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Sociology and Pragmatism BOOKS BY C. WRIGHT MILLS Sociology and Pragmatism ( 1964) Power, Politics and People (1963) The Marxists (1962) Listen, Yankee: The Revolution in Cuba (1960) Images of Man (edited) (1960) The Sociological Imagination (1959) The Causes of World War Three (1958) The Power Elite (1956) Character and Social Structure (1953) (with H. H. Gerth) White Collar (19S1) The Puerto Rican Journey (1950) (with Clarence Senior and Rose Goldsen) The New Men of Power (1948) From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (1946) (edited and translated with H. H. Gerth) SOCIOLOGY AND PRAGMATISM THE HIGHER LEARNING IN AMERICA C. WRIGHT MILLS Edited with an introduction by Irving Louis Horowitz New York OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1969 Copyright© 1964 by the Estate of C. Wright Mills Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 64-19448 First published 1964 Third printing, 1969 Reprinted by special arrangement with Paine-Whitman Publishers Printed in the United States of America The best claim we can make for the higher education, the best single phrase in which we can tell what it ought to do for us, is that it should enable us to know a good man when we see him. WILLIAM JAMES Contents Preface Introduction The Intellectual Genesis of C. Wright Mills 11 SOCIOLOGY AND PRAGMATISM: The Higher Learning in America PART I 1. Division of .Labor, Religion and Educational Institutions 35 2. Types of Men. and the New Schools 57 3. Graduate Schools and Professionalization 67 4. The Personnel of American Philosophy 75 5. Biographical Composition of the Metaphysical Club 84 PART II 6. Charles Peirce 123 7. The Laboratory Style of Inquiry 150 8. The Practical in Peirce 168 9. The Realist Definition of Society 191 10. Social Components of Peirce's Perspective 206 ·PART III 11. William James 215 12. Three Vocabularies of Social Practice 232 13. The Polarization of Science and Religion 248 14. Psychological Liberalism 260 PART IV 15. John Dewey 279 16. Hull House and Consequent Writings 307 17. John Dewey's Reading Public 325 18. Professionalization of Teaching 338 19. The Philosophic Public and Professional Ascent 347 20. Meanings and Moorings in Dewey 356 21. Modulations of Action 391 22. Freedom and Culture 426 23. Social Psychology: Model for Liberals 447 Postscript: Some Last Reflections on Pragmatism 464 Name and Subject Index 468 Preface The justification for the belated publication of the dissertation of C. Wright Mills on Sociology and Pragmatism is manifold. The first and foremost reason is that this is a very sound piece of scholar· ship. The wide readership it has enjoyed in its dissertation form can be attested to by its considerable use at the University of Wis· cousin dissertation archives. The second reason is that sociological research on the theme Mills chose, remains at relatively the same point as it was a quarter century ago. Indeed, the study of the ideological and institutional fabric of philosophy has receded as a theme in the sociological literature. Were it not for the work of European trained scholars like Hans H. Gerth, Kurt H. Wolff, Max Horkheimer, and Georges Gurvitch, among others, it would be well nigh impossible to "legitimate" such a study at all. The third reason that the publication of this book at this time must be con· sidered fortuitous is the growth of interest in the process of pro· fessionalization - the transformation of a discipline into an occu· pation, and the corresponding transformation of the intellectual into an academic. It is my personal judgment that the book will find a more ready and responsive audience than it would have twenty five years ago. The fourth reason, and the one which closes the need for further rationalization is that Wright Mills wanted Sociology and Pragmatism to be published. In spare moments, he would go over the manuscript for purposes of style and formula· tion. As a matter of fact, he had submitted his dissertation to vari· ous commercial publishers, but no arrangements were arrived at which could prove mutually satisfactory. Sociology and Pragmatism There is an additional reason for the publication of this volume, which must be considered as a point apart. With the publication of Sociology and Pragmatism the corpus of Mills' finished writings are now available for public inspection. We can now see him in an original "pristine" form, and compare and contrast this with his later efforts. In my Introduction I have attempted to state the case for regarding Mills' writings as a continuum. Given the nat ural adaptation to styles of doing sociology which penetrated Mills' consciousness at a later stage, and as a consequence of a wide net work of professional and intellectual associates, it is remarkable that the themes introduced in Sociology and Pragmatism re mained a constant source of inspiration and utilization in his sub sequent writings. Clearly, even the natural enthusiasm of an edi tor for his project cannot lead to a judgment of this as a "great and classic book" - but then again, this designation, so often as signed to the trivial and the transitory, h~s really lost its meaning. It is sufficient to say, and without fear of contradiction, that this book is an exceedingly perceptive account; and if the author of this dissertation had never produced any other work, it richly deserves p:ublication and critical attention. Those who know the original dissertation will be aware of cer tain changes. First, the title of the dissertation,. A Sociological Ac count of Pragmatism, has been changed to Sociology and Pragma tism: The Higher Learning in America. This is not only a commercially more viable title, but better reflects Mills' main con cern in the dissertation, the professionalization of philosophic ed ucation in the United States, and also his enormous indebtedness to the work of Thorstein Veblen. The technical changes, from a more orderly presentation of chapters and sections to changes in content, have been held to a minimum, and have yielded to the guide lines established by Mills in his own notations. They are in no way central, and anyone doubting this, is quite at liberty to compare this published edi tion with the dissertation itseH. It must frankly be said that there were a number of points where the editor was tempted to make changes or add explanatory notes, but this procedure was resisted for the obvious reason that such alterations would have violated the essential purposes of publication. And I have little assurance that such changes would necessarily have been for the better.