Confronting Gouldner: Sociology and Political Activism

278 Pages·2015·3.51 MB·English

by  James J. Chriss

Confronting Gouldner
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Studies in Critical
Social Sciences
Series Editor
David Fasenfest (Wayne State University)
Editorial Board
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (Duke University)
Chris Chase-Dunn (University of California-Riverside)
William Carroll (University of Victoria)
Raewyn Connell (University of Sydney)
Kimberlé W. Crenshaw (University of California, la, and Columbia University)
Heidi Gottfried (Wayne State University)
Karin Gottschall (University of Bremen)
Mary Romero (Arizona State University)
Alfredo Saad Filho (University of London)
Chizuko Ueno (University of Tokyo)
Sylvia Walby (Lancaster University)
VOLUME 76
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/scss
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Confronting Gouldner
Sociology and Political Activism
By
James J. Chriss
LEIDEN | BOSTON
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Cover illustration: Tea Party Protest, Hartford, Connecticut, 15 April 2009. Photo by Sage Ross.
CC BY-SA 3.0.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chriss, James J., 1955-
 Confronting Gouldner : sociology and political activism / by James J. Chriss.
  pages cm. -- (Studies in critical social sciences ; volume 76)
 Includes bibliographical references and index.
 ISBN 978-90-04-23241-9 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Gouldner, Alvin Ward, 1920-1980. 2. Sociologists--United
States--Biography. 3. Marxian school of sociology--United States. 4. Industrial sociology--United States.
I. Title.
 HM479.G68C473 2015
 301.092--dc23
 [B]
2014048620
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Contents
Foreword by Richard Lee Deaton
The Two Masks of Alvin Ward Gouldner: Angry Outsider and
Intellectual Street Fighter – Reflections of an Undutiful Son vii
Acknowledgments xxxiv
List of Figures xxxv
1 The Classics and Beyond 1
2 Intellectuals and Radical Sociology 18
3 Crime and Deviance 36
4 Bourdieu and Reflexive Sociology 68
5 Radical Politics and Soviet Sociology 89
6 Religion and Critical Theory 125
7 Social Justice, Politics, and Religion 153
8 Locals, Cosmopolitans, and the Politics of a Global Humanity 171
9 Mao and the Communist Horizon 194
References 213
Index 236
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Foreword
The Two Masks of Alvin Ward Gouldner: Angry Outsider and
Intellectual Street Fighter—Reflections of an Undutiful Son*
A Jewish father has mercy upon his children.
The Talmud
The past is a foreign country.
L. P. Hartley
There is no good father, that’s the rule.
Les Mots
I come not to praise Caesar, but to bury him.
Shakespeare
I have tried to be objective. I do not claim to be detached.
C. Wright Mills
Acknowledgments
I am more than flattered that Professor James Chriss has asked me to write this
foreword to complement his second study of Professor Alvin W. Gouldner
(Chriss 1999c). He has generously given me carte blanche with respect to this
essay. His kind gesture and trust is most appreciated. Hopefully, our collabora-
tion of some eight years has been mutually interesting and beneficial. Each of
us has retained his own independent perspective and conclusions regarding
the main character of this study. For me this has been a true participant-
observer collaboration.
Introduction
C. Wright Mills and Alvin Ward Gouldner were arguably the greatest sociolo-
gists of their generation and were undoubtedly the most influential and
* The author gratefully acknowledges the considerable editorial and stylistic contribution of
Mrs. Eleanor Hora for bringing coherence and intelligibility to this foreword.
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viii FOREWORD
controversial sociologists of the post-World War Two period. Their originality,
theoretical insights and craftsmanship as applied to various subjects and issues
made them true scholars and public intellectuals. They dared ask the difficult
questions and sought unpleasant truths about the nature of power, ideas, and
their own profession. Although they were not always personally popular, Mills
and Gouldner inspired an entire generation of young sociologists and social
scientists and the issues they studied. Most importantly, they were responsible
for creating what is now known as critical or radical sociology.
Circumstance and my own personal history have belatedly cast me in the
unintentional role of the prodigal son who demands a fair hearing for his
father’s reputation and achievements. As his estranged son I can hardly claim
to have been close to Professor Alvin Ward Gouldner. For reasons outlined and
elaborated upon in this essay, our lives took different directions. Now I am in
the unusual, if not suspect and awkward, position of trying to bring some bal-
ance and perspective to any assessment of his life and work. Alas, being my
father’s son, I see something of him, intellectually and personally, in myself.
But it is axiomatic that personal and family histories are complex.
Immediately, I am placed in a double bind or Catch-22 situation. On the one
hand, if I am disparaging towards my late father, I will invariably be dismissed
or accused of being unfair or harbouring a grudge as the alienated son. On the
other hand, if I am laudatory or sympathetic, I will undoubtedly be accused of
being a hagiographer or uncritical because of the family connection. In this
“no-win” situation, I can only do my best to be honest and fair.
A strong caveat is necessary to emphasize that I am not writing this essay
out of malice as Professor Gouldner’s distanced son. Contrary to the imagery of
Goya’s Saturn Devouring His Son, I certainly haven’t spent my life shadow box-
ing or competing academically with his ghost. Nor is this a form of belated
psychological catharsis, despite the opportunity this exercise has afforded me
to engage in considerable introspection, and a chance to contemplate a num-
ber of personal and intellectual issues. Hopefully, the background information
presented here will expand our understanding of Alvin Ward Gouldner, both
as a person and as a scholar. As C. Wright Mills said in another context, “I have
tried to be objective. I do not claim to be detached.”
Alvin W. Gouldner: Methodology of Intellectual Biography
What I expect of any scholar or academic producing a well-researched intel-
lectual biography of Professor Gouldner is that their work conforms to at least
three criteria. First, it must be accurate with respect to the biographical facts
and details of his personal and family life, as well as his academic career.
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FOREWORD ix
Second, in interpreting his personal motives, ideologically-based politics, and
intellectual work there should be a sense of fairness and balance. Third, and
perhaps the most difficult of all in any intellectual biography such as this, it
must establish the linkage or connection between the man and his intellectual
work, at least in rough contour. In short, doing the job properly requires bal-
anced craftsmanship in order to produce a full and nuanced intellectual biog-
raphy (for example: Hobsbawm 2003).
My father’s work and ideas were not produced in a vacuum; they must be
contextualized, personally and historically. Thus, the intellectual biographer
must, or should, establish the interaction between the person and his work
and integrate the two to have a picture of the whole. A full and rounded evalu-
ation of a person’s intellectual contribution must take into account the person
himself, his background, and those formative or determinative forces acting on
him, not just a limited analysis or assessment of their abstract or rarified theo-
ries or ideas.
Professional biographers and writers have endlessly debated the relation-
ship between a person and their work, and whether any biographical back-
ground or history is necessary in order to assess or appreciate their work.
Where the balance or emphasis should lie between biography and intellectual
history will be interminably debated. The issue is difficult, but at least recog-
nizing that it exists helps to inform the subject. All the more so, when the per-
sonality under study is as controversial and “difficult” as Professor Gouldner.
Those wanting to satisfy their prurient curiosity, expecting or wanting a tell-
all “hatchet job” revealing family secrets, or an opportunity to indulge their
schadenfreude, may be sadly disappointed by what follows here. Many things
are often best left unsaid, and we all have issues that we would prefer to forget
or to remain private. Some of Professor Gouldner’s former colleagues and
detractors should remember that they, too, may have skeletons rattling around
in closets, or bedrooms. Over the years I have often wondered to what extent
personal rancor and professional jealousy have played a part in, or coloured,
their assessment of Gouldner.
For myself, I prefer to be generous and take the high road and be pensive
and introspective, rather than polemical. What are presented here are some
personal memories, family history, stories, and incidents that, hopefully, will
offer a better—and more balanced—understanding of the man and his work.
Alvin W. Gouldner: Overview
Who, then, was my birth father, Alvin Ward Gouldner? Why, after so many years,
is his intellectual contribution to sociology still remembered? Why does his
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