social forces volume 55 issue 4 1977 [doi 10.2307%2f2577576] review by- peter ludes -- sociology,...

7/24/2019 Social Forces Volume 55 Issue 4 1977 [Doi 10.2307%2F2577576] Review by- Peter Ludes -- Sociology, Phenomen

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Sociology, Phenomenology and Marxian Analysis: A Critical Discussion of the Theory andPractice of a Science of Society. by Barry SmartReview by: Peter LudesSocial Forces, Vol. 55, No. 4 (Jun., 1977), pp. 1086-1087Published by: Oxford University Press

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1086

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Social

Forces

/ vol.

55:4, june

1977

and

other

perspectives.

Few of

the

authorsprobe deeply

into problems of the compatibility

and cross-fertilization

of

diverse

approaches,

but the book lays valuable foundations

which

may stimulatereaders o undertakehese tasks themselves.

SOCIOLOGY, PHENOMENOLOGY

AND

MARXIAN ANALYSIS:

A

CRITICAL

DISCUSSION OF THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF A SCIENCE

OF SOCIETY.

By Barry Smart. London & Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1976. 206 pp.

Cloth, $16.00; paper, $13.25.

Reviewer:

PETER LUDES,

University

of Trier

What

is

phenomenology? And what is Marxian analysis? What are phenomenological

sociological analyses? And what are Marxian sociological analyses?Is there a theory of a

science ( )

of

society?

And

what

is

the practice of this science?

These are crucial questions for sociologists and the recipients and (ab)users

of

sociological knowledge in the world of everyday life. This book lays

some groundwork or

answers to these questions by discussing (among others) recentlytranslatedworks by Marx

(Grundrisse),

Lukacs

(History

and Class

Consciousness),

Dahrendorf,and Habermas

n

the

context of recentAmerican and British sociological writings-and vice versa. It is a good

introduction

o

the area

of

sociology concerned

with the

historical

sources, practicalgoals,

and implications

of

"a science of society," and

with its

peculiartopics

and methods. But

"[i]t goes without saying that this analysis is not enough and that

it

is but

the first

moment [I

would

say:

but one

moment]

in

an effort at synthetic

reconstruction"

as Sartre

says

in

an epigraph o this book.

The author ees crises in sociology and Marxism-and probably,althoughhe does

not

say so,

in

the

social structureof modern society. Yet, the "only sense

in which the 'new'

sociologies have been critical for conventional sociology is in terms

of methodological

issues," and Smart again) emphasizesparticularlyhe methodological

significanceof Marx's

writings, rejecting

a

"fragmentedMarx" and, more generally, "a

fragmenteddescriptionof

a

fragmented eality.

"

He

treats "Marxiananalysis as a critiqueof

sociological science."

For

example, "[w]hereas with Marxiananalysis the reductionof the workerto an object, to an

abstraction,

is

revealed

to

be a consequence of the capitalist mode

of production

and its

science of political economy, for sociology the reduction of man to homo sociologicus

is

treatedas

an index of scientific status." And phenomenology emphasizes"that experience

and evidence are not

infallible and indeed should be consideredproblematical.

The develop-

ment of any inquirythen becomes a matterof explicating not only the 'what' but also the

'how' of experience."

Smart

appears

o

overemphasize he potentialof more extensive

and intensiveuse

of

Marxian

analyses,

of

"a

revelation of the underlyingrationalityof

the given social order."

Of course there is also an

underlying irrationality,producing

tensions and crises,

and

it is

questionablewhether "the development of a [completely] rational

intersubjective ociety"

is

desirableor even possible. In order to "retrieve the critical and emancipatory

nterestfor

sociology"

we must

take

into

account

the

(changing) limits

of humanity-of the subjects-

and

not

only

those of

nature

and

technology,

the other dominant

and

also changing)

"limits

of

growth."

Smart

concludes:

"It

is not

so

much the case that Marxian analysis

'solves'

all the

problems confronted within sociology as that it offers a way of understandingbetterthe

nature

of the problems nvolved

in

doing a science

of

society because

it begins by questioning

the

'given.'

"

But Marx did not bracketMarx,

nor did he

question

the historical

role

of the

proletariat as did, in different ways, Lenin, the Social DemocraticParties, and Marcuse).

Marx

did not-could not-analyze the implications of Marxism

for the actions

of trade

unions, workers' parties, the state, and capitalists. Questioning the

"given" today

also

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3/3

Book Reviews

/

1087

means questioning

Marx. Smart's

call for critical Marxian analysis

is

surely appropriate,

particularlyor many

Americansociologists.

But we must not forget that we

must go beyond

Marx-in ourmethods, in ourtheories, andin our practice.

REVOLUTION AND THE REVOLUTIONARY

IDEAL.

By RobertBlackey and CliffordPaynton. Cambridge:Schenkman,

1976. 295

pp.

Cloth $9.50; paper, $4.95.

Reviewer:WILLIAM H. OVERHOLT,

Hudsont

Instituteand Columbia

University

This

volume consists of five chapters of theoreticalcommentaryon revolution followed by

sixteen chaptersof chronologicalaccountsof revolutionsand concepts of revolutionfrom the

ancientGreeks to the currentconflict in Africa.

The five theoretical chapters constitute one of the most disjointed collages of im-

pressions of revolution currently available. The authors lump together as revolutions the

great revolutions, the Indian and Irish Independencerebellions, Latin Americancoups, and

the

activities of Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman. A chapteron "Violence and Strategy in

Revolution" jumps randomly among comments on violence, leadership, charisma, and

organization, confusing the reader while contributing nothing to our understanding of

violence in revolution. Strategy s ignoredexcept for brief references o Rubin and Hoffman.

Appropriately, n that chapter there is not a single footnote. Chapters on social institu-

tions and sociological factors

in

revolutions are shallow and arbitrarily tructuredalmost

to the point of incoherence. Ideology, a subject presumablycentral to a volume on "The

Revolutionary deal," is treatedwith the depth and cavalier style one would expect of a good

sophomoreexam paper. Relative deprivation s treatedsuperficiallyand uncritically.A final

theoretical chapter on "Urbanization and Revolution" (an apparentlyarbitrary

hoice for

extended treatment) provides the reader with what amounts to a newspaper reporter's

perception

of

urbanizationand its possible consequences

for

revolution,

almost

completely

ignoringthe extensive literatureavailable.

The history is somewhat better. The authors briefly outline the history of various

revolutionsand key aspects of revolutionary hought. Much of the summary n these chapters

is

competent, and its brevity would have been a virtue were it not accompaniedby super-

ficiality. Superficial mages prevail. The authorshave no sense of the difference between

the

theory

and

the actual process of the Russian Revolution, no comprehensionof the impact

of

the

Japanese invasion on the course of the Chinese revolution. Not one original thought

appears.The choice of revolutionscovered is governed by no identifiableprinciple, with the

New

Left and the Irish Rebellion included as revolutions but revitalizationmovements

and

premodernupheavals n China and Japanexcluded. Likewise the balance of emphasisseems

totally arbitrary,with the Nazi revolution receiving two paragraphs

and the adventures

of

Fidel Castroand Che Gueveratwo chapters.

The

things this

book

does badly are done well elsewhere

in

work

apparently

nfamiliar

to the authors. The high points of the book are chapters on Marx and Lenin and

to some

extent that

on

Mao,

but

unfortunately

for the authors these

subjects

have

been

treated

magnificentlyelsewhere. EdmundWilson's To the Finland Station (which appears

neither

n

footnotes nor in

bibliography

nor in

substance)covers

much of

the

same

territory ncisively

and in

delightful prose. Many

of

the images of revolution

are addressed

more

concisely

and

more insightfully n HannahArendt's On Revolution (a volume also apparentlyoutside the

authors'

reading).

The

authors'style, particularly

n the

theoreticalchapters,

s

imprecise

and

full of the

facile

generalizations

and

silly tautologies

of

undergraduate

lue

books:

we are

told

that the

ardorof old

revolutionariesusually wanes

and that "it is

probably [sic]

that

without a

weak

government and a shaky social structure, Castro would not have

succeeded so

easily."

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