one eventually followed.
Because these efforts were unsuccessful, the ritual form was achieved. l
Through television, tens of millions of Americans participated symboli­
cally and emotionally in the deliberations of the committee . Viewing
became morally obligatory for wide segments of the population . Old
routines were broken, new ones formed . What these viewers saw was a
highly simplified drama-heroes and villains formed in due course. But
this drama created a deeply serious symbolic occasion .
If achieving the form of modern ritual is contingent, so is explicating
the content, for modern rituals are not nearly so automatically coded as
earlier ones. Within the context of the sacred time of the hearings, admin-
 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E I M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y 19 1

istration witnesses and senators struggled for moral legitimation, for defi­
nitional or ritual superiority and dominance . The end result was in no
sense preordained . It depended on successful symbolic work. To describe
this symbolic work is to embark on the ethnography, or hermeneutics, of
televised ritual.
The Republican and administration witnesses who were "called to
account for themselves " pursued two symbolic strategies during the hear­
ings. First, they tried to prevent public attention from moving from the
political/profane to the value/sacred level at all. In this way, they repeat­
edly tried to rob the event of its phenomenological status as a ritual . They
tried to cool out the proceedings by acting relaxed and casual . For ex­
ample, H. R. Haldeman, the presidential assistant who was compared to
a Gestapo figure in the popular press, let his hair grow long so he would
look less sinister and more like "one of the boys. " These administrative
witnesses also tried to rationalize and specify the public's orientation to
their actions by arguing that they had acted with common sense according
to pragmatic considerations. They suggested that they had decided to
commit their crimes only according to standards of technical rationality.
The secret meetings that had launched a wide range of illegal activities,
and considered many more, were described not as evil, mysterious con­
spiracies but as technical discussions about the "costs" of engaging in
various disruptive and illegal acts.
Yet the realm of values could not really be avoided. The symbol of
Watergate was already quite generalized, and the ritual form of the hear­
ings was already in place . It was within this value realm, indeed, that the
most portentous symbolic struggles of the hearings occurred, for what
transpired was nothing less than a struggle for the spiritual soul of the
American republic. Watergate had been committed and initially justified
in the climate of cultural and political "backlash , " values which in basic
ways contradicted the universalism, critical rationality, and tolerance upon
which contemporary democracy must be based . Republican and adminis­
tration witnesses evoked this subculture of backlash values. They urged
the audience to return to the polarized climate of the 1 960s. They sought
to justify their actions by appealing to patriotism, to the need for stability,
to the "un-American" and thereby deviant qualities of McGovern and the
Left. They also justified it by arguing against cosmopolitanism, which in
the minds of backlash traditionalists had undermined respect for tradition
and neutralized the universalistic constitutional rules of the game. More
192 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y

specifically, administration witnesses appealed to loyalty as the ultimate

standard that should govern the relationship between subordinates and
authorities. An interesting visual theme which summed up both of these
appeals was the passive reference by administration witnesses to family
values. Each witness brought his wife and children if he had them. To
see them lined up behind him, prim and proper, provided symbolic links
to the tradition, authority, and personal loyalty that symbolically bound
the groups of backlash culture.
The anti-Nixon senators, for their part, faced an enormous challenge.
Outside of their own constituencies, they were not well-known ; arrayed
against them were representatives of an administration that six months
before had been elected by the largest landslide vote in American history.
This gigantic vote had been, moreover, partly justified by the particular­
istic sentiments of the backlash , the very sentiments that the senators
were now out to demonstrate were deviant and isolated from the true
American tradition.
What was the "symbolic work" in which the senators engaged ? In the
first instance, they denied the validity of particularist sentiments and
motives. They bracketed the political realities of everyday life, and partic­
ularly the critical realities of life in the only recently completed 1 960s. At
no time in the hearings did the senators ever refer to the polarized
struggles of that day. By making those struggles invisible, they denied
any moral context for the witnesses' actions. This strategy of isolating
backlash values was supported by the only positive explanation the sena­
tors allowed, namely, that the conspirators were just plain stupid. They
poked fun at them as utterly devoid of common sense, implying that no
normal person could ever conceive of doing such things.
This strategic denial, or bracketing in the phenomenological sense , was
coupled with a ringing and unabashed · affirmation of the universalistic
myths that are the backbone of the American civic religion. Through
their questions, statements, references, gestures, and metaphors, the sen­
ators maintained that every American, high or low, rich or poor, acts
virtuously in terms of the pure universalism of the civic republican tradi­
tion . Nobody is selfish or inhumane. No American is concerned with
money or power at the expense of fair play. No team loyalty is so strong
that it violates common good or makes criticism toward authority unnec­
essary. Truth and justice are the basis of American political society. Every
citizen is rational and will act in accordance with justice if he is allowed to
 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y 1 93

know the truth . Law is the perfect embodiment of justice, and office
consists of the application of just law to power and force . Because power
corrupts, office must enforce impersonal obligations in the name of the
people's justice and reason. Narrative myths which embodied these themes
were often invoked. Sometimes these were timeless fables, sometimes
they were stories about the origins of English common law, often they
were the narratives about the exemplary behavior of America's most
sacred presidents . John Dean, for example, the most compelling anti­
Nixon witness , strikingly embodied the American detective myth ( Smith
1 970) . This figure of authority is derived from the Puritan tradition, and
in countless different stories is portrayed as ruthlessly pursuing truth and
injustice without emotion or vanity. Other narratives developed in a more
contingent way. For administration witnesses who confessed , the commit­
tee's "priests" granted forgiveness in accord with well-established ritual
forms, and their conversions to the cause of righteousness constituted
fable s for the remainder of the proceedings.
These democratic myths were confirmed by the senator's confrontation
with family values. Their families were utterly invisible throughout the
hearings. We don't know if they had families, but they certainly were not
presented. Like the committee's chairman, Sam Ervin, who was always
armed with the B ible and the Constitution, the senators embodied tran­
scendent justice divorced from personal or emotional concerns.
Another confrontation that assumed ritual status was the swearing in of
the witnesses. Raising their right hands, each swore to tell the truth
before God and man . While this oath did have formal legal status, it
served the much more important function of ensuring moral degradation.
It reduced the famous , powerful people who were involved to the status
of "Everyman . " It placed them in subordinate positions vis-ii-vis the
overpowering and universalistic law of the land .
In terms of more direct and explicit conflict, the senators' questions
centered on three principle themes, each fundamental to the moral an­
choring of a civic democratic society. First, they emphasized the absolute
priority of office obligations over personal ones : "This is a nation of laws
not men" became a constant refrain. Second, they emphasized the embed­
dedness of such office obligations in a higher transcendent authority :
"The laws of men" must give way to the "laws of God . " Or as Sam Ervin,
the committee chairman, put it to Maurice Stans, the ill-fated treasurer
of Nixon's campaign committee, "Which is more important, not violating
19 4 w A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y

laws or not violating ethics ? " Finally, the senators insisted that this
transcendental anchoring of interest conflict allowed America to be a true
GemeinschaJt, in Hegel's terms, a true "concrete universal . " As Senator
Wiecker put it in a famous statement : "Republicans do not cover up,
Republicans do not go ahead and threaten . . . and God knows Republi­
cans don't view their fellow Americans as enemies to be harassed [but as]
human being[s] to be loved and won . "
I n normal times many o f these statements would have been greeted
with derision, with hoots and cynicism. In fact, many of them were lies
in terms of the specific empirical reality of everyday political life, and
especially in terms of the political reality of the 1 960s. Yet they were not
laughed at or hooted down. The reason was because this was not everyday
life. This was a ritualized and liminal event , a period of intense generali­
zation that had powerful claims to truth. It was a sacred time and the
hearing chambers had become a sacred place. The committee was evoking
luminescent values, not trying to describe empirical fact . On this mythical
level the statements could be seen and understood as true, as, indeed,
embodying the normative aspirations of the American people. They were
so seen and understood by significant portions of the population.
The hearings ended without laws or specific judgments of evidence,
but they nevertheless had profound effects. They helped to establish and
fully to legitimate a framework that henceforth gave the Watergate crisis
its meaning. They accomplished this by continuing and deepening the
cultural process which had begun before the election itself. Actual events
and characters in the Watergate episode were organized in terms of the
higher antitheses between the pure and the impure elements of America's
civil religion. Before the hearings "Watergate" was already a symbol
redolent with the structured antitheses of American mythical life, an­
titheses which were implicitly linked by the American people to the
structure of their civil religion. What the hearings accomplished, first,
was to make this linkage to civil religion explicit and pronounced. The
"good guys" of the Watergate process-their actions and motives-were
purified in the resacralization process through their identification with the
Constitution, norms of fairness, and citizen solidarity. The perpetrators
of Watergate, and the themes which they evoked as justification, were
polluted by association with symbols of civil evil : sectarianism, self­
interest, particularistic loyalty. As this description implies, moreover, the
hearings also restructured the linkages between Watergate elements and
 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y 195

FIGURE 6.2
Symbolic ClassificatioTj System as of August 197J

The Water,gate "Strncture "

Evil Good

Watergate Hotel White House

Burglars FBI
Dirty Tricksters I
Money Raisers Justice Department
Employees of CREEP
& Republican Party
Former U . S . Attorney General
Special Prosecutor Cox
& Secretary of Treasury
President's Closest Aides Senators Ervin, Weicker, Baker
Federal "Watchdog" B ureaucracy
I
President Nixon

American Civil Religion

Evil Good

Communism/Fascism Democracy
Shadowy Enemies White House-Americanism
Crime Law
Corruption Honesty
Personalism Responsibility
Bad Presidents Great Presidents
(e.g. , Harding/Grant) President Nixon (e.g. , Lincoln/Washington)

I
Great Scandals Heroic Reformers
(e.g. , Watergate) (e .g. , Sam Ervin)

the nation's political center. Many of the most powerful men surrounding
President Nixon were now implacably associated with Watergate evil, and
some of Nixon's most outspoken enemies were linked to Watergate good.
As the structural and symbolic centers of the civil religion were becoming
so increasingly differentiated, the American public found the presidential
party and the elements of civic sacredness more and more difficult to
bring together (see figure 6 . 2) .
While this reading o f the events is based on ethnography and interpre-
196 w A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y

tation, the process of deepening pollution is also revealed by poll data.

Between the 1 972 election and the very end of the crisis in 1 974, there
was only one large increase in the percentage of Americans who con­
sidered Watergate "serious. " This occurred during the first two months
of the Watergate hearings, April through early July 1973 . Before the
hearings, only 3 1 percent of Americans considered Watergate a "serious"
issue . By early July 50 percent did , and this figure remained constant
until the end of the crisis.
Although an enormous ritual experience had clearly occurred, any
contemporary application of Durkheimianism must acknowledge that such
modern rituals are' never complete. In the first place, ritual symbols must
be carefully differentiated. Despite the frequent references to presidential
involvement, and despite the president's shadow throughout the hearings,
poll data reveal that most Americans did not emerge from the ritual
experience convinced of President Nixon's involvement. In the second
place, the ritual effects of the hearings were unevenly felt. The Senate
hearings were most powerful in their effect on certain centrist groups and
left-wing groups : ( 1 ) among McGovern voters whose outrage at Nixon
was splendidly confirmed ; ( 2 ) among moderate Democrats who even if
they had voted for Nixon were now outraged at him, particularly after
many had crossed party lines to vote for him ; ( 3 ) among moderate or
liberal Republicans and independents who while disagreeing with many
of Nixon's positions had voted for him anyway. The latter groups were
particularly important to the entire process of Watergate. They were
prototypically cross-pressured, and it was the cross-pressured groups who
along with radical McGovern supporters became most deeply involved in
the hearings. Why ? Perhaps they needed the hearings to sort out confused
feelings, to clarify crucial issues, to resolve their uncomfortable ambiva­
lence . Certainly such a relative stake can be found in the poll data. In the
period mid-April 1 973 to late June 1 973 - the period of the hearings'
beginnings and its most dramatic revelations-the growth among Repub­
licans who thought Watergate "serious" was 20 percent, and among inde­
pendents, 18 percent ; for Democrats, however, the percentage growth
was only 1 5 percent. "

- The figures i n these last two paragraphs are drawn from the poll data presented i n Lang
and Lang ( 1983 :88-93 , I I 4- I I 7) . Appropriating the term "serious" from the polls, how­
ever, the Langs do not sufficiently differentiate the precise symbolic elements to which the
designation referred.
 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E � M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y 19 7

The year-long crisis which followed the hearings, from August 1 973 to
August 1 974, was punctuated by episodes of moral convulsion and public
anger, by renewed ritualization"; by the further shifting of symbolic clas­
sification to include the structural center-the Nixon presidency-and
by the further expansion of the solidary base of this symbolism to include
most of the significant segments of American society. In the wake of the
Senate hearings, a Special Prosecutor's Office was created . It was staffed ,
though not chaired, almost entirely by formerly alienated members of the
left-wing opposition to Nixon, who with their assumption of office made
publicly accepted professions of their commitments to impartial justice, a
process that further demonstrated the powerful generalizing and solida­
rizing phenomenon underway. The first special prosecutor was Archibald
Cox, whose Puritan and Harvard background made him the ideal embod­
iment of the civil religion . Nixon fired Cox in October 1 973 because he
had asked the courts to challenge the president's decision to withhold
information from the Special Prosecutor's Office. In response, there was
a massive outpouring of spontaneous public anger, which newspaper
reporters immediately dubbed the "Saturday Night Massacre. "
Americans seemed to view Cox's firing as a profanation of the attach­
ments they had built up during the Senate hearings, commitments to
newly revivified sacred tenets and against certain diabolical values and
tabooed actors. Because Americans had identified their positive values
and hopes with Cox, his firing made them fear pollution of their ideals
and themselves. This anxiety caused public outrage, an explosion of
public opinion during which three million protest letters were sent to the
White House over a single weekend . These letters were labelled a "flash­
flood, " a metaphor that played on the pre-crisis signification of the word
Watergate . The metaphor suggested that the scandal's polluted water had
finally broken the river gates and flooded surrounding communities. The
term "Saturday Night Massacre" similarly intertwined deeper rhetorical
themes. In the 1 920S a famous mob killing in gangland Chicago had been
called the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre". "Black Friday" was the day in
1 929 when the American stockmarket fell, shattering the hopes and trust
of millions of Americans. Cox's firing, then, produced the same kind of
symbolic condensation as dream symbolism, but on a mass scale. The
anxiety of the citizenry was deepened, moreover, by the fact that pollu­
tion had now spread directly to the very figure who was supposed to hold
American civil religion together, the president himself. By firing Cox,
198 wA T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y

President Nixon came into direct contact with the molten lava of sacred
impurity. The pollution that "Watergate" carried had now spread to the
very center of American social structure. While support for Nixon's im­
peachment had gone up only a few points during the Senate hearings,
after the " Saturday Night Massacre" it increased by fully 1 0 points. From
this flashflood came the first congressional motions for impeachment and
the instauration of the impeachment process in the House of Representa­
tives.
Another major expansion of pollution occurred when the transcripts of
White House conversations secretly taped during the Watergate period
were released in April and May 1 974. The tapes contained numerous
examples of presidential deceit, and they were also laced with presidential
expletives and ethnic slurs. Once again, there was tremendous public
indignation at Nixon's behavior. By his words and recorded actions he
had polluted the very tenets which the entire Watergate process had
revivified : the sacredness of truth and the image of America as an inclu­
sive, tolerant community. The symbolic and structural centers of Ameri­
can society were further separated, with Nixon (the representative of the
structural center) increasingly pushed into the polluted, evil side of the
Watergate dichotomies. This transcript convulsion helped define the sym­
bolic center as a distinct area, and it demonstrated that this center was
neither liberal nor conservative. Indeed, most of the indignation over
Nixon's foul language was informed by conservative beliefs about proper
behavior and civil decorum, beliefs which had been flagrantly violated by
Nixon's enemies, the Left, during the polarized period that preceded the
Watergate crisis .
In June and July of the year following, legal proceedings began against
Nixon in the U . S . House of Representatives. These impeachment hear­
ings were conducted by the House Judiciary Committee, and they marked
the most solemn and formalized ritual of the entire Watergate episode.
This proved to be the closing ceremony, a rite of expulsion in which the
body politic rid itself of the last and most menacing source of sacred
impurity. By the time of these hearings the symbolization of Watergate
was already highly developed ; in fact, Watergate had become not only a
symbol with significant referents but also a powerful metaphor whose
self-evident meaning itself served to define unfolding events . The mean­
ing structure associated with "Watergate, " moreover, now unequivocally
placed a vast part of White House and "center" personnel on the side of
 W A T E R G AT E A N D D U RKHElM I .A N S O C I 0 L O G Y 199

civil pollution and evil . The only question that remained was whether
President Nixon himself would finally be placed alongside them as well.
The House hearings recapitulated the themes which had appeared in
the Senate hearings one year before. The most pervasive background
debate was over the meaning of "high crimes and misdemeanors, " the
constitutional phrase which set forth the standard for impeachment. Nix­
on's supporters argued for a narrow interpretation which held that an
officer had to have committed an actual civil crime. Nixon's opponents
argued for a broad interpretation which would include issues of political
morality, irresponsibility, and deceit. Clearly, this was a debate over the
level of system crisis : were merely normative, legal issues involved, or did
this crisis reach all the way to the most general value underpinnings of
the entire system? Given the highly ritualized format of the hearings, and
the tremendous symbolization which had preceded the committee's delib­
erations, it hardly seems possible that the committee could have adopted
anything other than the broad interpretation of "high crimes and misde­
meanors."
This generalized definition set the tone for the hearings' single most
distinctive quality : the ever-recurring emphasis on the members' fairness
and the objectivity of its procedures. Journalists frequently remarked on
how congressmen rose to the sense of occasion, presenting themselves not
as political representatives of particular interests but as embodiments of
sacred civil documents and democratic mores. This transcendence of wide
partisan division was echoed by the cooperation among the Judiciary
Committee's staff, which, in fact, had actually set the tone for the com­
mittee's formal, televised deliberations. Key members of the staff had, in
the '60S, been critics of establishment activities like the Vietnam War and
supporters of antiestablishment movements like civil rights. Yet this par­
tisan background never publicly surfaced during the vast journalistic
coverage of the committee's work ; even right-wing conservatives never
made an issue of it. Why not ? Because this committee, like its Senate
counterpart one year before , existed in a liminal, detached place. They,
too, operated within sacred time, their deliberations continuous not with
the immediate partisan past but with the great constitutive moments of
the American republic : the signing of the Bill of Rights, the framing of
the Constitution, the crisis of the Union which marked the Civil War.
This aura of liminal transcendence moved many of the most conserva­
tive members of the committee, Southerners whose constituents had
200 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E I M I A N S O C I O L O G Y

voted for Nixon by landslide proportions, to act out of conscience rather

than political expediency. The Southern bloc, indeed, formed the key to
the coalition that voted for three articles of impeachment. These final
articles, revealingly, purposefully eschewed a fourth article, earlier pro­
posed by liberal Democrats, which condemned Nixon's secret bombing
of Cambodia. Though this earlier article referred to a real violation of
law, it was an issue that was interpreted by Americans in specifically
political terms, terms about which they widely disagreed. The final three
impeachment articles, by contrast, referred only to fully generalized is­
sues. At stake was the code that regulated political authority, the question
of whether impersonal obligations of office can and should control per­
sonal interest and behavior. It was Nixon's violation of the obligations of
his office which made the House vote his impeachment.
After Nixon resigned from office, the relief of American society was
palpable . For an extended period the political community had been in a
liminal state, a condition of heightened anxiety and moral immersion
which scarcely allowed time for the mundane issues of political life . When
Vice-President Ford ascended to the presidency, there were a series of
symbolic transformations which indicated ritualistic reaggregation . Presi­
dent Ford, in his first words after taking office, announced that "our long
national nightmare is over." Newspaper headlines proclaimed that the sun
had finally broken through the clouds, that a new day was being born.
Americans effused about the strength and unity of the country. Ford
himself was transformed, through these reaggregating rites, from a rather
bumbling partisan leader into a national healer, the incarnation of a "good
guy" who embodied the highest standards of ethical and political be­
havior.
Before continuing with the symbolic process after this reaggregation, I
would like to return , once again, to the fact that modern rituals are never
complete. This incompleteness represents the impact of relatively "auton­
omous" social system forces which Durkheim's sociological idealism made
it impossible to consider. Even after the ritual ceremony which consen­
sually voted articles of impeachment and the ritual renewal with President
Ford, poll data reveal that a surprising segment of American society
remained unconvinced . Between 1 8 and 20 percent of Americans did not
find President Nixon guilty, either of a legal crime or of moral turpitude.
These Americans, in other words, did not participate in the generalization
of opinion which drove Nixon from office. They interpreted the Water-
 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y 201

gate process, rather, as stimulated by political vengeance by Nixon's

enemies. The demographics of this loyalist group are not particularly
revealing. They were of mixed education and from every class and occu­
pation . One of the few significant structural correlations was their ten­
dency to be from the South. What did, apparently, really distinguish this
group was their political values. They held a rigid and narrow idea of
political loyalty , identifying the belief in God, for example, with commit­
ment to Americanism. They also held a deeply personalized vision of
political authority, tending much more than other Americans to express
their allegiance to Nixon as a man and to his family as well . Finally, and
not surprisingly , this group had reacted much more negatively than other
Americans to the left-wing social movements of the 1 960s. The fact that
they were committed to a polarized and exclusivist vision of political
solidarity reinforced their reluctance to generalize from specifically politi­
cal issues to general moral concerns. Such generalization would have
involved not only criticism of Nixon but the restoration of a wider, more
inclusive political community. In voting for Nixon they had supported a
candidate who promised to embody their backlash sentiments and who
had appeared, during his first years in office, inclined to carry out their
wishes for a narrow and primordial political community.
The period of social reaggregation after Watergate's liminal period­
the closure of the immediate ritual episode-raises, once again, the prob­
lem of the dichotomizing nature of Western social theory, for it involves
the relationship between such categories as charisma/routine, sacred/pro­
fane, generalization/institutionalization. On the one hand, it is clear that
with Ford's ascension a much more routine atmosphere prevailed. Insti­
tutional actors and the public in general seemed to return to the profane
level of goal and interest conflict. Political dissensus once again prevailed.
Conflicts over the inflationary economy captured the news for the first
time in months, and this issue, along with America's dependence on
foreign oil, loomed large in the autumn congressional elections of 1 974.
According to the theories of routinization and specification, or institu­
tionalization, the end of ritualization ushers in a new, completely post­
spiritual phase, in which there is the institutionalization or crystallization
of ritual spirit in a concrete form. The most elaborated theory of this
transition is found in the works of Smelser ( 1 959, 1 963) and Parsons
(Parsons and Bales 1 955 :35-1 32) . In these works, post-crisis structures
are described as evolving because they are better adapted to deal with the
202 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y

source of initial disequilibrium . Generalization is ended, then, because of

the "efficiency" with which newly created structures deal with concrete
role behavior. Now , to a certain extent , such new and more adaptive
institution building did occur in the course of the Watergate process. New
structures emerged that allowed the political system to be more differen­
tiated, or insulated, from interest conflict, and which allowed universal­
ism to be more strongly served . Conflict-of-interest rules were developed
and applied to presidential appointments ; congressional approval of some
of the president's key staff appointments, like Director of the Office of
Management and Budget , was instituted ; a standing Special Prosecutor's
Office was created , the attorney general being required to decide within
thirty days of any congressional report on impropriety whether a prose­
cutor should actually be called ; finally, federal financing of presidential
election campaigns was passed into law. There were , in addition, a range
of more informally sanctioned institutional innovations : the post of "chief
of staff " became less powerful ; the doctrine of "executive privilege" was
used much more sparingly ; Congress was consulted on important mat­
ters .
Durkheim and Weber would tend to support this dichotomous picture
of crisis resolution . Weber, of course, saw most political interaction as
instrumentally routine . The transition from charisma (Weber 1 978 : 246-
255) was preceded by structural innovation on the part of the leader's
self-interested staff and triggered automatically and conclusively by the
leader's death. - D urkheim's understanding is more complex. On the one
hand - and this, of course, is the problem with which we began our
inquiry- Durkheim saw the non-ritual world as thoroughly profane, as
non-valuational , as political or economic , as conflictual , and even in a
certain sense as nonsocial (Alexander 1 982 : 292-306) . At the same time,
however, Durkheim clearly overlaid this sharp distinction with a more
continuous theory, for he insisted that the effervescence from rituals

· Shils' ( 1 975 ; cf. Eisenstadt 1 968) reading of Weber's charisma theory has been an
important exception that has significantly influenced myown treatment . Shils makes routin­
ization the corollary of institutionalization and does so with a reference to continuing
sacrality. Shils' overt reliance on Weber and charisma, however, tells us more about what
B loom calis the- anxiety ofinfluence than it does about the real theoretical origins of his
work, for. he clearly draws more on Parsons' and Durkheim's later thought than on Weber
himself (see cha:pt��- 5 ) . For an eitremely interesting extension of the Shils-Eisenstadt
charisma theory, see Seligman's ( 1 987) discussion of the relationship between routinization,
institutionalization, and primordialityin earlyNew England.
 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y 20J

continued to infuse post-ritual life for some time after the immediate
period of ritual interaction. Once again , I believe that this profound
empirical insight can be understood only by reconceptualizing it, specifi­
cally by using it to critique and reorient the generalization-specification
theory of the Parsonian tradition.
Though the crisis m odel of generalization-specification has been taken
from functionalist analysis, the notion of generalization as ritual has been
drawn from Durkheim . The analysis of social crisis presented here, there­
fore, has given much more autonomy to symbolic process than would a
purely functionalist one . Generalization and ritualization are not engaged ,
in my view, purely for psychological or social-structural reasons-either
because of anxiety or the inefficiency of social structures- but also be­
cause of the violation of ardently adhered to moral beliefs. Symbolic
processes, therefore, occur as much to work out issues on this level as to
provide more efficient structures for addressing specific, " real" disequi­
libriating problems . It is for this reason that ritualization is succeeded not
by merely structural change but also by continued cultural effervescence.
The recharged antinomies of the cultural order, and the emotional inten­
sity which underlies them, continue to create moral conflict and , often , to
support significantly different cultural orientations.
As compared, for example, to the aftershocks of the Dreyfus Affair, the
effervescence of Watergate must be understood in terms of relative cul­
tural unity. "Watergate" had come to be viewe d - and this is extraordi­
narily significant in comparative terms- not as an issue of the Left or the
Right but rather as a national issue about which most parties agreed .
There were, it was universally agreed , certain " lessons of Watergate" from
which the nation had to learn . American talked incessantly in the period
between 1 974 and 1 976 about the imperatives of what was referred to as
"post-Watergate morality. " They experienced this as an imperious social
force which laid waste to institutions and reputations. " Post-Watergate
morality" was the name given to the effervescence from the ritual event.
It named the revivified values of critical rationality, anti-authoritarianism,
and civil solidarity, and it named the polluted values of conformity,
personalistic deference, and factional strife . For several years after the
end of liminality , Americans applied these highly charged moral impera­
tives to group and interest conflict and to bureaucratic life, demanding
radical universalism and heightened solidarity at every turn .
For the adult population, therefore- the case seems to have been
204 w A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y

somewhat different for children- the effect of Watergate was not in­
creased cynicism or political withdrawal. Quite the opposite. Ritual effer­
vescence increased faith in the political "system" even while the distrust
it produced continued to undermine public confidence in particular insti­
tutional actors and authorities. Institutional distrust is different from the
delegitimation of general systems per se (Lipset and Schneider 1 983 ) . I f
there i s trust in the norms and values which are conceived a s regulating
political life, there may actually be more contention over the wielding of
power and force (d. Barber 1983 ) . In this sense , political democracy and
political efficiency may be opposed, for the first lends itself to conflict
while the second depends on order and control.
I n the immediate post-Watergate period, a heightened sensitivity to the
general meaning of office and democratic responsibility did indeed lead to
heightened conflict and to a series of challenges to authoritative control.
Watergate became more than ever before a highly charged metaphor. No
longer was it simply a referent for naming events which objectively oc­
curred, but a moral standard which helped subjectively to create them .
Members of the polity, inspired by its symbolic power, sought out sinful
behavior and tried to punish it. The result was a series of scandals :
" Koreagate" and " B illygate" on the American scene, for example, and
"Winegate" abroad.
The giant explosion of Watergate into the American collective con­
science vented a series of aftershocks of populist anti-authoritarianism and
critical rationality.
I . Almost immediately after the reaggregation ceremonies, there un­
folded in close succession a series of unprecedented congressional investi­
gations. Nelson Rockefeller, Ford's vice-presidential nominee, was sub­
jected to a long and heated televised inquiry into the possible misuses of
his personal wealth. Enormous televised investigations were also launched
by the Congress into the secret, often anti-democratic working of the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of I nvestiga­
tion ( FB I ) , institutions whose patriotic authority had previously been
unquestioned. This outpouring of these "little Watergates, " as they were
called, extended well into the Carter administration of 1 976- 1 980. Car­
ter's chief assistant, Bert Lance, was forced out of office after highly
publicized hearings that badly impugned his financial and political integ­
rity. Each of these investigations created a scandal in its own right ; each
 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y 205

followed, often down to the smallest detail and word, the symbolic model
established by Watergate .
2 . Whole new reform movements were generated from the Watergate
spirit. There emerged a Society for Investigative Reporting, a new orga­
nization that responded to the spurt of morally inspired, critical journal­
ism by those journalists who had internalized the Watergate experience
and sought to externalize its model. Federal crime investigators- lawyers
and policemen-formed white-collar crime units throughout the United
States. For the first time in American history significant prosecutorial
resources were shifted away from the conventionally defined, often lower­
class, criminals to high-status office holders in the public and private
domains. Inspired by the Watergate model , it became the established, a
pn'ori conviction of many city, state, and federal prosecutors that office
holders might well commit crimes against the public. By ferreting them
out and prosecuting them, they tried to maintain the moral alertness of
all authorities to the responsibility of office as such .
3 . I n the months subsequent to reaggregation, authority was critically
examined at every institutional level of American society, even the most
mundane. The Boy Scouts, for example, rewrote their constitution to
emphasize not just loyalty and obedience but critical questioning. The
judges of the Black Miss America beauty pageant were accused of person­
alism and bias. Professional groups examined and rewrote their codes of
ethics. Student-body officers of high schools and universities were called
to task after little scandals were created. City councillors and mayors were
"exposed" in every city , great and small . Through most of these contro­
versies, specific issues of policy and interest were not significantly con­
sidered. It was the codes of office themselves which were at stake.
These concrete, institutional events, in other words, were actually
motivated by the continuing "religious" struggles within post-Watergate
culture. This connection is further demonstrated by the continuation in
that period of even more specific Watergate-related themes. There were
continuous assertions, for example , that America was morally unified.
Groups which had been previously excluded or persecuted, most particu­
larly those associated with the Communist party, were publicly cleansed.
I have already · mentioned that those institutions most responsible for
political witch hunts, particularly the FB I , were reprimanded for their
un-Americanism. Alongside this there occurred a more subtle outpouring
206 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E I M I A N S O C I O L O G Y

from the collective conscience : books, articles, movies, and television

shows appeared about the immorality and tragedies associated with
"McCarthyism, " all painting persecuted fellow-travellers and Commu­
nists in a sympathetic and familiar light . The anti-war movement as­
sumed , through this same retrospective figuratorial process, a respectable,
even heroic light . No doubt inspired by this rebirth of community,
leaders of New Left underground organizations began to give themselves
up, trusting the state but particularly the American opinion-making pro­
cess to give them a fair hearing.
Through it all the vividness of Watergate's impure symbols remained
strikingly intact . Trials of the Watergate conspirators, former cabinet
officers and high-ranking aids generated large headlines and great preoc­
cupation. Their published confessions and mea culpas were objects of
intensely moral, even spiritual dispute . Richard Nixon, the very personi­
fication of evil, was viewed by alarmed Americans as a continuing source
of dangerous pollution . Still a source of symbolic power, his name and
his person were forms of what Durkheim called the "liquid impure. "
Americans tried t o protect themselves from this polluting Nixonian lava
by building walls. They sought to keep Nixon out of "good society" and
isolated in San Clemente, his former presidential estate . When Nixon
tried to buy an expensive apartment in New York, the building's tenants
voted to bar the sale. When he travelled around the country, crowds
followed to boo him, and politicians shunned him . When he reappeared
on television, viewers sent indignant, angry letters. Indeed , Nixon could
escape this calumny only by travelling to foreign countries, though even
some foreign leaders refused to associate with him in public . For Ameri­
cans, there was an extraordinary fear of being touched by Nixon or his
image . Such contact was believed to lead to immediate ruin. When Presi­
dent Ford pardoned Nixon several months after assuming office, Ford's
honeymoon with the public abruptly ended . Tarnished by this (however
brief) association with Nixon, he alienated such a large body of the
electorate that it cost him the subsequent presidential election .
The spirit of Watergate did eventually subside. Much of the structure
and process which had stimulated the crisis reappeared , although it did
so in a significantly altered form . Nixon had ridden a backlash against
modernity into office, and after his departure this movement against
liberal and inclusive secularism continued . But this conservatism now
emerged in a much more anti-authoritarian form . Social movements like
 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U RKH E I M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y 207

the tax revolt and the anti-abortion movement combined the post-Water­
gate spirit of critique and challenge with particularistic and often reaction­
ary political issues. Ronald Reagan was swept into office on many of the
old backlash issues, yet upon the Reagan presidency, too, there continued
to be a noticeable post-Watergate effect. For if Reagan was even more
conservative than Nixon, he was committed to carrying out his reaction
against the Left in a democratic and consensual way. This commitment
may not have been a personal one , but it was enforced unequivocally by
the public mood and by the continuing vitality of the potential counter
centers to presidential power.
Not only did the rightward movement of American politics reappear ,
but the authoritarianism of the "imperial presidency" regained much of
its earlier force. As the distance from Watergate increased, concrete eco­
nomic and political problems assumed greater importance. Solving for­
eign crises, inflation , energy problems- the American people focused
moOre and more on attaining these elusive "goals. " These generated de­
mands for specificity and efficacy, not for generalized morality. Given the
structure of the American political system, these demands for efficacy
necessitated a strong executive . The concern about the morality of author­
ity became increasingly blunted by demands for strong and effective
authority. Jimmy Carter began his presidency by promising the American
people, "I will never lie to you . " He ended it by making a strong presi­
dency his principal campaign slogan. By the time Reagan became presi­
dent , he could openly disdain some conflict-of-interest laws, re-employ
some of the lesser-polluted Watergate figures, and move to wrap executive
authority once again in a cloak of secrecy and charisma . These later
developments do not mean that Watergate had no effect . The codes that
regulate political authority in America had been forcibly renewed, codes
which, even when they are latent, continue to affect concrete political
activity. Politics in America had simply, and finally, returned to the
"normal" level of interests and roles.
The Iran-Contra affair of 1 986- 1 987 demonstrated both sides of the
Watergate denouement - social normalization and political conservatism ,
on the one hand, continuing normative vitality and broad democratic
conventions, rin the other. Like Nixon and other presidents who were
confronted with institutional blockages, Reagan subverted office obliga­
tions to attain his goals by illegal means. With the Democratic takeover of
the Senate in November 1 986, and the gradual shift of American public
208 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E I M I A N S O C I O L O G Y

opinion away from a conservative, anti-government stance, the social

environment that had legitimated these actions begin to change. As a
result of these and other contextual shifts, strong barriers were thrown up
against what became "Contragate . " In the midst of the furor in the public
media and contentious Congressional hearings, Reagan's actions were
transformed for many Americans from a questionable political strategy
into an abuse, or even usurpation, of power. Because this attack on
earthly power was intertwined, once again, with a renewal of ideal codes,
this usurpation was described as a polluting aberration . These events
never reached the crisis proportions of Watergate ; few events in a nation's
history ever do . - Still, without the "memory of justice" provided by that
earlier crisis, it is doubtful that the administration's actions would so
easily and quickly have been transformed into an affair.

III

I n the first part of this essay I maintained the importance of Durkheim's

later, "religious" sociology. At the same time, I argued that it should be
accepted more as an empirical theory of specific social processes than as a
general theory of societies. In the second section I explored what these
specific social processes are with reference to the Watergate crisis in the
United States, placing the religious sociology within a more general theo­
retical and empirical framework. In this concluding section, I would like
to focus briefly on the status of this later religious theory in a more general
and abstract way .
There are three dimensions of Durkheim's later religious theory : mor­
phology, solidarity, and classification. Each of these dimensions refers to
a different empirical element in Durkheim's later work, yet, at the same
time, Durkheim often conflates and reduces each element to the other.
Each of these three elements, moreover, becomes the focus for indepen­
dent strands of the Durkheimian tradition after Durkheim's death . Before
a satisfactory cultural sociology can be developed, these traditions must
be brought back together, the elements of each reconceptualized and
analytically intertwined (see Alexander 1 988a, and chapter 5 , above) .
Durkheim's theory of classification relates purely to the organization of
symbols, and his major contribution in this regard is to suggest that the
• For an examination of the Iran-Contra scandal in terms of the framework I have set out

here, see Alexander ( 1 987).

 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E I M I A N S O C I O L O G Y 209

antipathy between sacred and profane presents a fundamental structure

of symbolic organization. Certainly the structuralism of Levi-Strauss ( 1 966)
represents the foremost contribution to expanding, systematizing, and
applying this classificatory scheme . * But because of its purely cognitive
focus , structuralism ignores the manner in which such bifurcating classi­
fication is oriented not simply to mind but to affect and society. These
emphases can be brought into the abstract schema of structuralism by
reinvoking the charged terms "sacred" and "profane. " Sacred symbols are
not simply one side of an abstract dichotomy. They are the focus of
heightened affect, reflecting the emotional desirability of achieving the
good . The opposite, antagonistic side of Durkheim's classification system
must, however, undergo further reconstruction. As Caillois ( [1939] 1959)
first demonstrated , Durkheim often confused the profane-as-routine with
the sacred-as-impure . It is necessary, therefore, to develop the three-fold
classification of pure-sacredlimpure-sacredlprofane. Mary Douglas ( 1 966) ,
building upon notions of taboo, has expanded Durkheim's original under­
standing in a similar way, demonstrating that every symbolization of
sacred purity is classified with an impure element that is given enormous
polluting power. Because the fear of pollution is motivated by psycholog­
ical anxiety and is directed , as well, to deviant social forces and groups,
this revised understanding allows Durkheim's classificatory theory to be
set forth in a manner that avoids the idealist and abstract implications of
structural theory.
Yet the theory of symbolic antagonism must be complemented by other
theories of symbolic classification. Symbols are also powerfully organized
by myths, by narratives t hat assemble and reassemble symbols into dra­
matic forms. Eliade ( 1 959) has elaborated mythical organization in histor­
ical and archeological ways. Ricoeur has developed perhaps the most
elaborate contemporary phenomenology of mythical organization, partic­
ularly in his work (Ricoeur 1 967) on the symbolism of evil . But more
present-oriented myth analyses must also be explored, for example, the
work of Henry Nash Smith, Virgin Land ( 1 970) , which builds upon
Levy-Bruhl to explore how myths about the Yoeman Farmer guided the
Western movement of the American nation.
Neither myth nor structural analysis address the issue of temporality,
the actual historical development that often occurs within the realm of

• For an exam p le of the best recent work in this tradition see Sahlins ( 1 976) .
210 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y

symbolic classification itself. Here , one turns to the contribution of Weber

and others in the German Idealist school (chapter 2, above) . In his
account of the movement from this-worldly mysticism to this-worldly
asceticism ( 1 978 : 541 -63 5) Weber systematically demonstrated the evolu­
tion of religious ideas about salvation. Troeltsch ( [ 1 9 I I ] 1 960) followed
up Weber's contribution by demonstrating historical evolution in ideas
about individual autonomy . Jellinek's writings ( [ 1 885] 1 90 1 ) on the
origins of the Declaration of the Rights of Man represents a less-known
work in this genre, that later inspired Weber himself. Among contempo­
raries, Bellah's ( 1 970 and Bellah and Hammond 1 980) theory about the
comparative evolution of "civil religions" is the most significant secular
transformation of Weberian ideas, although Walzer's ( 1 965) work on
Puritanism and the English Revolution and Little's ( 1 969) on Puritanism
and law are also exemplary.
This historical dimension of the Weberian approach to symbolic orga­
nization feeds into the Parsonian-functionalist concentration on values .
"Values" refers to explicit cognitive ideas about the meaning of social
structure . Value analysis has often functioned as a cover for the reduction
of culture to social structure, and it has also tended to produce a fragmen­
tary description of culture as composed of discrete and unconnected units
of meaning. It need not do so, however, particularly if it is combined
with the thematic approach of intellectual history . Martin Wiener's ( 1 98 1 )
analysis o f the rise o f anti-industrial values i n English history i s just such
a case. Sewell's ( 1 980) work on the value of corporatism in French
working-class history is another. Viviana Zelizer's ( 1 979) analysis of how
shifting ideas related to the development of the American life insurance
industry is a fine example of value analysis in the functionalist tradition
(see also Zelizer 1 985 ) .
Finally, as Lukes ( 1 982) has reminded us i n his recent introduction to
Durkheim's writing on sociological method , any contemporary extension
of Durkheimian "classification" theory must come firmly to grips with the
hermeneutical and interpretive tradition. Rhetorical theories of textual
analysis-so brilliantly elaborated by Geertz ( 1 973) - must be incorpo­
rated into the tools of cultural sociology. So must the general stricture ,
first insisted upon by Dilthey ( 1 976 : 1 55-263) and most recently articu­
lated by Ricoeur ( 1 971 ) , that for purposes of symbolic analysis social
action must be read as a text. Semiotics, both as literary method and as
 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y 211

social theory, can be incorporated into cultural sociology only i n this way
(d. Sahlins 1976 ; Barthes 1 983 ) .
Yet Durkheim's analysis o f solidarity i s just as significant, I believe, as
his theory of symbolic organization . He leads classification to solidarity
through his ritual theory ; hence it is not only solidarity but ritual that
symbolic structuralism ignores. Ritual theory provides the social process
and action for symbolic classification ; solidarity provides the link between
ritual , symbolization, and the concrete social community. Together, rit­
ual and solidarity allow the cultural analyst to discuss social crisis and
renewal, and their relation not only to symbolic organization but to
institutions and social groups .
Durkheim tied solidarity too closely to classification . Although he im­
plied an independent power for the sacred and profane (here Levi-Strauss's
critique [e .g. , 1 966 : 2 1 4] is wrong) , he just as often explained classifica­
tion merely as the reflection of solidary forms (here Levi-Strauss was
right) . Not only must symbolic organization be treated as an independent
dimension, but solidarity itself must be internally differentiated. The
renewal of solidarity that ritual provides must be considered separately
from the degree of its empirical reach , apart, that is, from the question of
just how far such solidarity extends. * Both these issues, moreover­
renewal and integration - must be dissociated from the unreflexive, auto­
matic quality that accrues to them in Durkheim's original work. Not only
must the initiation of ritual be treated in an historically specific way, but
the course that ritualization and solidarizing processes take once they are
initiated must be theorized in a manner that allows an open-ended under­
standing. Evans-Pritchard's ( 1 953) demonstration of how ritual activity
can re-establish the relationship between socially refracted cultural themes
is a crucial early contribution to this problem (d. Alexander 1 988c) .
Victor Turner (e.g. , 1 969) has made the most explicit effort to expand
Durkheim's solidary/ritual theory . Turner's generalization and abstrac­
tion of Van Gennep's stages of ritual process- separation, liminality,
reaggregation-is important because it allows ritual analysis to be applied
outside of tightly structured domains. Liminality, and the communitas
that accompanies it, can now be seen more clearly as typical responses to
status reversal and instability at any level of social life . Yet Turner's work
• I believe that Lukes ( 1 975) was getting at this separation in another way in his important
piece on neo-Durkheimian treatments of ritual life.
212 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E I M I A N S O C I O L O G Y

still suffers from the rigid dichotomies of Durkheim's original , particu­

larly from the idealistic reification of solidarity and from his insistence
that liminality is astructural rather than simply less specified and routin­
ized. Sewell's detailed and historically specific description of the episodic
eruption of working-class solidarity and the gradual expansion of worker
cooperation avoids these problems while maintaining a close, if implicit,
faithfulness to the central core of Durkheim's work. Moore's ( 1 975) insis­
tence on the processual and contingent within ritual process, by contrast,
tries to push contemporary ritual analysis toward the flux and flow of
social life.
Finally, there is the problem of morphology . For Durkheim, morphol­
ogy is social structure . Yet, though he insisted that classification and
solidarity must be linked to morphology, once he abjures the morpholog­
ical determinism of his early work he seems unable to tell us how such a
link might take place. One problem is that his theoretical dichotomies
force him to work with a correspondence theory of interrelationship . A
more multidimensional stance, by contrast, would make morphology the
continuous referent for a symbolizing process that simultaneously refers
to the personality and cultural orders. Most contemporary work on cul­
ture and social structure, however, repeats Durkheim's mistake, what
Sahlins ( 1 976) describes-in reference to Marx- as giving morphology
temporal if not ontological priority over symbolization . This is especially
true, for example, in the later work of Mary Douglas (Douglas and
Wildavsky 1 982) , which describes pollution symbols as if they were mere
reflections of core group/out group relations. In his discussion of solidar­
ity, Turner makes much the same mistake . He describes it as propelled
by concrete social arrangements without any prior relationship to cultural
codes. Sewell , too, derives his French workers' initial ideas about solidar­
ity from the "real" structures of their economic life .
The only way to avoid this false prioritizing is to appreciate Parsons's
insistence that there is only an analytical (never empirical or historical)
differentiation between culture and social system. Social structural com­
ponents are never without symbolic internalization or institutionalization,
nor are symbolic classifications ever without some element of socialized
form. - The only way to capture this analytic point empirically is to
acknowledge that every structural event, and even every specific social
· While the latter point is often denied by Sahlins ( 1 976) , his analysis of food symbolism
as structured by the value placed on human life actually demonstrates its truth.
 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E l M I A N S O C I 0 L O G Y 2 13

value, exists within a very broad matrix of cultural tradition . Until re­
cently, this matrix has been religion, and morphological analysis that
separates material from religious structure does so at its peril. Walzer's
( 1 965) analysis of the interrelation of class, Christianity, education, polit­
ical exile, and social change remains the most successful analysis of inter­
relation of which I am aware .
But the problem of morphology extends beyond the problem of inter­
relationship alone . It is based as well on the very difficulty of conceptual­
izing morphology itself . Durkheimian theory has had a very underdevel­
oped sense of the nature of social structure . One needs to turn to the
functionalist and Weberian traditions to find a more complex and dynamic
referent for symbolization and solidarity . Only after this referent is dis­
covered can the most interesting substantive processes of contemporary
symbolization be studied-for example, the Weberian problem of author­
ity - and can questions like the degree of ritual integration finally be
addressed. It has been a working hypothesis of this essay that the ability
to reconstitute solidarity in social crises is related to the degree of social
structural differentiation, on the one hand, and to the degree to which a
given culture defines symbolic authority in universalistic terms, on the
other.

I f social science today is to develop a cultural theory, it must build on

Durkheim's "religious" sociology. If it is to do this , however, it must
reconstruct this later writing in a serious and ambitious way. I have tried,
in the present essay, to lay out some of what this reconstruction entails
and to offer an extended example of what such a reconstructed theory
might look like in action .

N O T E

1 . That Nixon struggled against television in order to prevent ritualization

underscores the peculiar qualities of this medium's esthetic form . In his pioneer­
ing essay, What Is. Cinema? Andre Bazin ( 1 958) suggested that the unique ontol­
ogy of cinema, as compared to written art forms such as novels, is realism. Bazin
meant not that artifice is absent from cinema but that the end results of cinema
artifice gives the unmistakable impression of being real, lifelike and true. The
audience cannot distance itself from talking and speaking images as easily as it can
214 W A T E R G A T E A N D D U R K H E I M I A N S O C I O L O G Y

from static, impersonal, literary forms. This forceful realism is as true for tele­
vision, particularly documentary and news television, as for the classic cinema,
though in this case the medium of contrast is the newspaper rather than the novel.
Thus, ever since its appearance after World War II, political leaders have sensed
that to command the medium of television, with the hidden artifice of it mis-en­
scene, means that one's words will possess- in the public's mind-the ontological
status of truth.
I n this sense, Nixon's struggle against televising the hearings was a struggle to
contain information about the Senate hearings within the less-convincing aesthetic
package of newsprint . He and his supporters sensed that if the televised form
were to be achieved , the battle already would be partly lost.
This insight from the philosophy of aesthetics should, however, be modified in
two ways . First, because live television coverage of news events is contingent, the
realism of the Senate hearings was necessarily uncertain. T�e "possession" of the
Watergate mis-en-scene -the play-by-play of the hearings-was far from deter­
mined . But Bazin's aesthetic dictum must be modified in another sociological way
as well. Television, even "factual" television, is a medium that depends on influ­
ence, and the willingness to be influenced -to accept statements of fact at face
value-depends on trust in the persuader. The degree to which factual television
is believed - how and to what degree it achieves the ontological status to which it
is, as it were, aesthetically entitled- depends on the degree to which it is viewed
as a differentiated , unbiased medium of information (see Alexander 1 988b) .
I ndeed , the analysis of poll data from this period suggests that one of the
strongest predictors of support for impeachment was the belief that television
news was fair . It follows that one of the primary reasons for the failure to accept
Watergate as a serious problem- let alone Nixon's culpability - before the 1 972
election was the widespread perception that the media was not independent but
part of the vanguard modernist movement, a linkage which was, of course,
strongly promoted by Vice-President Spiro Agnew. Because of the processes I
have described, however, between January and April, 1 973, the media was grad­
ually rehabilitated. Feelings of political polarization had ebbed , and other key
institutions now seemed to support the media's earlier reported "facts. " Only
because the medium of television now could draw upon a fairly wide social
consensus, I believe, could its message begin to attain the status of realism and
truth. This shifting social context for the aesthetic form is therefore critical for
understanding the impact of the Senate hearings.

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Lewis, Jerry M . and J . Michael Veneman . 1 987. "Crisis Resolution : The Brad­
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-- 1 963 . Theory of Collective Behavior. New York : Free Press.
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Zelizer, Viviana, 1 979. Morals and Markets. New York : Columbia University
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-- 1 985 . Pricing the Priceless Child. New York : Basic Books.
 S E V E N

Habermas and Critical Theory :

B eyond the Marxian Dilemma ?

Every critical social theory is faced with the problem of constituting its
grounds for critique. O f course, even empirical, "positive" theory con­
tains an ideological dimension , but because its main ambition is explana­
tory rather than evaluative it can- indeed, must-leave this normative
source implicit and diffuse. For critical theory, the situation is quite
different. It is explicitly political, seeking to draw readers toward a nor­
mative position and often to a political stance . Because this is so, its
grounds for moral judgment are explicitly called into question.
There seem to be three ways that the grounds for a critical theory can
be constituted. The first is through relativism : "I criticize society because
it violates my principles. " The sources of critique are presented as subjec­
tive, as emerging from personal convictions. Here is the "humanistic"
position that became so popular in the non-Marxist critical sociology of
the late '60S and early '70S , the "self-reflexive " sociology that eschews the
bindingness of objectivity and calls upon the theorist to be forthright
about his or her own personal values.
In intellectual and political terms, however, this relativist position has
seemed unsatisfactory . Critical theorists have usually sought a position
that at least appears to be more objective and, hence, less challengeable .
The alternative strategy has been to seek an immanent critique, to try to
demonstrate that the critical standard grows naturally and inevitably out
of the conditions of the society against which the critique is aimed. Two
kinds of immanent justification have been offered, the objective and the
subjective. Marx is the great exemplar of the former. The communist
demands of the proletariat , he insisted , grow not from the head of this or
that philosopher or from some free-floating idealistic hope but from the
218 H A B E R M A S A N D C R I T I C A L T H E a R Y

concrete conditions of real social life . While the dominant thrust of capi­
talist society is irrational, a more rational form of social organization can ,
in fact, be gleaned from the actual social conditions of capitalism, from
its objectivity, its cosmopolitanism, its universalism, and the egalitarian
cooperation it forces upon its working class . Hegel represents the exem­
plar of the alternative approach , seeking an immanent justification in a
subjective , idealist form . In his Phenomenology of Spirit he laid out a
developmental sequence that was simultaneously logical, psychological,
and historical , and he argued that the sources for moving beyond each
stage would inevitably be discovered in the experienced inadequacies
(illogic , frustrations , social tensions) of each state itself. For both Marx
and Hegel, then, an appropriate standard of critical reason was immanent
at every historical stage .
The tradition of twentieth-century theory associated with the Frankfurt
school of Marxism , initiated by Horkheimer and Adorno and associated
most famously with the political theories of Herbert Marcuse, must be
credited with making this issue of critical justification completely explicit.
Rather than Marxist or Hegelian, it called itself quite simply "critical
theory , " and it explicitly adopted the transcendent criterion of "rational­
ity" as the basis for its anti-capitalist critique . This position clearly fol­
lowed the normative path ; the Frankfurt school found only moral bank­
ruptcy in objectivist theories like those of the orthodox Marx. But since
the Frankfurt Marxists had abandoned Hegel's faith in God, they had no
firm basis for their own moral criticism . Though they postulated an
immanent rationality, their work became mystical and arbitrary when
they tried to define rationality's source . Perhaps inevitably , this source
came to be associated with the prerogative of intellectuals. With this
development the universalistic ambition of this Frankfurt Marxist criti­
cism came to seem more and more particularistic. It became an increas­
ingly serious problem in the 1 960s, when Marcuse defended critical rea­
son by opposing "pure tolerance" and at least appeared to apologize for
revolutionary coercion in Western societies in a manner that paralleled
Fanon's defense of it in the Third World.
It is in the context of this historical and theoretical juncture that J urgen
Habermas' work must be understood . Habermas is a radical, but he is not
a revolutionary. Whereas Marcuse celebrated the excesses of the 1 960s,
Habermas was appalled by them, and he earned the permanent contempt
of some German student radicals for his public opposition. As a left-wing
 H AB E R M A S A N D C R I T I C A L T H E 0 R Y 219

humanist and democrat, Habermas has always been acutely aware of the
theoretical and political degeneration of critical theory. In a recent " Reply
to My Critics , " many of whom were orthodox representatives of the
critical school , Habermas insists ( 1 982 :222) that "revolutionary self-con­
fidence and theoretical self-certainty are gone. " To regain them critical
theory must find a way to justify its standard of immanent rationality.
This is what Habermas set out to do.
To restore universality to critical rationality and to cleanse the critical
tradition of its elitism, Habermas seeks to return to key aspects of Marx's
original strategy. He does not do this by embracing an objectivist crite­
rion , for he maintains the moral tone of the "Western Marxist" tradition.
Rather, he returns to Marx in the sense of embracing empirical social
science and empirically based philosophy. Earlier generations of the
Frankfurt school attacked social science as inevitably "positive , " bour­
geois and conservative. In contrast, Habermas embraces the most ad­
vanced empirical theorizing of his day. As M arx sought to turn political
economy against itself in the name of socialism , so Habe,rmas seeks to
demonstrate that the empirical processes illuminated by contemporary
theories-processes there for all to see-carry inside themselves the
potential for critique and transcendence of the status quo .

Over the last fifteen years there have been three traditions of empirical
social theory upon which Habermas has drawn . Perhaps the least re­
marked upon by either Habermas or his interpreters is the Parsonian. "
Habermas began teaching Parsons i n the early 1 960s and, though rarely
footnoted, Parsonian themes like systems, pattern-variables, and the cen­
trality of socialization permeate his thought. Only in the 1 980s has Haber­
mas made this debt explicit, as his work has taken a formidable Parsonian
turn. As he remarks in the second volume of The Theory of Communica­
tive Action ( 198 1 :297) , "though Parsons' later work has at times been
pushed into the background by hermeneutically and critically-oriented

• It is remarkable, for example, that in the comprehensive collection of critical essays on

Habermas collected by Thompson and Held ( 1 982) , there is only a single reference to the
Habermas-Parsons link. It is Giddens ( 1 982 : 1 60) who notices and regrets the connection ;
he refers to the link, however, only in connection with Habermas' internalization theory,
neglecting the much more important theme of normative evolution.
220 H A B E R M A S A N D C R I T I C A L T H E 0 R Y

investigations , no social theory can be taken seriously today which does

not - at the very least -clarify the relationship to Parsons . "
But Habermas does more than simply clarify the relationship ; he takes
Parsons' work as embodying the highest level of contemporary theoretical
work. "As it stands today , " he writes, "the work is unparalleled in regard
to its level of abstraction , internal differentiation , theoretical breadth and
systematicity- all of which is, simultaneously , connected to the literature
of each particular empirical field . " In fact, he issues a warning to any
"neo-Marxism which wishes simply to bypass Parsons, " averring that "in
the history of social science errors of this type are normally quickly
corrected" ( 1 98 1 : 297 ) .
Habermas sees that Parsons was centrally concerned with the sociolog­
ical preconditions of universalism, which is, as Hegel clearly saw, perhaps
the most crucial dimension of rationality. More recently, Habermas has
relied heavily on the historical twist that Parsons gave to the sociology of
universalism in his evolutionary theory. Terms like "learning processes "
and "normative integration" have become central to Habermas' critical
vocabulary. In the book of essays that adumbrated the present work,
Habermas ( 1 979 : 1 20) wrote : "I would even defend the thesis that the
development of . . normative structures is the pacemaker of social evo­
.

lution . " He is aware that this Parsonian theme turns the tables on Marx :
"Whereas Marx localized the learning processes important for evolution
in the dimension of objectivizing thought- of technical and organiza­
tional knowledge, of instrumental and strategic action, in short, of pro­
ductive forces- there are good reasons meanwhile for assuming that
learning processes also . . . are deposited in more mature forms of social
integration, in new productive relations, and that these in turn first make
possible the introduction of new productive forces" ( p . 98) .
The second line of empirical theorizing upon which Habermas has
drawn is Piaget's work on cognitive and moral development. Whereas
Parsons allows Habermas to claim that universalistic and solidary relation­
sh ip s a:re grou �ded in the 'hi�to'ri�;l 'd e� elopme �t of re al societies � 'Piaget
allows him to argue that ul).iversalistic, �riticai thought is grounde d in th e
norma f dev� lop�ent of the hUP,lan mind . The internal emphasis of Piaget
-the vocabulary of "in.t�riorization , " "representation , " "generalization"
-complements the normative reference of � abermas' critique ; i t also
'·
clearly articula�c;,s ,wi.th ,Jhe , f!:�g�l.il!!!-_ yg�l:lPl,l:���Y �.� .�ar�onii'" , so� iaJ!�ation
��e.ory, upon which Habermas also relies (for his interweaving of these
 H AB E R M A S A N D C R I T I C A L T H E 0 R Y 221

traditions, see 1 979 :81 -88) . Indeed , Habermas uses Piagetian theory to
conceptualize a point that Parsons' critics have someho� seemed unable
to g�a�p : developmental theory conceives socialization as learning to be
ratio na l and autonomous, not dependent and submissive. Piaget insists
th at h u�� � intelligence moves from the concrete to the formal and in the
process gains a critical distance from and mastery over the objects in its
environment. These are precisely the qualities that allow Habermas to
extend his empirical theorizing about the immanent source of critical
rationality. By the mid- 1 97os the key terms of Piagetian theory have been
thoroughly incorporated into Habermas' discussion of contemporary real­
ity . Consciousness is "decentered" and "objective" ; it "goes beyond real­
ity" to think the "possible" ; it seeks universal, generalizable principles,
"the rules behind rules" (compare, e.g. , Piaget .1 972 with Habermas
1 979 :69-94) . Finally, Piaget's emphasis on the pragmatic, concrete char­
acter of the de��!QPm�D,�l$;ri!),es . that . promote le.arning �llows Hllbermas
tc) concept;alize the immanent growth of mental rationality without fall­
i�g' lnto The-t rap �(H eg� l's idealism.
" ' What' Habe�m.lI:s,. h,II� Ja!t:��JroIll p'arsQns , and Piaget is not simply a
' '
theory' o( th� � �pirical development of rationality, but also the notion
that a great deal of rationality is already realized in the world as �t ructured
foday:-This 'is the price of buying into empi rica i theorizing, and it is the
v��y ' price that earlier generations of critical theorists were unwilling to
pay. Horkheimer and Adorno learned a great deal from Hegel's Phenom­
enology, but they seem to have stopped learning after his discussion of the
Enlightenment, which Hegel ( [ 1 807] 1 977 : 6. B . 1 -2.a) criticized for its
mechanistic version of rationality . For Horkheimer and Adorno, Western
cultural deVelopment evidently stopped at that point, hence their equa­
tion Enlightenment Capitalism Instrumental Reason. Hegel, in con­
= =

trast, believed that the reigning conception of reason continued to grow

(e.g. , [ 1 807] 1977 :6. c , passim) in the course of subsequent Western
development. By passing through later phases of expressive, ethical, and
eventually religious experience, the conception of rationality became en­
riched and multivalent. Habermas follows Hegel himself rather than the
HorkheimerlAdorno caricature, though he does not follow him to the
point of believing that a completely satisfactory "rationality" is enshrined
in the status quo. Having learned from Parsons and Piaget, Habermas
can describe how cognitive, expressive, and moral rationality have devel­
oped in the present day. He can also argue, in light of his own more
222 H A B E R M A S A N D C R I T I C A L T H E 0 R Y

critical ambitions, that their theories provide an explanation not only of

contemporary society but of a rational standpoint from which to go
beyond it.
But neither Parsons nor Piaget plays a central role in the first volume
of Habermas' most recent and most systematic work, The Theory of
Communicative Action . Parsons receives major consideration in the sec­
ond volume ; Piaget is discussed only passingly in both volumes, though
his ideas continue to permeate H abermas' theoretical vocabulary . In this
volume pride of place is given to the third empirical tradition that Haber­
mas uses to remake his critical theory, the speech-act theory which derives
from ordinary language philosophy. To "scientific" sociologists, it may
seem strange to claim a modern philosophical tradition as an empirical , or
at least empirically related theory. But speech-act theory and the "ana­
lytic" movement out of which it grew are directed toward the study of
empirical processes in a way that is antithetical to the metaphysical tradi­
tions of continental philosophy. This contrast, of course, is exactly what
attracts Habermas . By developing a theory of "communicative action, " he
wants to use speech-act theory to extend his empirical analysis of imma­
nent rationality .
Habermas seems to have been drawn to ordinary-language analysis
under the influence of Karl-Otto Ape!. In a major essay first published in
1 9 65 , Analytic Philosophy of Language and the Geisteswissenschaften,
Apel demonstrated a convergence between later tren ds in English, ana­
lytic philosophy and the interpretive tradition of German hermeneutics .
He demonstrated ( 1 967 :37) that the rationalistic intentionalist bias that
had given early analytic philosophy an atomistic and empiricist approach
to meaning had been superceded by Wittgenstein's later "revolution . "
Wittgenstein had shown that rather than denoting intended objects, words
really denote simply other words. Wittgenstein believed that words are
arbitarily arranged in language games, and that such games must be
interpreted from within. In Apel's view ( 1 967 :33) this opened the way
for reconciling ordinary-language theorizing with the Geisteswissenschaf­
ten (i . e . , cultural studies) tradition.
Habermas, then, uses post-Wittgensteinian analytic philosophy to root
his standard of rationality more firmly in immanent, empirical processes,
this time in the nature of ordinary language itself. Though he did not
pursue the issue at this early point, Habermas ( 1 97 1 : 3 1 4) articulated
precisely this connection in his inaugural lecture at Frankfurt in 1 965 :
 H A B E R M A S A N D C R I T I C A L T H E 0. R Y 223

"The human interest in autenemy and respensibility is net mere fancy,

fer it can be apprehended a priori. What raises us out ef nature is the Qnly
thing whQse nature we can knQw : language. " · Habermas argues that in
�rdinary speech actors make implicit claims abQut the validity Qf their
statements, claims which, in a crunch, they are prepared to. justify through
argument. On these grQunds, he suggests that ratiQnality "is ingrained in
the very structure of actien Qriented tQward reaching understanding"
( 1 984 : 1 30.) . Perhaps the mQst elQquent expressiQn ()f the peculiar mar­
riage Qf Hegelianism and empiricism that inspires Habermas' turn to.
language can be fQund in an earlier wQrk. " In ��tiQn Qriented . toward
reaching understanding, " Habermas writes ( 1 979 :97) , and here he means
t�-·i�cl�de m��t �rdinary language, "v.!lli.<iity claiIlls an; 'always . already'
implicitly ra!s.�d . " It is "in these validity claims , " he gQes Qn to. argue,
that "cQmmunic..!l�iQn theDry can IDcate a gentle but Qbstinate, a never
silent althQugh seldo.m redeemed claim to. reasDn . "
I n his cDmmunication theory, Habermas defines rationality as the qual­
ity that makes action "defendable against criticism" ( 1 984 : 1 6) . T? . be
ratiQnal, acts must rest upon "criticizable validity claims" (p . 1 5 ) rather
ffian on llDchallengeable authority or physical force. If challenged, then,
ratioiia[ a�to[s wiH �ite potentially co.nsensual grounds �haf justify their
statements or actions. In do.ing so. they will be engaging in "argumenta­
tion. " Argumentation is speech that "thematizes" �ontested vaiid."liY d�ims,
;�p licitly supperting or criticizing them. Ordinary language, Habermas
believes, can rest on fQur kinds o.f implicit validity claims, each of which
in the ideal speech situation can be justified through argument. These
claims refer to. cognitive, moral, and expressive dimensio.ns. In instru­
mental and strategic actio.n (which Habermas also calls teleo.logical) , the
claim is made for efficiency ; the discourse that thematizes this actien­
theugh it is rarely, in fact, subject to. such argumentatien-is empirical.
Related to. this, but more generalized, is the kind Qf speech act that
Habermas calls assertive or constative. These are statements of fact. They
refer to actions that rest Dn purely factual claims, and they are ultimately
validated by claims to. truth in the cQgnitive sense. The discourse that
thematizes this claim Habermas calls theeretical . While both strategic and
constative speech acts are located within the cognitive dimensien, Haber­
mas differentiates them by suggesting that strategic actien is almest never
· Thompson's ( 1 982) fine essay in the collection he edited with Held first drew this
statement to my attention.
224 H A B E R M A S A N D C R I T I C A L T H E 0 R Y

thematized. This is what makes it, in his view , instrumentally rather than
communicatively rational -a distinction that, as we will see, plays a
central and often problematic role in his understanding. The third dis­
tinct mode of action is expressive, referring both to emotional and aes­
thetic statements . The claim put forward here is not truth but "truthful­
ness , " sincerity and authenticity in a subjective sense. The discourse that
thematizes this claim Habermas sometimes calls therapeutic and other
times esthetic. Finally, there is moral action, which invokes neither effi­
ciency, truth, nor truthfulness. Its claim is to "rightness, " to a normative
context that is legitimate in the sense of reflecting some moral interest
common to all concerned . It is practical discourse that thematizes this
claim to validity.
This communication theory- to which I will return-takes up one
major chunk of Habermas' book (see, especially, pp. 8-42, 75- 1 0 1 , and
273-337 ; for the first and most concise statement of this position, see
1 979 : 1 -68) . Habermas' analysis of Weber takes up another. In light of
Habermas' concern with the empirical immanence of rationality and his
commitment to communicative argument, Weber certainly seems an ap­
propriate reference. While Habermas has suggested that rational argu­
ment is an implicit part of everyday speech , he thinks this has not always
been so. Communicative action can be more or less rational, and the
further back we go in examining traditional and primitive societies the
less rational it appears to have been. The point about rational communica­
-
tion is that understanding canno� be conceived. a priori. It cannot � and
here Habermas gives a commu�icative twist to Jlarsons' fa.mous pattern­
variable dichotomy-:-be "normatively ascribed" ( 1 984 :70) ; Tather, it lllust
be iicom � unicatively achieyed. " �gcial rationalization, then, ca� be de­
·
fined as the elimination of factors t h�t ' i prevent " conscious settlement of
conflicts" (p. I I 9) . Here l i es the sigllificance of Weber. His hist� rical
�rialysis of the cultur�l and soCial processes that produced ;�t i onali� ation
can be see ri as describing th e movement toward communicative rational­
i!y. " Habermas; com mU llic ation theory leads him to incorporate Weber
and, equally important, to correct him.

II

Although his reading of Weber's corpus is by no means systematic or

complete, Habermas presents a sophisticated and original interpretation
 H A B E R M A S A N D C R I TI C A L T H E 0 R Y 225

of certain key sections. In the positive phase of his reading, he focuses on

elements of Weber's cultural history which have not yet received sufficient
attention, particularly on "The Social Psychology of World Religions"
and " Religious Rejections of the World" as they relate to The Protestant
Ethic. His interpretive perspective is unique because it combines his
interest in communication with a late Parsonian interest in cultural differ­
entiation. Here he is influenced by Schluchter, whose own work reflects a
similar orientation . While Habermas uses the culture/society/personality
distinction as an overall framework, he focuses less on differentiation
among these three systems than on differentiation among the cognitive,
expressive, and moral dimensions of cultural life. He suggests that this
separation (see Parsons 1 96 1 ) has allowed processes of justification to
occur in more rational , less ascribed ways. Cultural differentiation has
meant that objective knowledge, expressive/aesthetic life, and morality
increasingly can be conceived without reference to an overarching reli­
gious cosmos . "The devout attachment to concrete orders of life secured
in tradition, " Habermas writes, can "be superseded in favor of a free
orientation to universal principles" (p . 2 1 3 ) .
Yet whereas Parsons always felt that Weber had sustained this level of
insight throughout the breadth of his work- his only failure having been
the occasional resort to "type atomism" - Habermas sees significant re­
ductionist tendencies also at work. I have suggested that Weber's reduc­
tionism emerges forcefully in the historical sociology oCpie�capitalist
soCietles(Alexander-ig8"j). Habermas, in contrast, historiclzes the reduc­
tionism, seeing it as emerging only in Weber's work on the transition
from the earlier phases of cultural differentiation to modernity itself .... In
a marvelous passage, H abermas suggests ( 1 984 : 2 1 7) that there were three
paths that Weber could have taken after he had established the rational
potential of Western cultural development. First, he could have studied
the social movements, like democratic revolutions and socialist move­
ments , which sought to institutionalize such rationality. Second, he could
have developed a cultural sociology of this new, more rationalized con­
temporary order. Third , he could have studied the institutionalization of
one subtype of modern rationality, e.g. , of purposively rational action .

• Here Habermas relies too heavily on the Parsonian tradition's reconstruction of Weber's

'
pre-modern cultural history , rather than examining Weber s writing in its own light. He
does so , ironically, because he follows Marx's radically historicist approach to "the transi­
,"
tion an acceptance that, we will see, eventually creates major difficulties.
226 H A B E R M A S A N D C R I T I C A L T H E 0 R Y

He suggests that Weber took up only the third possibility, concentrating

on the origins and operation of instrumental capitalism and bureaucracy.
This decision was an unfortunate one because it meant that "Weber takes
into consideration the horizon of possibilities opened up by the modern
understanding of the world only to the extent that it serves to explain the
core phenomenon he identified in advance" ( 1 984 : 22 1 ) . In other words ,
by focusing only on the purposively rational institutions of capitalism and
bureaucracy Weber drastically narrowed his thinking about the nature of
modern understanding, an issue whose possibilities had been genially
opened by Weber's analysis of cultural differentiation in the earlier pe­
riod .
Is there empirical justification for Weber's choice, or did it result from
a theoretical mistake ? Some of each, in Habermas' view . Certainly, the
institutionalization of purposive-rational entrepreneurial activity is, from
a function point of view, actually of central importance for modern soci­
eties . At the same time, however, there has been "a noticeable and
consequential narrowing of the concept of rationality in Weber's action
theory" ( 1984 :221 ) .
By exploring the presuppositional reasons behind Weber's narrowed
treatment, Habermas offers an extraordinary account of what Weber's
cultural sociology of modernity might have been. The pessimism about
modernity was, in Habermas' view, as much the result of Weber's inabil­
ity to understand the sources of continuing rationality as the result of his
empirical insight and ideological sensibility. Weber described all the newly
autonomous spheres of modern culture- science, art and sexuality, polit­
ical morality- as doomed to irrationality. The earlier sense of the ratio­
nality of these endeavors, or at least their meaningful validity, had come
from their connection to overarching religious principles . But with the
victory of science over religion , Weber believed, they could no longer be
related to any general principles at all . This is just what Habermas
contests. · Why can these modern cultural spheres not be seen as related
to secular rather than religious principles ? His point is worth quoting in
full :

[Weber's] explanation of the self-destrt�ctive pattern of societal ratioI)alization is

unsatisfaCtory because [he] still o�es us a demonstration that a moral conscious­
ness guided by principles can survive only in a religious context . He would have

- For my own argument with Weber on these points, see chpt. 2, above.
 H A B E R M A S A N D C R 1 T .I C A L T H E 0 R Y 22 7

to explain why embedding a principled ethic in a salvation religion, why joining

moral consciousness to interests in salvation, are just as indispensable for the
preservation of moral consciousness as, from a genetic standpoint, they undoubt­
edly were for the emergence of this stage of moral consciousness. ( I 98' F z29
original italics)

Weber, in Habermas' opinion, offers no empirical justification for this

claim. His research program, which was supposed "to make it possible to
estimate 'the cultural significance of Protestantism in relation to the other
plastic elements of modern culture, ' was never carried through" (p. 229) .
If it had been, Weber would have had to include the ethical influence on
modern culture of humanism and of both philosophical and scientific
empiricism . Combined with the influence of Protestantism, these tradi­
tions "flowed into the rationalism of the Enlightenment and promoted a
secularized, lay morality in bourgeois strata. " This latter development
promoted what Weber claimed was impossible : the emergence of a "prin­
cipled ethic that is removed from religious contexts, and through which
the bourgeois strata set themselves off from both the clergy and from the
common people caught up in naive piety" ( p . 230) .
I ndeed, as we have seen earlier, Habermas himself demonstrates that
principled ethics do survive in a post-religious context, that substantive
rationality is pervasive in the modern world . To reintroduce this argu­
ment, Habermas argues ( p . 249) that "Weber goes too far when he infers
from the loss of the substantial unity of reason, a polythe ism of gods and
demons struggling with one another, with their irreconcilability rooted in
a pluralism of incompatible validity claims. " Habermas suggests , to the
contrary, that if one looks closely at differentiated cultural life, one can
see that there is a "unity of rationality in the multiplicity of value spheres."
Though each sphere is anchored in concretely different values-hence
their immediate irreconcilability-each conceives itself as justifiable via
rational argument. Science seeks justification through propositional truth,
expressive and artistic life through sincerity and authenticity, morality
through its claim to normative rightness. The medium for common un­
derstanding between these spheres- the source of their higher reconcila­
bility- is precisely the fact that they make such claims to validity, and
they can thematize these claims through rational argumentation. This is
not to say that the interrelationship between these spheres is smooth or
integrative. There remains "the problem of where , in the communicative
practice of everday life, 'switching stations' have to be brought into
228 H A B E R M A S A N D C R I T I C A L T H E 0 R Y

operation so that individuals can shift their action orientations from one
complex to another" (p. 250) . ...
This is the general argument through which Habermas demonstrates
that, in his words, Weber "does not apply the comprehensive concept of
rationality upon which he bases his investigations of cultural tradition" to
his own sociology of modern life. He builds a more concrete case for this
criticism through his detailed consideration of Weber's approach to mod­
ern law. More than any interpreter since Parsons, Habermas sees the
absolute centrality of law to Weber's theory of modern society. If Weber
is to make a convincing case that purposive-rational action can, indeed,
be cut off from higher moral grounding, he must show that the self­
regulation and stability of rational systems can be achieved through an
equally rational and value-less law . If Weber wants to sustain his nar­
rowed conception of modernity, therefore, he must succeed "in uncou­
pling the development of modern law from the fate of moral-practical
rationality and conceptualizing it as just a further embodiment of cogni­
tive-instrumental rationality" (p. 242) .
Weber accomplishes this by focusing exclusively on how the systemat­
icity, formality, and logicality of modern law allow it to be eminently
calculable (p. 254ff ) . But Weber is mistaken. While the formal qualities
of modern law are functional for instrumental systems like the economy,
this says nothing about how such legal structures are constituted in
• Habermas explores here precisely the issue that was at the center of Parsons' late work,
The American University (Parsons and Platt, 1 973) . In that work Parsons argued that, as
modernization proceeds, the differentiated subsystems of societies increasingly become
coordinated by different versions of the "rationality" value. In fact, he suggests that this
becomes the major mode of inter-system coordination. Parsons argued that cognitive ratio­
nality- the theoretical standard of empirical truth-was the cultural medium through
which coordination occurred and that the university was the crucial institutional vehicle.
The differentiated value and institutional spheres of modern society, then, are coordinated
because each depends upon the university's "outputs" of rationality, e.g. , in the training of
their personnel, the evaluations of their products, and the justification of their performance.
Parsons identified four different types of coordinating rationality : economic, political, inte­
grative, and value. On the one hand, this discussion indicates an extraordinary convergence
on a detailed and profoundly significant empirical point. For example, like Parsons, Haber­
mas pinpoints the crucial role that professionals play as mediators and carriers of modern
rationality ( 1 984 :253) , and his emphasis on the uncoerced equality of the communicative
situation can be seen -in light of this reference to professionals- as parallel to Parsons'
later emphasis on the emergence of collegial in contrast to hierarchic and market organiza­
tion in modern societies. (On this point, see Sciulli's [ 1 9851 far-reaching analysis of the
ParsonslHabermas convergence. ) On the other hand, Parsons' understanding of rationality
remains more cognitivist and limited than the one developed by Habermas.
 H AB E R M A S A N D C R I T l e A L T H E 0 R Y 229

themselves. To understand the latter, it is necessary to see that contem­

porary law embodies certain kinds of moral justifications . Weber resisted
the connection of law and morality on the grounds that it denies what is
precisely the major innovation of modern legality, namely its differentia­
tion from any explicit substantive moral position. Habermas replies, iron­
ically, that this separation can be maintained only by justifying it with
reference to a more general abstract moral conciousness .
The particular accomplishment of the positivization of the legal order consists in
displacing problems of justification, that is, in relieving the technical administra­
tion of the law of such problems over broad expanses- but not in doing away
with them . Precisely the post-traditional structure of legal conciousness sharpens
the problem of justification into a question of principle that is shifted to the
foundations but not thereby made to disappear. ( P . 26 1 )

Habermas lists a whole series o f extralegal principles that form the

justifying foundation for modern law, characterizing them under the
general Piagetian rubric or "post-conventional" morality : the notion that
a compact between free and legal partners makes contractual obligations
possible, the concept of the abstract legal subject's general competency,
the very distinction between norms and principles, and so forth. This
insistence on the substantive foundations of legal rationality leads him,
quite rightly in my view, to emphasize the significance of political consti­
tutions, institutions that Weber almost completely ignored . "The catalog
of basic rights contained in bourgeois constitutions , " Habermas suggests
(p. 261 ) , is one of the " expressions of this justification that has become
structurally necessary. " He criticizes Schluchter for presenting Weber's
legal sociology as if it implied such legal principles and for suggesting that
these principles supply a link in Weber's work between his theory of
positive law and his discussion of the ethic of responsibility. Such princi­
ples, Habermas counters "are a foreign element within Weber's systematic
construction" ( p . 438 n. 34) .
This completes Habermas' reconstruction of what Weber's cultural
sociology of modernity might have looked like if Weber had not unduly
narrowed his conception of rationality. To explain the impoverishment of
Weber's actual account of the contemporary order, Habermas faults We­
ber's understanding of social action. Weber, he suggests '(p'.- 'i8o}, oper­
ated with an intentionalist rather tha� a ling�s'i tic concep�io� of action.
He saw meaning as the result of actors trying to gain the understanding
o( oihers in a purposi�e ��y� ' F��� such an intentionalist perspective,
2JO H A B E R M A S A N D C R I T I CA L T H E 0 R Y

action is rationalizable only in terms of means/ends relations, invoking the

criteria of actual effectiveness and empirical truth. Value and emotion­
related actions are, then , not rationalizable by definition ; it was for this
reason that Weber so sharply opposed Zweck to Wertrationalitiit.
What is the alternative to such an intentionalist , utilitarian view ? We
have seen it clearly if we have followed Habermas' argument all along. It
is the understanding of action as , in the first instance , an act of commu­
nication. Action must be conceived on the model of ordinary language,
either as carried on through the medium of language or as modeled upon
it. For ordinary language , we have seen, is almost always carried on
within the restricting framework of implicit modes of validation . Even if
it is strategic, therefore, it is subj ect to some extra-intentional control. It
is these moral foundations that provide the basis for rationalization In
something other than an instrumental sense .

III

In light of the matters discussed thus far- they take up nearly the first
two-thirds of the book- it may come as a surprise to the reader to learn
that there is not much communicative rationality in the modern world
after all ! Beginning with the fourth section (I will consider the short , but
highly interesting third section below) , Habermas seems to bring his
theoretical enterprise of the first 270 pages to a screeching halt and to
change directions laboriously . He now suggests that communicative ratio­
nality is actually limited to a very small section of contemporary society
called the "lifeworld . " H is definition of this lifeworld is distressingly
vague- it certainly differs from Heidegger's and Schutz's -but he does
indicate that it is where "everyday practice" and "everyday communica­
tion" occur. Whereas it had seemed to be his intention in the first two­
thirds of his work to suggest that such "lifeworld" practices as ordinary
language are the basis for institutional behavior, he is now intent on
isolating these practices. He portrays them as vulnerable islands of feeling
and thought surrounded by hostile oceans of rationalized "systems. " §ys­
terns are defined as organizations of purely strategic actions, organizations
th�t ein p loy a "functionalist" form of reason that has nothing to do with
human norms or concerns. The capitalist economic system, the legal­
flliion al political system, even the modern mass communicatiQns system
(p . 372 ) , Habermas claims, do not rely on the medium of language but
 H A B E R M A S A N D C R I T OI C A L T H E 0 R Y 231

employ media like money and power (and influence ? ) in a coercive,

anticommunicative way . At first , Habermas speaks of the relation be­
tween syste�-o�-;;�r -lifeworlds as "counteracting tendencies" (p. 341 ) .
Almost immediately, however, he puts the relation into the stronger,
Marxian language of "contradiction. " "The contradiction arises," he writes
(P. 34z) , "between, on the one hand, a rationalization of ev_e ryday com­
m':!.l!!cation that is ti�d to the structures of intersubjectivity of the life­
'!Y��ld, in which language counts as the genuine and irreplaceable medium
of reaching an understanding, and, on the other hand, the growing com­
plexity of subsystems of purposive-rational action , in which actions are
coordinated through steering media such as money and power. " Soon he
is speaking about the "colonization of the lifeworld" by modern society's
rationalized systems : "An unleashed functionalist reason of systems main­
tenance disregards and overrides the claim to reason ingrained in com­
municative sociation and lets the rationalization of the lifeworld run idle"
(p. 399) ·
An abrupt change indeed. I f Habermas were to seek to justify this shift
in a thorough-going way, he would have to go back and refute, point by
point, his entire discussion of Weber. In that discussion, he himself
developed a systematic argument against an instrumental reading of mod­
ern social institutions. It was he who argued against Weber that instru­
mental rationality was not the only form of rationality to be institutional­
ized in the modern world , and he pointed directly to political systems and
their legal foundations as his foremost examples. Is he not now arguing
directly against this earlier stance ?
Although Habermas does not try to refute himself, he turns to earlier
members of the Frankfurt school to do much the same thing. In the
volume's fourth and concluding section, "From Lukacs to Adorno : Ratio­
nalization as Reification, " he presents this strand of Western Marxism as,
simultaneously, a reading of Weber and an accurate description of West­
ern society. This Frankfurt tradition, of course, did rely heavily on
Weber's work, but its reading of him was precisely the one-sided, instru­
mentalized version that Habermas warned us against . Armed with the
earlier interpretation, we are in a position to say that these Western
Marxists picked up on the wrong Weber . By doing so , moreover, they
allowed their picture of Western society to become so heavily instrumen­
talized that they missed the opportunity to root their own alternative
vision of rationality in an immanent, empirical way. The latter, of course,
23 2 H A B E R M A S A N D C R I T I C A L T H E 0 R Y

is precisely the ambition of Habermas' new work. Yet Habermas applauds

them. He uses this earlier generation of Marxists- the criticism of whose
very approach to critical theory has been the implicit starting point for his
own work-to steer Weber back to Marx. I said earlier that the Frankfurt
theorists seemed to stop reading Hegel's Phenomenology after his chapters
on the Enlightenment. In the earlier parts of his book Habermas used
Weber to develop an empirical way to join Hegel in his post-Enlighten­
ment discussion. But after showing us this promised land, Habermas
wants to take us back to the desert. To do this, he must distort Weber's
understanding of modern rationality as badly as the Frankfurt school
distorted Hegel's.
"Capitalism" now becomes a satisfactory way of defining the present
·
era, and Lukacs becomes the theorist who succeeded in producing the
best definition. �llkacs ( [ 1 923] 1 97 1 ) claimed that Marx's conception of
commodity fetishism, which conceptualized the capitalist world as totally
dominated by the instrumental value of exchange, meant much the same
thing as Weber's rationalization theory. Habermas welcomes Lukacs' con­
vergence thes Is and tries to restate commodity fetishism in terms of his
own communications theory. He writes (p. 359) that Lukacs "conceives
of the reification of lifeworld contexts, which sets in when workers coor­
dinate their interactions by way of the de-linguistified medium of ex­
change value rather than through norms and values, as the other side of a
rationalization of their action orientations. " In other words , ( I ) Weber
demonstrated that modern actions are only purposively rational and that
action orientations have been rationalized and do not appeal to values or
norms ; (2) Lukacs showed that the interrelation of workers through an
exchange of commodities-the " de-linguistified medium of exchange"­
rested on the same thing ; ( 3 ) Lukacs' conclusion , that the lifeworld of
capitalism is reified, is valid . liabermas praises Lukacs for showing that
in capitalist society association is so instrumental that it can form only
systems, not lifeworlds : "He makes the system-forming effects of socia­
tion established through the medium of exchange value intelligible from
the perspective of action theory" (p. 359) .

To the degree that the commodity form becomes the form of objectivity and rules
the relations of individuals to one another as well as their dealings with external
nature and with internal subjective nature, the lifeworld has to become reified and
individuals degraded- as systems theory forsees-into an 'environment' for a
society that has become external to them , that has abstracted from them and
 H A B E R M A S A N D C ,R I T I C A L T H E 0 R Y 233

become independent of them. Lukacs shares this perspective with Weber. (P.
361 )
Does he ? Only to the degree that Weber himself is guilty of reducing
his presuppositions about action to an instrumental form. Once this has
occurred, collective order, be it capitalist or socialist, can hardly be
portrayed as anything other than external and coercive (cf. Alexander
1 982) . Habermas proves this when he demonstrates that Weber external­
ist perspective on the rationality of contemporary political and legal insti­
tutions can be challenged dramatically if his conception of action is made
more compatible with the multivalent, "communicative" approach of his
writing on cultural history . The critical theorists, from Lukacs onward,
picked up precisely on Weber's theoretical mistake ; given their own pre­
dispositions, they saw this mistake as a statement of empirical fact.
We might say, then, that there is an empirical error behind Habermas'
� brupt �eversal. Modern political and economic life are never si ffi:ply
instru'mental. They are always coded by deep structures of cultural life.
T�- - m"ls tak� this is to confuse the fact of differentiation, which allows
relative strategic freedom from ascribed value positions, with the absence
of moral foundations. Neither are the modern worlds of values, norms,
and solidarities ever such simple, intimate, and intuitive lifeworlds as
Habermas describes. They are themselves also systems subject to organi­
zation on levels that individuals scarcely intuit. M oreover, they are inter­
penetrated with cultural and strategic areas of social life through processes
which can be analytically reconstructed as exchange.
But there is probably also an ideological source for Habermas' insis­
tence on the modern isolation of the lifeworld . This is the continuing
influence on his work of German Idealism (Alexander 1 984) , which has,
of course, deeply affected Western Marxism in all of its forms. This
tradition is organized around the dichotomy of ideal versus material
things, and it has always perceived the threat to post-traditional society to
be one of deracination. Habermas follows this tradition. Despite the
occasional avowals about the positive character of differentiation in his
work, the oppressive and dangerous parts of modern society are almost
always portrayed as merging from rationalized, material systems, whereas
the "good parts" are associated with the personal intimacy of moral life.
For those who do not accept the premises of the I dealist tradition, how­
ever, this ideological dichotomy has little intuitive appeal. The problems
of modern society have emerged as much from the lifeworlds of intimate
234 H A B E R M A S A N D C R I T I C A L T H E 0 R Y

relations- from the authoritarian family, religious sect, and peer group
- as they have from administrative and economic systems. They have
been rooted as much in values and norms- in Yolk culture, racism, and
submissive beliefs- as in force and coercion. Indeed, in the history of
Western societies it has often been the case that a society's "idealistic"
refusal to allow the depersonalization of economic and political life has
signaled its decline into irrationality and despair. ·
Finally, it seems that Habermas has made an error on the theoretical,
presuppositional level, an error, moreover, much like the one for which
he criticized Weber. It is a problem in the conception of action- more
specifically, in the manner in which his communications theory is con­
ceived . We turn here to the " Intermediate Reflections" on "Social Action,
Purposive Activity, and Communication" which completes the third sec­
tion of Habermas' book.

IV

In this third section, Habermas offers his own theory of communicative

action. The discussion serves two purposes. On the one hand, it supplies
the communicative approach to action that Habermas has just finished
chastising Weber for being unable to provide. On the other hand, it is a
transition to Habermas' argument, which unfolds in the section that
follows, about the contradiction between system and lifeworld produced
by the instrumentalization of the modern world . These purposes, how­
ever, are incompatible.
How can a theory of communicative action buttress and elaborate
Habermas' critique of WelJer ? It can do so by demonstrating ( I ) that
virtually all action assumes communica�ion, ( 2 ) that c�J.Ilmunication as­
sumes some extrastrategic understanding between actors, and ( 3 ) th at th is
understanding usually makes an inherent claim to rational justification .
As I have suggested earlier, this is just what Habermas argues in the
discussions of communication theory that precede the Weber analysis (pp.
8-42 , 75- 1 0 1 ) . In this third section, which is a more technical return to
communications, Habermas continues to insist that communication in­
volves understanding and that understanding implies rationality (points 2
and 3 above) . In this sense, he expands his critique of Weber's approach.
• Indeed, in chapter 3 above, Loader and I argued that this was precisely Weber's own

critique of the Gesellschaft-Gemeinschaft dichotomy in German social thought.

 H A B E R M A S A N D C'R I T I C A L T H E 0 R Y 235

But considered as a whole, this later discussion actually points in quite a

different direction. Rather than elaborating on the role of communicative
rationality, Habermas now devotes himself to communication's limited
domain (contradicting point I above) . He does so by developing the
contrast between communication and instrumental behavior. In his ear­
lier discussion , he had allowed that strategic , instrumental behavior,
though conducted with reference to justifying criteria like efficiency and
effectiveness , is not, in fact, usually subject to thematization and rational
argument. The point of that earlier discussion, however, was that most
action was so subject. Now, in contrast, it is the purported lack of
argumentation in strategic behavior that preoccupies him. Instead of
presenting a theory of communicative action to supplement Weber, he
produces a concept of anticommunicative action to supplement the anti­
normative description of modern life which is to be the focus of his
concluding section.
To argue that substantive rationality does not often occur in the prin­
cipal institutional spheres of contemporary life, as he does in the fourth
and final section, Habermas must demonstrate that communicative action
is sharply bounded. He must show that instrumental-strategic action
involves neither shared understanding nor the intent to communicate
which depends on understanding. It is the attempt to so argue that the
section with which we are presently concerned- section 3 - is all about.
Habermas constructs an ideal-typical dichotomy of "instrumental-versus­
communicative action, " and he overloads this contrast with heavy confla­
tionary baggage. All actions can be distinguished, he insists, according to
' -
whether they are ��i��t�;:Ct� s ��ces s (i.e. , strategic considerations ) or
or iente � to unde rsta nding ( i . e . communication) . i f action is oriented to
_
_

_ _ �
u nderstanding, he maintains, it is motivated by the desire to create a
£�i::�cm.!,�\Jir�l�tiQ n \>f!tween the actor and his environment : "In commu­
nicative action participants are not primarily oriented to their own indi­
vidual successes ; they pursue their individual goals under the condition
that they can harmonize their plans of action on the basis of common
situation definitions" (p . 288 ) . To communicate, then, is the same as to
'
agree : "Reaching understanding is considered to be a process of reaching
agreement among speaking and acting subjects" (p. 288) . Now, because
strategic, instrumental action implies competition and often conflict, it
cannot be termed communicative. Habermas describes it as the "noncom­
municative employment of knowledge" (p. 1 0 . )
2J6 H A B E R M A S A N D C R I T I C A L T H E 0 R Y

This dichotomy does not seem valid. It seems to reflect a theoretical

overreaction that conflates empirical, ideological, and epistemological is­
sues. First, the distinction has a clear ideological intent . Habermas main­
tains (p. 398) that "the utopian perspective of reconciliation and freedom
is ingrained in the conditions for the communicative sociation of individ­
uals." His definition of communication, in other words, is a scarcely
concealed translation of the requisites for i deal political democracy . In
contrast to strategic action, where force and deception may be used , in
communicative action participants are said to persue their aims "without
reservation in order to arrive at an agreement that will provide the basis
for a consensual coordination of individually pursued plans of action" (p.
295-296) . Or again, as Habermas writes at an earlier point (p. 1 0) , "this
concept of communicative rationality carries with it connotations based
ultimately on the central experience of the unconstrained, unifying, con­
sensus-bringing force of argumentative speech. "
My point is not that such ideological ambitions are illegitimate. Far
from it. Rather I am suggesting that Habermas' desire to achieve such
unconstrained and cooperative social relationships is not presented as an
evaluative position but as part of the very definition of his presuppositions
about action. Communications = Agreement is a wishful equation. Shorn
of the ideologi c al hopes placed in it, communication qua communications
does not necessitate cooperation. Nor do conflict and strategizing neces­
sarily imply a lack of understanding. Certainly there are some acts, like
war and murder, that do not "depend upon" understanding in the tradi­
tional sense . A bomb can be dropped and murder committed against
people who do not have the slightest idea what the meaning of this act is
for the perpetrator. But, even in these physically coercive acts, under­
standing still plays a vital role. Murder and war are usually carried out
within a " meaningful" perspective because even murderers and soldiers
must understand and typify their actions in concrete and particular ways
(e.g. , Fussell 1 975 ) . The issue, then, is not lack of understanding but
lack of reciprocal or mutual understanding. Habermas claims the distinc­
tion is an epistemological difference : does knowledge involve understand­
ing ? But what is really at stake is an empirical difference : to what degree
is understanding mutual and supportive? I nterpretating and strategizing
are analytically interpenetrated even in war-the type case of dissensus.
But clearer illustrations of interpenetration are acts that are not physically
coercive, for example, strategic actions like hucksterism and deceit. The
 HA B E R M A S A N D C R I T I C A L T H E 0 R Y 237

success of these actions depends not only on the perpetrator's intricate

understanding of the meaning .of his victim's actions, but also on the
victim's understanding of his interlocutor's actions in an "objectively
interpretable" way. Again, what is lacking is not understanding or com­
munication, hut reciprocal understanding and supportive communica­
tion.
Actions form an empirically variable continuum in which constant
analytic dimensions are given different weights. Understanding is a com­
ponent of all action ; so is strategic consideration. '" Whether action will be
cooperative or conflictual depends on how these dimensions are filled in,
on what concrete empirical form they take in specific historical situations.
We can understand, now, why Habermas goes out of his way to reject an
"analytic" approach to the distinction between understanding and strateg­
izing. "In identifying strategic action and communicative action types, "
he writes (p. 286) , "I am assuming that concrete actions can b e classified
fro m these points of view . I do not want to use the terms 'strategic' and
'communicative' only to designate two analytic aspects under which the
same action could be described" (see also p. 292) .
It is as if Habermas misconstrues the very distinction between cultural
and social systems that informed his discussion of Weber. for Parsons
these were analytic distinctions, culture referring to the meaningful orga­
� ��ation of the symbols which inform human action and society to the
�ctual be� avior of real people. To abstract the "understanding" of part­
ners in a real interaction is to point toward the analytic dimension of the
cultural system. To describe their degree of conflict or cooperation is to
refer to issues that result from the organization of the social system itself.
In his discussion of communication, it seems, H:a�ermas wants to tie
social system pr()ce�ses directly to cultural ones. He erases the analytic
'
d isti ncti�� by a rh�torical device which occ ti rs throughout his third sec­
tion. Writing about speech , he is inclined to refer to its "binding (or
bonding) effect" (see e . g . p. 294) . S.p.t:�(:h not onl )' binds people to an
understanding (through their participation in the cultural system) ; it aJso
-
b ()
_
�d.�j·� �� _ t()gether in solidarity (through their integration in the social
system) . In his first systematic elaboration of his communication theory,
written in the mid- I97os , this conflation is already apparent . "I shall
speak of the success of a speech act , " he wrote ( 1 979 : 59) , "only when the
-I have elaborated this analytic approach to strategization and interpretation, relating
them to rationality and social institutions, in Alexander 1988.
2J8 H A B E R M A S A N D C R I T I C A L T H E 0 R Y

hearer not only understands the meaning of the sentence uttered but also
actually enters into the relationship intended by the speaker. " But, while
meaning is cultural ; relationships are social . Success on one level by no
.. .
�eans implies success on another .
It is not at all clear that this radical distinction is justified by the very
analytic philosophy upon which Habermas draws. The philosopher whose
early work had such an illfluence on Habermas, Karl-Otto Ape!, has
recently tried, for example, to support the instrumental/communicative
distinction from the perspective of the synthesis of Geisteswissenschaft
and ordinary-language approache� I mentioned earlier.

The notion of pure strategical rationality of interaction between . opponents in a

game indeed implies reciprocity of rule-following actions and thus implies th e
equal status of the partners ; but it does not imply, but pragmatically presupp oses
and thus excludes, the notion of coming to agreement about the rules of the game,
i.e., of agreements about possible purposes, means and conditions of relevant
actions within the game. Now this is the same, I suppose, as the claim that the
notion of strategical action excludes and presupposes the notion of coming to
agreement about, and thus sharing, the meanings . . . of linguistic . . . utterances
by communication. ( 1 980 : 1 24-25)

This statement actually seems to deny the validity of the dichotomy it

ostensibly supports. Ap el is acknowledging that strategic, game�playing
behavior relies upon ��derstanding. In noting that such strategic action
excludes the possibility of coming to an explicit agreement about rules,
he is not denying the existence of such understanding but classifing the
rule-following it implies as conventional and concrete rather than post­
conventional and formal . In the Piaget/Kolberg sense, strategic.J!�ti!>n
may be said to "presuppose" an agreement to follow rules, and, one)pight
add , the ability to understand them, but to exclude the awareness that
these rules are constructed by people consciously agreeing to them . The
lameness of Apel's " I suppose" in his final reference to understanding
underscores the ambiguity of his point . His earlier work, we recall , was
built precisely on his opposition to the antagonism of strategy and under­
standing. "Only when we are dealing with psychotics or with people of a
very strange culture , " he wrote in the important essay of 1 967 (p. 22 ) ,
"do we get the idea of doing without an immediate understanding of their
motives. " As a general rule, he insisted (p. 23) , "objective explanation of
facts and intersubjective communication about what is to be explained
are . . . 'complementary' aspects of human knowledge. " Even in the later
 H A B E R M A S A N D C R 1 T -I C A L T H E 0 R Y 239

article he cannot avoid this analytic, synthesizing intention. "A single

person, " he admits (1980 : 1 23), "could not understand the intentions of
his purposive-rational actions (or even the rules of means-ends rationality)
without presupposing already the intersubjective, i.e. , common, general
and, as it were, time-less, meaning that is fixed by the sign-types of a
language. "
!!.�AusQ!! L!:t<:>��'::��! _�.p'�m who� Habermas draws most strongly for
the philosophic justification of his dichotomy between strategic commu­
nlcaiive action. Austin, one of the pioneers of ordinary language philoso­
phy, ���lQP"�Q Jh� _�g!lJra!!t J)��een illocutionary and perl()�utionary
�p�ech . .�cts. H�!>ermas equates illocutionary with communicative and
perlocutionary with strategic, suggesting that Austin's dichotomy paral­
ieiS:-'expiaiiis, and supports his own. Two questions immediately present
themselves_ First, does Habermas' dichotomy fairly capture what Austin
meant to do ? Second, is Austin's original intention relevant anyway?
Without claiming to present an authoritative interpretation of what re­
mains an enormously complex philosophical discussion, I would like to
suggest that the answer to the first question is no, but to the second, yes.
It is very important not to forget �\lstin's original claim that speait,ing
is doing. It was for this reason that he int!,pg�<;.ed into language philoso­
Pilif�� !e.r� �pt!:d�r.Ql�tiye utterances" (Austin �96� :�33-252), and it is
__

this notion that forms the background for the famous set of lectures, How
to Do Things with Words, which provides the most significant reference
for Habermas' work. Austin insists at the outset of these lectures that "the
issuing of the utterance is the performing of an action" (p . 6) . In perf()rm­
liigspeech; -actors have intenti�l1s, and they want to achieve -g��is_ Be­
�-ause-iiiey'speak -i"O'ci�����t�nces, or situati��s, th�y quIstcommunicate
in wl!Ys that are appropriate. To do so, their purposive action is thor­
��ghly-�nnie�hed in c� nvention.
If Austin never abandons this basic conception, why dos he introduce
the distinction between actions that are illocutionary and those that are
perlocutionary? Perhaps because he starts from the assumption that most
acts are speeches and not simply that most speeches are acts. He wants,
therefore, to distinguish, within the rubric of performative utterances,
different kinds of acts (see e.g. , pp. 108, 109, and passim) . Illocutionary
acts refer to utterances, such as informing, ordering, warning, and under­
taking, that have in themselves- as words enmeshed in conventions- a
certain force. Perlocutionary acts, by contrast, are utterances which by
240 H A B E R M A S A N D C R I T I C A L T H E 0 R Y

being said bring about or achieve something outside of the speech situa­
tion. Thus, an illocutionary act can be captured in the statement " I n
saying i t I was warning him" whereas a perlocutionary act i s described in
the statement "By saying it I convinced him, or surprised him, or got him
to stop" (p. 1 09) . Austin himself remarks that "it is the distinction
between illocutions and perlocutions which seems likeliest to give trouble"
(p. 1 09) , and his attempt to make the distinction initiated an argument
that has by no means subsided . For our purposes, however, certain points
seem relatively clear .
While the differences between these categories relate to their intended
reference to extra-speech act effects, this is not the same as the distinction
that Habermas evokes to separate strategic and communicative action. In
the first place, the extra-speech effects of perlocutionary actions depends
on a listener's understanding of the content of the speech. This means
that strategic action, which Habermas equates with perlocutionary , could
not , in fact , succeed without commmunication and understanding. To
establish just such a connection actually seems to be Austin's intention
when he first introduces the distinction . There is a sense, he writes (p.
1 0 1 ) , in which to perform "an illocutionary act, may also be to perform
an act of another kind. "
Saying something will often, o r even normally, produce certain consequential
effects upon the feelings, thoughts, or actions of the audience, of the speaker, or
of other persons : and it may be done with the design, intention, or purpose of
producing them ; and we may then say, thinking of this, that the speaker has
performed an action in the nomenclature of which reference is made either only
obliquely, or not at all , to the performance of the illocutionary act . We shall call
the performance of this kind the performance of a perlocutionary act. (P. 1 0 1 )

The gist o f this statement is that illocutionary and perlocutionary acts can
only be analytically differentiated. Illocutionary acts " normally" have
consequential effects on the environment. If these effects are the principal
intention of the speaker, if the act of creating understanding is significant
to the speaker only as a vehicle for realizing this effect, then this act can
be called perlocutionary.
But if the strategic or perlocutionary acts are intended by Austin to
include understanding , so also are communicative , or illocutionary, acts
intended to include strategizing. Whereas Habermas defines communica­
tive understanding as completely divorced from the strategic calculation
of effects, Austin defines illocution as a type of performance. "I must
 H A B E R M A S A N D <;: R I T I C A L T H E 0 R Y 241

point out, " he insists after an initial effort at distinguishing perlocution

from illocution, "that the illocutionary act as distinct from the perlocu­
tionary is connected with the production of effects in a certain sense" (p.
I I S ) . He goes on to emphasize that "unless a certain effect is achieved ,
the illocutionary act will not have been happily, successfully performed"
(p. l I S ) . True, successful effect is defined here as "bringing about the
understanding of the meaning and of the force of the locution" (p. I 1 6) ,
rather than as an effect on the environment separated from speech. But
Austin insists that in illocution "an effect must still be achieved. " Illocu­
tionary understanding , then , can never occur without the calculation of
effects and the purposive direction of action toward that end .
Because Habermas is an acute reader of texts and himself a philoso­
pher, it is not surprising that one can find in his discussion the implicit
recognition that Austin's categories may not, after all, support his own.
For example, introducing Austin's statement (which I quoted above) that
illocutionary acts "normally produce certain consequential effects, " Ha­
bermas ( 1 984 : 289) alters the meaning of this statement by writing that
Austin is suggesting that this happens "sometimes. " And he turns it quite
inside out by describing the phenomenon that "sometimes" occurs as
illocution having a role within perlocution rather than vice-versa. Then,
after developing the argument that he present as following on Austin's
own illocution/perlocution distinction, Habermas suggests that Austin
was confused because he did not make the distinction as cleanly and
radically as Habermas himself. "Austin confuses the picture, " he suggests
(P. 294) , "by not treating those interactions . . . as different in type. " But
was this a confusion on Austin's part or a justified insight ? In attempting
to justify his own claim, Habermas inadvertently justifies Austin's posi­
tion. "Austin did not keep these two cases separate as different types of
interaction , " he writes (P.29S) , "because he was inclined to identify acts
of communication, that is, acts of reaching understanding, with the inter­
actions coordinated by speech acts . " This was , indeed, exactly Austin's
point. Most speech acts are performative, and illocutions certainly are
concerned with interactive effects.
It can even be argued that Habermas recognizes, in spite of himself,
the validity of Austin's logic, for in the course of criticizing Austin he
introduces residual categories that undermine his effort to make a more
radical distinction. Describing an actor engaging in different types of
illocution , for example , Habermas suggests that the person "is acting
24 2 H A B E R M A S A N D C R I T I C A L T H E 0 R Y

communicatively and cannot at all produce perlocutionary effects at the

same level of interaction " (p . 294, original italics) . Does this not imply
that rather than distinguishing types of actions, one should distinguish
among different levels within an action ? If illocution and perlocution are
simply different levels of a single act, is this not an analytic rather than a
concrete distinction ? In fact, Habermas later acknowledges the "problem"
of "distinguishing and identifying in natural situations actions oriented to
understanding from actions oriented to success" (p. 33 1 ) . The problem
seems to be that "not only do illocutions appear in strategic-action con­
texts, but perlocutions appear in contexts of communicative action. " I n
a n apparent effort t o explain this anomaly, h e introduces the notion of
"phases" of the interaction process, trying to convince us that "strategic
elements within a use of language oriented to reaching understanding can
be distinguished from strategic actions " (original italics) . Such ad hoc
reasoning may avoid explicit acknowledgment of the analytical interpene­
tration of strategy and communication, but it amounts to implicit recog­
nition of this point. In substance if not form, Habermas' argument resem­
bles the anti-dichotomy position ascribed to Apel above.

I n my discussion thus far I have sketched both a positive and a negative

side to !:Iabermas' effort to ground critical rationality in ordinary lan­
guage. In a positive vein, his insight int(} the. validity claims of ordill:ary
language allows him to see how substantively rational behavior act�ally
-perm� �t�s the modern world . This insight allows Habermas not only to
transcend the reductionist and ultimately elitist approach of the orthodox
Frankfurt school but also- in combination with the other theoretical
traditions that he employs-to move beyond Weber's rationalization the­
ory in � !:lecisive sense. All of thi� aliows him to insert a more critical -edge
into the normative-evolutionary tradition associated with Parsons. We
have just seen, however, that there is also a negative side to Habermas'
communication theory ; he also uses it, ironically, to reduce the scope of
rationality ; first by elimi;}�iIng underStanding fro� str�tegic aci: i �� o ;I!<l
�ec�nd by idealizing--understan&ng Oin an iinpra�tical way. In;t�ad of
°

elaborating the pote � ti � l of Weberian theory and transcending "critical"

orthodoxy, this negative utilization of language theory undermines We-
 H A B E R M A S A N D C R IT i c A L T H E 0 R Y 2 43

ber's rationalizaton theory by pushing it backward to orthodox critical

theory itself.
However, Habermas' communication theory also, in my view, suf­
fers from quite another problem, even when it embraces rationality in
the more acceptable, expanded sense . By considering what might be
called the 'cultural weakness' of Habermas' work, I will not only offer
a final interpretive criticism ; I will, in addition, try to show how his
theory's most far-reaching points must be extended in an important
way.
From the beginning of his work on communication Habermas has
claimed that engaging in communication assumes the capacity for reach­
ing rational agreement. Understanding is identified with agreement, and
agreement is identified with "unconstrained cooperation. " ��eement,
understanding, and the lack of constraint add up to rationality. L�ck of
�nstraint is a crucial qualification, for it i�plies that the actors involved
in rational communication are fully conscious of what they say and do. '"
N �t:"o�'iy are they free from external material constraints ; they are also
free-from'-lnternaifze� Ccontrols that -would place the meaning and the
�rlgins of their behavior out of their conscious reach. If they are not
--"

depictecl as "the complete masters of their behavior, they cannot confi­

dently be described as able to alter it in a manner that can ensure
cooperative understanding.
Why does Habermas make this claim and how does he justify it? In the
background, circourse; there is his co.mOlitment to traditional democratic
theory abo��_ xo}�I}���y (!Q.Qp�ration : people must be endowed with con­
scious rationality if their contracts are to be conceived as having been
"
��l��t��iiy entered into. A more direct justification for this insistence
comes fromP-iagei::-'f'be point of �iaget's formal-operational stage, and
the stage of "moral consciousness" that Kohlberg associated with it, is
that individuaI; - become capable " of rethinking the foundations of their
actionsaod " are no longer subordinate to socially given meanings as such .
[n-thi�- -�����, �iaget is part of the rationalist tradition that starts with
Descartes, his contribution having been to re..Yo.1utionize our understand­
���_���"_so<:ial _and mental background, the learning processes, upon
which the rationality of an adult depends.
- --H;be�ma� " �hares this rati�nalist emphasis on conscious activity. His
- Recall Habermas' statement that rationalization can be defined as the elimination of
factors that "prevent the conscious settlement of conflicts" ( 1 984 : 1 19) .
244 H A B E R M A S A N D C R I T I C A L T H E O R Y

early description of "thematization, " the ability to argue rationally about

the foundations of behavior, strikingly resembles Piaget's. "Moral con­
ciousness, " he writes, "signifies the ability to make use of interactive
competence for consciously processing morally relevant conflicts" ( 1 979 :88,
�dglrialitalics) . What is left unsaid, but remains, in my view, enormously
important, is that this conscious thematization does not have a cultural
base . It is rooted in the cognitive and moral capacities of actors, capacities
that are the result of developmental encounters that have, pragmatically
and experientially, changed the objective structure of the self. In this
same early discussion, for example, ���!..I?as finds a parallel to his own
notion of communicative agreement in Gouldner's theory that reciprocity
underlines all interactions. Given his own commitrrtent to the capaCity for
absolute conciousness, however, Habermas feels compelled to qualify
even Gouldner's theory i;-an anticulturalist way. He insists that Gould­
ner's expression, "the norm of reciprocity, " is not "entirely apt . " Why
not ? Because "reciprocity is not a norm but is fixed in the general struc­
tllres of possible irrt��acilon'; (p. 88) .
If understanding means unconstrained, conscious, rational agreement,
can' it be related to systems of signs, to symbols that are patterne(�y
deep structures or codes ? It would seem that }t cannot, and for this
reason, it seems to me, communications theory has an antagonistic rela­
tionship to the theory of culture. This antagonism becomes par�mount in
the second volume of Haberm�s' book, •.:e"'he""interprets Durkhel� Ilot
as the originator of a symbolic sociology' that for�ed � ce�tral ref���ll�ce
for structuralism and semiotics (see chapter 5 , above) but as a theorist
�o" explained how modernity's "communicative . liquific �iion" o£ the. . sa­
cred allows rational discourse. The elements of such an antisemiotic
approach call already be seen in the volume under review, particularly in
the early discussion of the contrast between "mythical" and "modern"
modes of thought.
Habermas turns to this contrast to demonstrate that his communication
theory is not ahistorical, as some Marxist critics have claimed. What he
actually succeeds in demonstrating, in my view, is that his theory is overly
historicist. He portrays the movement of modern soci�ty away " fro'm
"�ythical tho�ght' in " a manner tliat supports ' his contention that �o�!Du­
nicative rationality aflows "conscious mastery of thought and action. The
proble� with mythic�1 thought, he believes, is thai it fuses, and therefore
confuses, the p"ersollai"w();id ' �fth� "�ct�� , the objective �orld ()f s��i�ty ,
 H A B E R M A S A N D C R I "T I C A L T H E 0 R Y 2 45

and the subjective world of thought and ideas. Myth, for example, is
biSedoo""-iTihc" concretistic relation between meaning of expressions and
the states-of-affairs represented [by them] " ( 1 984 :49) . This confusion is
clear in magic, where the names of objects are invoked as if they were
directly �nected to the objects themselves. This co�fusing intermin­
'gli�g�T�id� is" also "e vident in the mythical belief that "moral failure is
conceptually interwoven with physical failure, as is evil with the harmful,
and good with the healthy and the advantageous" (p. 48) . The problem
with s�" i�terl!l�':lg.l.i ng .is " that it prevents the differentiation of self,
morality, and society upon which all critical thinking is based. "A liri­
g�lstlcal1y " const1tute(r woi-ldview, " Habermas writes, "can b e identified
with the world-order itself to such an extent that it cannot be perceived
as an interpretation of the world that is subject to error and open to
criticism. " In this sense, "the concept of the world is dogmatically in­
vested with a specific content" (pp. 50-5 1 , original italics) . Rational
rather than mythical communication becomes possible, Habermas be­
lieves, only when such mythical intermingling has ended. "Actors who
raise validity claims, " he writes (pp. 50-5 1 ) , "have to avoid materially
prejudicing the relation between language and reality. " Only if this prej­
udice is avoided can "the content of a linguistic worldview . . . be de­
tached from the assumed world-order itself. " At a later point, Habermas
makes this antithesis between rationality and mythical thought even more
pointedly. The cultural tradition, he writes (p. 7 1 ) , "must be so far
stripped of it dogmatism as to permit in principle that interpretation
stored in tradition be placed in question and subjected to critical revi­
sion . "
But this antithesis, like several others Habermas has described , is
overdrawn. It is true and not true at the same time. �her:e" has certainly
been an enormous differentiation of culture, society, and personality, and
iti;-thi�- diff�re";:datlon iliat " has allowed conciousness and rationality to
��e�ge i� the " modern sens� . The problem for social theoriC!s of.moder­
-niiy;"however, is that the ' arbit���y , unconscious, fused, and, yes, irra­
tl��;i " �lements of culture have not at the same time disappeared . Lan­
g�age and worldview continue to predefine our understanding of the
""

object world before we even begin to subject it to our conscious rational­

ity. Nor can we regard our linguistically-structured worldviews simply as
humanly constructed interpretations, which are therefore transparently
open to criticism. Our "regard" is, ineluctably, conditioned by the pre-
2 46 H A B E R M A S A N D C R I T I C A L T H E 0 R Y

conscious world itself. It follows, then, that there is an inevitable invest­

ment of the world of things and the world of ideas with some kind of
dogmatic, uncritical status . Modern, rational people continue to infuse
values, institutions, and even mundane physical locations with the mys­
tery and awe of the sacred. It is for this reason that physical , social, and
moral reality is organized into centers and peripheries . Even for modern
people, moreover, there continues to be some intermingling of biological
and social life. We "concretize" moral rules by equating their violation
with pollution, dividing the "forces" of morality into the pure and the
dangerous. We also concretize abstract relationships by evoking meta­
phors and other tropes. Finally, there seems to be abundant evidence that
moderns still seek to understand the contingency of everyday life in terms
of narrative traditions whose simplicity and resistance to change makes
them hard to distinguish from myths.-
None of this implies the elimination of rationality in Habermas' sense.
What it does mean is that there is much, much more besides . It means
that deeply held �<! !lcep!!o�s of self , nature, !'ociety, beauty, and goodness
continue to structure modern action in a relativt:ly .arbit!ary way . Yes,
these convictions can be thematiz ed and subjected to rational arg� ment,
but such demands for justification must proceed within the confines of
some given cultural parameters. � ationality, moreover, is not siIIlply the
psychological capacity for such arguments� It is itself a system of signifi­
cations. ¥..<?r . r.��i���lity to develop it must be invested with cultural
power. This is usually done by connecting "rationality" to the sacred
·
centers of a moder'll. society . through �ythi �al stories about the society's
·
':!�iIon �I" origins . The Maoist conception of rationality connected its neo­
Confucian understanding of value and will with a revolutionary Marxist
theory of material inequality as producing change. The French left's
conception of rationality is more solidaristic, linking communal notions
from Catholicism and the guild tradition: with more universalistic princi­
ples from the revolution. American rationality cannot be separated from
commonwealth ideas about republican virtue, Puritan ideas about indi­
vidual rights , and revolutionary distrust of power. These examples are
only suggestive. The relation between rationality and tradition is a com­
plex problem. The ideological complexes of "enlightenment" and "reac-
· This is exactly what I have documented in my symbolic analysis of the Watergate crisis
in the preceding chapter. Americans pursued critical rationality in "culturally arbitrary"
ways.
 H A B E R M A S A N D C R I T I C A L T H E 0 RY 247

tion" have ensured , moreover, that the problem has scarcely begun to be
understood . ..
That the relation exists, however, points t o a serious weakness not only
in Habermas' account of contemporary society but also in his theory of
communicative action itself. We are not faced with a contrllst between, on
'
�.e. o.Il� . �aIld, ,constrajnt through i� stitu ti�� al coercion (est�blished via
!!l:�di.a ! ike money and power) and , on the other, voluntary cooperation
freed from co n.����!!t. �ltogether. T�!!te �xtent that cooperation is achi�ved,
it i� y.? I ll n��..y _2!l:Jyjn_ � ve�y conditional sense (Alexander 1 978 ) . It is
_ .
always mediated by cultural constraints outside any single actor's con­
;ciou s ·'-conirorand:' for�ih at matter, by institutionally coercive processes
!��! _�a�. never be completely superseded . We are fortunate that rationality
has recently become more available for resolving disputes, but it is neither
theoretically justifiable nor politically necessary to envision this rationality
in a culturally and institutionally free-floating way.

Conclusion: The Marxian Dilemma

In the second volume of Theoretical Logic in Sociology ( 1 982 : 345-37°) , I

suggest that the most original theorists of twentieth century Marxism
have been caught inside the " l\:!�� illll dilemr:na. " Faced with Marx's
_
instrumental �p��o��� to, action and his deterministic understanding of
order,-the;e ih�orists have sought a more normative and subjective theory
�f action and a" n;��e �oi� ntaristi� , multidimensional theory of order. It is
from 'ihis desire that th� n�E.���, 9f act�on as "praxis" and sllperstructures
as "relatively autonomous" have emerged. But if these theorists were to
remain within the Marxist tradition, they could not step entirely outside
the boundaries of Marx's thought. �. �vo �� thi�, they have done two
. _.
things : first, they have usually jntroduced some notion of deterlIlinism
"in the last instance" ; second , they often have left their revisions of Marx
-
so extr;��di na �ily ambiguous that these revised versions can be construed
- Gadamer ( I 975 : 245) states the problem well, though his work does not go far toward
resolving it. "Does the fact that one is set within various traditions mean really and primarily
that one is subject to prejudices and limited in one's freedom ? Is not, rather, all human
existence, even the freest, limited and qualified in various ways? If this is true, then the idea
of an absolute reason is impossible for historical humanity . Reason exists for us only in
concrete, historical terms, i . e . , it is not its own master, but remains constantly dependent
on the given circumstances in which it operates. "
2 48 H A B E R M A S A N D C R I T I CA L T H E 0 R Y

only as residual categories. These options form the horns of the Marxist
dilemma . In this century, Marxist thought has careened between the
Scylla of i n determinacy and the Charybdis of the last instance. The
d ilemma can only be resolved , and a systematic multidimensional theory
obtained, by stepping outside Marxism itself.
With the publication of Theory of Communicative Action, ]Urgen Ha­
bermas intends to do just that . He seems to step outside Marxism and
create a new theoretical tradition. In his earlier work, he struggled with
the Marxian dilemma, his loyalty eventually leading him down the path
of the last instance and indeterminacy. His theory of communication, in
contrast, allows him to offer a systematic alternative to the impoveris�ed
"action" of traditional Marxism, and his developmental theory of norma­
"
tive rat ionality -which brings together Piaget, Parsons, and speech the­
ory- allows him to describe social order in a much more rich and com­
plex way. These presuppositional revisions have also allowed him to avoid
one of the central ideological embarrassments of twentieth-century Marx­
ism, for he can root his critical perspective in immanent processes that
are both empirical and "rational" at the same time.
My complaint has been that Habermas does not go quite far enough .
There remains i n his work a strong residue o f the Weltanschauung o f the
Frankfurt sc�ool . This leads Habermas to reintroduce themes of instru­
� ental rationality and the determinatioit ofl ifeworlds by material systems
(in th� last instance to be s ��e) . His multidi m ensIo nal theory is qualified ,
so much so that at various points his conceptual innovations become
ambiguous, and sometimes simply residual, to his analysis of modern
society. But if Habermas has not gone far enough for me, he has certainly
gone much too far for others. It is far enough to have created a remarkable
book , one from which every effort at creating a democratic and critical
social theory must certainly learn.

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Bacon, F . , 1 4 Dawe, A. , 3 1
Baker, H . , 1 87 Dayan , D . , I 89n
B ales, R . , 1 80 , 20 1 Dean , J . , 193
Barber, B . , 204 Derrida, J . , 36
Barth, P . , 1 36 Dilthey, W. , 30, 1 67, 2 1 0
Barthes, R. , 1 6 1 - 1 62, 2 I I Don-Yehiya, E . , 1 64
Bazin, A . , 2 1 3n Douglas, M . , ] 60, 1 67, 1 8¥" 209, 2 ] 2
Beetham, D . , 102, 1 03n , 1 20n Drabek, T . , 58n
Bell, D . , 86n , 93n Durkheim , E . , I , 5 , 6 , 22, 28 , 30, 38 , 39,
Bellah , R . , 49, 1 52n , 164- 1 65 , 1 66 , 2 1 0 40, 42, 43 , 45 , 47, 49, son , 58n , 59n,
Bendit-Smullyan, E . , ] 5 I n 94, 95, 109, 1 23 - 1 49, 1 50n , ] 5 I n , 1 57-
Bendix, R . , 45, 9 I n , 92n , ] 0 1 1 69, 1 74- 1 8 1 , 1 8 3 , 1 84, 196, 200, 202,
Berger, Stephen, 1 02, ]03n 203 , 206, 208 , 209 , 2 1 1 , 2 1 2 , 2 1 3 , 244
Bernstein, B . , 58n , ] 68n
Besnard, P. , 1 70 Eisenstadt, S. E . , 3 2 , 49, 1 79n , ] 84" ,
Birnbaum, P . , 1 70 202n
Blau, P . , 23 , 26 Eliade, M . , 209
Bloch, R . , 1 09 Elias, N . , 80n
Bloom , H . , I SO, 202n Engels, F . , 1 34
Bloor, D . , 159 Ervin , S . , 1 9 3 , 195
Blumer, H., 46, 49, 125, 1 28 Evans-Pritchard, E . E., 2 I I
Bougie, C . , 144, 1 59
Bourdieu, P . , 165- 1 66 Filloux, J . C . , 1 29, 1 39n , 1 5 I n , 1 69
Brunschvig, L . , 1 3 5 Flippen, C. C. , 1 65
Buckley, A. , 1 6 ] Ford, G . , 200, 204, 206
 252 I N D E X 0 F N A M E S

Foucault, M . , 2 1 , 22, 56, 80n , 86n , 1 62 Labriola, A . , 1 42

Freud , S . , 40, 42-43 , 96 La Capra, D . , 1 5 m
Friedrichs, R . , 46, 1 78 Lacroix, B . , 1 44 , 1 52n , 1 69, 1 70
Fussel, P. , 236 Lafargue, P., 1 4 1 - 1 42
Lakatos, I . , 1 6
Gadamer, H. G . , 55, 1 68 , 247n Lance, B . , 204
Garfinkel , H . , 45-46, 49 Lang, G . , 1 96n
Geertz, C . , 3 2 , 1 6 3 , 1 64H , 1 66, 2 1 0 Lang, K . , 1 96n
Giddens, A. , 3 5 , 42-43 , 49 , 1 24, 1 29, Lapie, P. , 1 3 5 , 1 44H
1 39n , 1 5 m , 1 69 , 2 1 9n Lenk, K . , 105n
Godel, R . , 1 60 Levi-Strauss, C . , 55, 1 6 1 , 1 66, 209, 2 1 1
Goffman, E . , 30, 49 Levine, D . , 47, 93n , 1 I 6n
Gouldner, A . , 42, 46-47, 1 5 m , 244 Lewis, J . D . , 1 25
Lewis, J . M . , 1 84H
Habermas, J . , 3, 4, 5 , 6, 1 7 , 22, 25, 26, Lieberson, S . , 2 3 , 24, 26
80n , 92n , 94, 97, 1 2 5 , 2 1 7-248 Liebman, C . , 1 64
Hagstrom, W. , 20, 1 49 Lindenlaub, D . , 1 05n
Halbwachs, M . , 1 58 Lipset, S. M . , 204
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Held , D . , 2 1 9n , 223n Lukacs, G . , 2 3 1 , 232
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Miller, P . , 1 09
 .I N D E X 0 F N A M E S 253

Mitzman, A . , 35, 43 , 82, 9 1 n , l O S , l 1 sn , Saussure , F . , 1 60- 1 6 1

1 1 00 Schluchter, W . , 800 , 92-93n , 1 0 1 , 225 ,
Mommesen, W . , 9 1 n , 102, I 03n , 1 1 0n , : 229
1 I8 Schneider, W. , 204
Moodie, D . , 1 64 Schutz, A . , 46, 1 89, 230
Moore, B . , 1 47 Sciulli, D . , 228n
Moore , S . , 1 66 , 2 1 2 Seidman, S . , 26, S� , 73n , 7fn
Muench , R . , 9fn Seligman, A . , 202n
Sewell, W . , 2sn , 1 6fn , 2 1 0 , 2 1 2
Newton, I . , 10, 69, 77 Shils, E . , 89n , 1 6 3 , 1 79, 202n
Nisbet , R . , 1 24, I S l n Simiand, F . , 1 58
Nixon, R . , 1 8 1 , 1 8 2 , 1 84 , 1 85 , 1 87, 1 88 , Simmel, G . , 1 , 3 1 , 38, 4 1 , 45
1 90, 1 92, 1 95, 1 9 6 , 1 97, 1 98 , 1 99 , 200, Skinner, Q . , 5 1 -54, 56, 5�
20 1 , 206, 207, 2 1 fn Skocpol , T . , 25-27, 1 47, 1 6fn
Nizan, P . , 1 24 Smelser, N . , 24, 2sn , 26, 45 , 49, 1 80,
1 82, 20 1
O'Connor, J . , 1 3 1 Smith, A . , 45 , 47
Oilman, B . , 48 Smith , H. N . , 209
Smith , R . , 1 38- 1 40
Pareto, V . , 18 , .�o Smith, R. L . , 1 25
Parsons, T . , 3, 5, 2 1 , 28, 34, 3 5 , 37, 38, Sorel, G . , 1 36- 1 37 , 1 42
39-40, 47-5 1 , 9In, 92, 94, 96-97, 1 0 1 , Stans, M . , 1 9 3
1 09, I Ifn , 1 24, 1 2 5 , 1 5 1 n , 1 52n , 1 56 , Stinchcombe, A . , 22, 1 24
1 59n , 1 66, 1 69, 1 78, 183 , 20 1 , 2 1 2 , 2 1 9 , Stivers, R . , 1 63
220, 22 1 , 2 2 2 , 225 , 228, 2 3 7 , 242 , 248 Sztompka, P.
Passeron, J . C . , 1 65
Piaget, J . , 3, 5 , 94 , 96, 97, 220-222, 238, Taylor, C., 1 68
243 , 244, 248 Thomas, M . C . , 1 65
Platt, G . , u8n Thompson , J . , 2 1 9n , 223n
Poggi, G . , 1 52n Thompson, K . , son
Polanyi, M . , 1 6 Tilly, C . , 1 47
Pope, W . , 44 , 1 5on , 1 5 In Tiryakian, E . , 1 80
Popper, K . , 1 6 Tocqueville , A . , 1 09
Poroszewski, W . , 1 60 Toennies, F . , l OS , 1 1 4
Prager, J . , 95n , 164 Tolstoy, L . , 75, 78
Traugott, M . , 1 60 , 1 69
Radcliffe-Brown, A . , 1 59, 1 67 Treiman, D . , 1 47
Rawls, J . , 2 Troeltsch, E . , l 1 sn , 1 1 7, 2 1 0
Reagan, R . , 207-208 Turner, J . , 2 1 , 52n , 9fn , 97n
Rex, J . , 44, 45, 1 24 Turner, S . , 22
Richard , G . , 1 3 1 , 1 4 1 - 142 Turner, V . , 1 66-1 67, 1 89 , 2 1 1 , 2 1 2
Ricoeur, P . , 55, 56, 209, 2 1 0
Ringer, F . , 1 04 Veblen , T . , 3 8
Rockefeller, N . , 204 Veneman, J . , 1 8fn
Roth, G . , 35, 43 , 1 0 2 Vogt, P . , 1 4 1 , 1 59
Rothenbuhler, E . , 1 64
Wallwork , E . , 1 29
Sahlins, M . , 1 6 1 , 209n , 2 1 1 , 2 1 2 Walzer, M . , 2 1 0, 2 1 2
Sartre , J . P . , 42n , 5 5 , 86 Weber, M . , 1 04
254 I N D E X 0 F N A M E S

Weber, Max, 1 , 3 , 5 , 22 , 24, 3 1 , 32 , 3 5 , Wilson, J . , 1 64

38, 39 , 40, 43 , 4 5 , 46, 48 , 49, 5 0 , 68-98, Wimberly, R. C . , 165
1 0 1 - 1 2 1 , 1 66, 1 69, 1 78 , 202, 2 1 0 , 224- Wittgenstein, K . , 222
230, 23 1 , 232, 233 , 234, 235, 237, 242 Wolf, J . , 1 64
Weicker, L . , 1 94 Wrong, D . , 43
Weiner, M . , 2 1 0
Whitehead , A . N . , 9
Wildavsky, A . , 1 59 , 2 1 2 Zeitlin, 1 . , 42, 1 24
Williams, R . , 49 Zelizer, V . , 1 64, 2 1 0
 Subject Index

Asceticism : a n d growth o f rationality : 76- Cultural sociology : D u rkheim's program

78 , 80 ; and vocation : 89-90 for : 1 57- 1 5 8 , 1 60 ; in D urkheim school :
1 58 - 1 5 9 ; critical version of, in Bourdieu :
Bureaucracy : as form of rationalization : 81 1 65 - 1 66 ; importance of Durkheim's later
work for : 1 68- 1 69 ; and religious sociol­
Capitalism : operational definition i n We­ ogy : 208-209
ber : 24 ; analysis of, in Habermas : 232-
233 Deconstruction : necessity for, vis-a-vis in
Classics (i. e . , classical texts in sociology) classics : 36-37, 4 1
consensual nature of : 27- 3 3 ; central ity Depersonalization : in ascetic rel igion : 77 ;
of : 7, 27- 3 3 , 35 ; relationship to social and domination : 80, 86, 93
science : 8-9 ; definition of : 9 ; empi ricist Discourse : defined : 2 I ; and classics : 6, 32 ;
challenge to : 9- 1 5 ; Merton's treatment as major feature of social science : 2 I -22 ;
of : 1 3- 1 4, 3 3 ; empirical v. nonempirical in interpretation of Parsons : 2 1 n ; Fou­
dimensions of : 1 8 ; role i n reducing cault's perspective of : 2 1 -22 ; Habermas'
complexity : 28-29 , 35 ; intel lectual na­ perspective of : 22 ; and overdetermina­
ture of : 29-33 ; social scientists' concep­ tion : 23-25 , 58 ; and explanation : 26 ;
tion of : 34 ; "naive attitude" toward : 35 ; truth claims in : 26
deconstruction of : 36-37 ; Parsons' inter­ D iscipline : as result of rationalization : 83-
pretation of : 38-40 ; attack o n Parson's 86 ; as cultural development : 84
construction of : 44-48 ; chall enge b y hu­ Division of Labor in Society, The: Parsons'
manities : 5 1 -52 interpretation of : 39 ; G iddens' interpre­
Charisma : and rationalizati o n , in Weber : tation of : 43 ; contradictory nature of
82 ; and individuation : 83-85 D urkheim's argument in : 1 5 1 - 1 52n
" Churches and sects in North America" : Domination : reality of : 3 ; and modernity :
place in Weber's ouevre : 1 0 1 -103 6 ; and rationalization : 79-80 ; and deper­
Civil religion : i n work o f B ellah : 1 64- 1 65 ; sonalization : 8 I ; in politics : 8 I -82 ; and
and Watergate : 1 94- 195 transformation of modern world : 8 1 -82 ;
" Condensation" : defined : 27 ; advantages and discipline : 83-85 ; as cultural devel­
of : 28-29 opment : 84-85
Conflict theory : emergence of : 44-45 ; cri­ Durkheim, Emile : " religious sociology" of :
tique of Parsons : 45 4, 1 44 , 1 57- 1 58 , 1 68- 1 69, 1 75 - 1 76 ; view
Crisis revolution : structure and process of : of modernity : 95 ; contemporary i nter­
1 83 ; in Watergate : 184- 1 88 ; Weber and p retation of : 1 24- 1 26 ; and " problem of
D urkheim 's view of : 202-203 order" : 1 25 ; early theoretical develop­
Critical theory : ideological nature of : 217; ment of : 1 26- 1 3° ; and moral order : 1 27-
development of : 218; rationality i n : 218 1 2 8 ; adoption of "i nstrumental" theory :
256 S U B J E C T I N D E X

Durkheim, Emile (Continued ) Habermas, J u rgen : Parson ian "turn" i n

1 28- 1 30 ; The Division of Labor in Soci­ work : 2 1 9-220 ; Piaget's influence on :
ety: 1 28-30 ; theoretical dissatisfaction : 220-22 1 ; and speech-act theory : 223 ; va­
1 3 1 , 1 3 3 ; The Rules of Sociological lidity claims in language : 223-224 ; com­
Method: 1 3 2 ; Suicide: 1 3 3 ; influence of munication theory : 223-224 ; critique of
Marx on : 1 34- 1 3 5 , 1 41 ; attacked as ma­ rationality in Weber : 224-229 ; "l ifeworld"
terialist : 1 35 - 1 3 9 ; discovery of religion : v. "systems" in : 230-23 I ; distortion of
1 38- 1 40, 1 5 1 - 1 52n , 1 5 7 ; conflict with Weber : 232 ; analysis of "capitalism " :
Marxists : 1 4 1 - 143 ; failure to acknowl­ 2.32-233 ; empirical error in work : 233 ;
edge " religious turn " : 1 45 ; "theoretical influence of German I dealism on : 233-
logic" in work : 1 48- 1 49 ; and cultural 234 ; a n d theory of communicative ac­
program for sociology : 1 5 7 ; and sym­ tion : 234-23 5 , 242-243 ; instrumental v.
bolic aspect of secular society : 1 57- 1 58 ; communicative action : 235-237, 240-
The Elementary Fonns of Religious Life: 241 ; and misconstrual of social v . cul­
1 58 ; influence on contemporary theo­ tural systems : 237 ; "cultural weakness"
rists : 1 60- I 62 ; unrecognized influence in work : 243 ; and " Marxian dilemma " :
of : 1 62, 1 63 , 1 6 6 ; and ritualistic dimen­ 247-248
sion in theory : 1 78- 1 79 H istoricism : challenge to the classics : 5 1 -
" Durkheimianism" (Durkheim school ) : 5 2 ; abhorrence o f contemporary con­
identified with conflicting approaches : cerns : 53 ; assumptions underlying : 53-
157 ; waning in fluence of : 1 58- 1 59 5 7 ; a n d historical context : 53-54; trans­
parent v . opaque intention in : 54-55 ; ex­
plicit v . multivalent texts in : 55-56 ; re­
Elementary Fonns of the Religious Life, cent retractions in : 59
The: Parsons' reading of : 39 ; Giddens' "History and systematics" : merging of in
downgrading of : 43 ; D urkheim's " reli­
social science : 6, 1 0- 14, 33 ; split be­
gious sociology" outlined in : 1 5 8
tween : 34-36 ; pivotal role in postwar so­
" Europeanization " : as form of seculariza­
ciological debate : 50-5 1 ; in Skinner's
tion , in Weber : 1 07- 1 09, 1 20 theory : 5 2. ; and centrality of interpreta­
Exemplars : in natural science : 18; as
tion : 53
models of explanation : 18
Experientialism : a s flight from rationaliza­ 74-79,
Individuation : a n d rationalization :
tion : 88 83, 87 ; and vocation : 91 ; as outgrowth
of sect religion : I I2
" I ntentionality " : and objectivity in social
" Facts" : questionable nature of, i n Man­
science : 36 ; and "absence" in texts : 36
nheim : 19; overdetermination of, by
I nterpretation : as creative theoretical ele­
theory : 24 ; in development of social the­
ment : I I-12; as element of classics : 30;
ory : 71
major form of theoretical argument : 3 0-
Functionalism (structural-functionalism) :
emergence of : 37; Parsons' development 33; in Parsons : 34-35 , 38-41
of : 38-4° ; role of interpretation in : 39-
Linguistics : in Durkheim's symbolic the­
40 ; challenge to : 4 1 , 44, 1 56 ; and M arx :
ory : 1 60- 1 6 1
42 ; comparison to Durkheim's later the­
ory : 1 78
Meaning : i n classics : 9 , 1 4 , 3 3 ; Merton's
unjustified conception of : 33 ; h istori­
"Gemeinschaft " vs."Gesellschaft ": as de­ cism's neglect of : 35 ; i n Weber : 68, 73,
scription of modernity : 105- 1 06 ; applica­ 75-76 ; a n d social theory : 69 ; " problem
tion to sects, i n Weber : I I 4- I I 8 of " : 70-7 1 ; in religious worldview : 75-
 S U B J E C T I N D E X 257

76 ; Durkheim's insistence on centrality Positivism : critique of scientific perspec­

of : 1 76 tive : 15
M erton , Robert K . : and argument against Postpositivism : view o f scientific develop­
merging of "history and systematics" : ment : 16; and absence of classics in nat­
10-I I , 33 ; interpretation of classics : I I - ural science : 1 7- I 8; argument for clas­
1 4 ; empiricist perspective of : 1 3- 1 4 ; cri­ sics : 1 8-33
tique of Durkheim : 1 59n . Presuppositions : role in preserving reason :
Modernity : in classical sociology : 1 -2 ; in 57; disagreements along scientific con­
social theory : 1 -7 ; contribution of socio­ tinuum : 58n ; i n Skocpol : 25, 27
logical theory toward : 2; i n Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capital­
work : 3-4, 32, 1 03 - 1 04 ; Durkheim's ism, The: as example of overdetermina­
view of : 4, 95 ; Habermas' view of : 5 , tion of facts by theory : 24 ; intellectual
97 ; and domination : 6 ; positive element level of : 3 I n ; and rationalized moder­
of : 93-94 ; Keynes' view o f : 95-96 ; Par­ nity : 3 2 ; domination and rationalization
sons' view of : 96 ; as seen i n German in : 79-80
university : 1 04- 1 05 Puritanism : and growth of rationality, in
Morality : in Durkheim : 1 27- 1 28 , 1 3 1 - 1 33 , Weber : 77-78 ; and bureaucracy : 81 ;
140, I son ; and Watergate : 203-205 contribution to domination : 8 1 , 83 ; and
vocation : 89

Natural science : absence of classics in: 9-

Rationality : in Habermas' work : 5-6 ; as
1 0, 13, 1 7- 1 8 ; a s model f o r Merton's
evolution of religious belief, in Weber :
theory : 1 0- I I ; post positivist perspective
75 ; and ascetic religion : 77 ; and mean­
on : 1 7- 1 8 ; empirical vs. n onempirical di­
ing : 78 ; and charisma : 83 ; in critical
mensions of : 18
theory : 2 1 8 -2 1 9 ; and speech-act theory :
Neofunctionalism : based o n Parsons' re­
222-223 , 237-238 ; critique of Weber's
constructed work : 50
conception, by Habermas : 224-229 ; and
" N onempirical dimension" : in natural sci­
need for cultural power : 247
ence : 1 6- 1 8 ; in social science : 18-21
Rationalization : emergence of : 75 ; and in­
dividuation : 76-83 , 9 1 -92 ; as outgrowth
of ascetic religion : 77 ; as domination :
Operationalism : as example of d issensus in
23-24
social science :
79-86 ; paradox of, in Weber : 85-86 ;
flight from : 87-88, 9 2 ; cultural grounds
1 25 ; "problem of " , in
Order : defined :
of : 1 0 1 ; and secularization : 1 09- 1 1 0
Durkheim : 1 32- 1 3 3 ; and shift in Durk­
"Reflective equilibrium" : in sociological
heim's interpretation of : 1 32- 1 33
theory : 2, 68
Overdetermination : of theory , by " facts" :
Religion : ascetic v. mystic, in Weber : 76-
24, 58n
77 ; in Durkheim : 1 38- 1 40, 1 5 1 - 1 52n ,
1 57
Parsons, Talcott : use of interpretation as Religious sociology : in Durkheim : 4, 1 44,
theoretical argument : 34- 3 5 , 38-4 1 , 5 I ; 1 57-1 58, 1 75 - 1 76 ; importance of inter­
reliance on classics : 38 ; reinterpretation pretation in : 30 ; i n Weber : 76 ; influence
of D urkheim and Weber : 39-40 ; attacks on cultural studies : 1 67, 1 69 ; metaphori­
on his construction of the classics : 41- cal role of, in Durkheim : 1 76- 1 77 ; as
49 ; resuscitation o f classical stature : 5 0 ; general theory , in D urkheim : 1 77 - 1 78 ;
view of modernity : 96 ; critique of Durk­ as empirical experience, in Durkheim :
heim's symbolic theory : 1 59 1 79 ; reconceptualization of : 208-21 3
" Phenomenological reduction " : in classical Ritual : in Watergate : I 88- rc)7 ; and tele­
texts : 36 vised hearings : 1 89- I 94
258 S U B J E C T I N D E X

Sartre , J ean-Paul : comparison with Weber : ity" : 3 6 ; and Parsons' challengers : 44-
86-88 , 92 45 ; centrality of, in classics : 5 I
Sects : as replacing church : 4; as form of Truth claims : in discourse : 26
secularization : 1 07- 1 09 ; membership in :
I i I - 1 I 3 ; as providing increased freedom
Value generalization : nonrational ritualiza­
for individuals : 1 1 2 - 1 1 3 ; differences tion in : 1 80 ; sacred/profane dichotomy
from "Gesellschaft" : 1 1 5 - 1 1 6 ; and poli­ in : 1 8 1 - 1 8 2 ; and ritual, in Watergate :
1 88- 1 89, 203 ; incompleteness of : 200-
tics : 1 1 8- 1 20 ; as providing form of dem­
ocratic control : 1 1 8- 1 1 9 20 I , 206-207
Secularization : "church" v_ "sect", in We­ Vocation : defined : 3 9 ; as form of salva­
ber : 1 07- 1 09 tion : 90 ; in politics : 90-9 1 ; as means of
Social science : as source of self-reflection : achieving individuation : 9 1 ; in "Protes­
68 ; meaning in : 68-69 ; development of : tant Ethic" : 92
69-70 ; materialist and idealist traditions
War : as outgrowth of Protestant Ethic, in
in : 70 ; and "problem of meaning" : 70-
Weber : 83
71
Watergate : emergence as political crisis :
Sociological theory : and modernity : I ;
I 80- I 8 1 ; shift in public perception of :
contributions of : 2 ; cultural dimension
1 8 1 - 1 83 ; social consensus and : 1 84- 1 87 ;
of : 6; merging of "history and systemat­
polarization and : 1 85 - 1 86 ; ritual process
ics" in : 6, 1 0- 1 4 , 3 3 , 3 5 ; challenges to
in : 188- 1 97 ; and television in : 1 89- 1 94,
functionalism in : 4 1 , 44, 1 56
2 1 3- 2 1 � ; results of investigative hear­
Speech-act theory : and rationality, in Ha­
ings : 1 94- 1 96 ; impeachment hearings in :
bermas : 222-22 3 , 237-238 ; per location­
1 98- 1 99 ; liminal transcendence in : 1 99-
ary v _ illocutionary acts i n : 239-242
200 ; incompleteness of value generaliza­
Structure of Social Action, The: as work of
tion : 200-20 1 , 206-207 ; and morality :
interpretation : 34-3 5 , 38-39
203 -205 ; comparison with Iran-contra
Symbol s : and religion , in Durkheim : 1 57-
affair : 207-208
1 58 , 1 75 ; parallels between Durkheim
Weber, Max : disillusionment with social
and Levi-Strauss : 1 6 1 ; in Durkheim's
theory : 72 ; conception of science : 72-73 ;
religious sociology : 1 76- 1 8 0 ; in Parson­
theory of rationalization : 74, 1 0 3 - 1 04 ;
ian functionalism : 1 78 ; ritual and purifi­
view of meaning : 75-79 ; theoretical
cation process of : 1 83 ; pollution of, in
problems in work : 80, 97-98 ; trip to
Watergate : 1 8 5 , 1 94- 1 98 , 206
America : 1 04- 1 05 ; treatment of "Ge­
meinschaft" and "Gesellschaft" : 1 05-
1 08 ; secularization, church v _ sect : 1 07-
Theoretical interests : in Parsons' interpre­ 1 09 ; convergence with Parsons' sect the­
tation : 36 , 3 9 , 4 1 -42 ; and "intentional- ory : I I �