sociology and philosophy in france-bourdieu

7/28/2019 Sociology and Philosophy in France-Bourdieu

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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY IN FRANCE SINCE 1945: DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF APHILOSOPHY WITHOUT SUBJECTAuthor(s): PIERRE BOURDIEU and JEAN-CLAUDE PASSERONReviewed work(s):Source: Social Research, Vol. 34, No. 1, FocusContemporary French Philosophy (SPRING1967), pp. 162-212Published by: The New SchoolStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40969868 .

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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHYIN FRANCE SINCE 1945:DEATH AND RESURRECTIONOF A PHILOSOPHYWITHOUT SUBJECTBY PIERRE BOURDIEUAND

JEAN-CLAUDE PASSERONJL e readerwillfindn thispaperneither systematicistoryofthe ociologicalrphilosophicalventsndschools hich avesucceededneanothern France ince1945,nora philosophyfthehistoryfphilosophyr of thehistoryf sociology,ut asociologyf hemain rendsf ociologyhich,norder o restoretheir ullmeaningo worksndtodoctrines,ries o relate hemto their ulturalontext,n otherwords,ries o showhowposi-tions ndoppositionsn the ntellectualield re connected ithexplicitlyr implicitlyhilosophicalttitudes.1t is withthisin mindthatwe haveprepared his outlineof a sociologyfFrenchociology,hich ims tuncoveringnconsciousffinitiesrather handescribingeclared ffiliations,nd at decipheringimplicit urposes ather hanacceptingiterallyeclarationsfintent. or, sA. O. Lovejoy emarks,"There re,first,mplicitr ncompletelyxplicitssumptions,or moreor less unconsciousmentalhabits, peratingn thethoughtfan individual ra generation.t is thebeliefswhicharesomuch matterfcourse hat hey rerather acitly re-supposed hanformallyxpressednd arguedfor, hewaysofthinkinghich eem onatural nd inevitable hat hey re notscrutinizedith he ye f ogical elf-consciousness,hat ften rei Cf.P. Bourdieu,Champ ntellectuelt projet rateur," empsModernes, o-vembre 966,pp. 865-906.


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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 163moredecisive of the character f a philosopher's octrine, ndstilloftener fthedominant ntellectual endencies f an age." 2Whetherthey deplore it or welcome it, French and foreignobserversreagreed nrecognizinghe close inkwhichhasalwaysexisted between Frenchsociology nd philosophy.The excep-tion provesthe rule: those who date the appearanceof a trulyscientificociologyn thepost-war eriod (i.e., from hemomentwhen certainsociologists penly repudiated any philosophicalmotivation) nconsciouslyxpressby thatveryfact philosophyofscienceand at thesame timereveal theirplace in the Frenchintellectual ield,whereany takingof a positionwhichis objec-tivelydefined n termsof its oppositionto otherpositionshasphilosophical mplications.Similarly,when Michel Crozierwel-comes, n the autonomization f the social sciences, the emer-genceofa newconception frationality"r "themoreand morefar-reachingppropriation f action by scientificntelligence,"is he not proposing,n spiteofhimself, philosophy f history

2A. O. Lovejoy,The GreatChainofBeing,A Study f theHistory fan Idea,Cambridge: arvardUniversityress, 936, . 7.M. Crozier,La Revolution ulturelle," aedalus,December 963. It is evidentthat throughouthis articlewe are goingto deal withAmerican ociologyessas what t has actually een in itsmain stream f ideas thanas its social imagein themindsof most ntellectualsn France,whether heyused thissyntheticalrepresentationf American ociology s a bogeyor as a mythical uarantee ortheirown work. It is irrelevant hat in the 'fiftiesome Frenchneo-positivistswronglylaimedkinshipwith ociological mpiricism,hichhad, n fact, easedtodominate esearchn the UnitedStates incethe thirties,r that the gnorance fthegreat ociologicalheories f the 19th enturyould hide behind theexampleof anAmericanociologyhathad rediscoveredhe theoreticalignificancefMarx,Durkheim,Weber and Paretoalreadybefore1939 through he works f ParsonsandMills, ornstance).The failure oappreciateheAmericanchools fsociologyand their iversityonstitutesn objective act fthehistoryfideas. This is theobject fourstudy.Moregenerally,e aregoing oconsider he uthors, orks,ndstreams f deasthroughherepresentationshathavebeen theconditionsf theirpenetrationf an intellectual ublic,rather han examining heir ffectiveon-tributionso thehistoryfphilosophyr to thehistoryf science. Besides hefactthat these contributionsould not be discerned xcept by a limitednumberofspecialists,heir valuationwould necessitate thorough pistemologicalnalysis,whichwas notthe ntent fthispaper. Moreover,hiswouldultimately akeusadoptthepointof viewofposterity,omething e obviouslyould notpretend o,ifonlyby wayof omission r lack ofcautiousness.


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164 SOCIAL RESEARCHwhich is ultimatelynothingbut a neo-positivismhat seeks itsguarantee n American ociology nd civilization?Is it not the same presuppositionhat leads some scholarstosee in quantitative esearch, s it has developed in the UnitedStates, hefittingnd of thehistory frationalsociology nd, bythe same token,the testof the scientificharacter f all socio-logicalresearch, astor present?Again,whena writer fhistoryin thefuture erfect epresentss a defeatof scientificociologythe victory f Durkheimism ver such competing endencies sthose ofLe Play,Tarde, Wormset al., is he not basinghistory'sjudgment fthefacts n a philosophyf science?To explainthetriumph f Durkheimism y thepositions fpoweroccupiedbyDurkheimand his followersn the universitiess to ignoretheextent to which the apparently cientific isputesabout Durk-heimismwerepartof thepoliticaland religiousconflictsf thetime; it also gives away something f the philosophicaltenetsunderlyingwhat is apparentlyonly a sociologicaldescription.Similarly, hetherwhatFrench ociologistsr philosophers ringintothe debateover Durkheimisms guilty wareness f a denialoforigins r whethert is triumphantatisfactionesulting romemancipation,ragain,unconditionalttachmentounchallengedtradition, o theynot invariablymanageto concealtheonlyrealsubjectof discussion?Are not manyof the descriptionswhichappear to deal with questionsof factregarding he history fFrench ociology eallydealingwithan epistemologicaluestionwhich s never ormulated?f, n all itsphases, ociologyxpresses,whethertmeans t ornot,whethertknows t ornot,philosoph-ical options, annotthe relationsbetweensociology nd philos-ophyassumeverydifferentorms nd significations,r can, forexample,philosophicalquestionswhich absolve or remove onefrom nysociologicalpractice rwhichsociologicalpracticefeelscompelledto take ntoaccount n deference o thephilosophicalfashion fthedaybe confusedwiththosequestionswhichsocio-logical practiceposes to philosophers nd, more importantly,thosewhich are posed to sociological practiceby and in that


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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 165practice tself? f, in thisway,one substitutesn explicit episte-mological question for descriptionsgoverned by an implicitepistemology,eterminedmorebytherelationship f the nvesti-gator ohispeers hanbyhisrelationshipo theobject, ne cannotavoidreinstatinghequestionconcerninghehistoryfsociologyposed by neo-positivism:nsteadof wonderingby what miraclesociology scaped fromthe metaphysical arkness o which thetriumph fDurkheimism ad condemned t,oughtwe notin factto be asking urselveswhy t s thatFrench ociology asbeenableto assimilate nd,moreparticularly, aster mpirical echniquesonlybyrediscovering scientifichilosophywhich s not so dif-ferent rom hatof theDurkheimians?One could easilybe convincedof the appearance of a newphilosophicalorientation,both in the social sciences and inphilosophy tself,udging by the combinedcryof alarm fromcertainphilosophers onfronted y the developmentof a sub-jectless anthropology,n which theyperceive, little belatedlyperhaps, radicalquestioning f the spiritualisticonceptionofthehumanperson, r,moregenerally, f humanistic alues. Ina review fa workoffereds an "attempt t a philosophicalnter-pretation f the present tatusof criticism,n an existentialistperspective,s against raditionalhinkingnd the ocialsciences,"JeanLacroix,theauthorized pokesman orChristian ersonalismand, as such, a keen guardianof the rightsof the freemind,reassureshimself:"The philosophy f thesubject s not dead, if the thinking fSartre an inspiresuch a profound tudy s this. In oppositionto excessive tructuralism,heauthor shows that anguageis notabsolutely xhaustedby its linguisticbeing,nor its significationbyitsfunctioning."At theopposite nd of the intellectual pectrum, ucien Gold-mannpointsout,in thename of therights f "historicity,"ow"importantt is, in a humanist ontext, o criticize his ociology

*L


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166 SOCIAL RESEARCHand combat it."5 A similaranxietymakes Roger Garaudy,aFeuerbachianreader ofMarx,takefrightt the theoretical nti-humanismthatLouis Althusserbringsout in the Marxisttra-dition.6And there s no doubt that,when the firstmomentumofthefashion f theday is spent, hedestructionf thesubject,and consequentlyof humanism,will be detected in MichelFoucault's astbook,Les mots tleschoses "Wordsand Things"),the"archaeologyf thesocial sciences."The ethnologistsnd sociologists,fterall, have only madethemselvesuilty f"treatingocial facts s things," s Durkheimexpressly aught lmosta century go. And how is it that thiscrime o long escapedthedefenders f themind and offreedomifnot because all the conditionsfor theirerrorwerepresent nthecorpusdelicti?To speakof "structure" ather han "social body,"of the"un-conscious"rather hanthe"collective onsciousness,"f the"sav-age mind" ratherthan the "primitivemind;" to formulate henew scientific hilosophy,which revivesDurkheim'sapproach,in the languageof structuralinguistics much more appealingtothetaste f thedaythan omewhat oarsereferencesobiology;to recognizethe Durkheimianancestry nly throughthe mostrespectable elatives theEnglishcousinRadcliffe-Brown,r thetestamentaryxecutor,MarcelMauss,whoseposition s gloriousassistant avedhimfrom heridiculeusuallyevokedby theoret-ical professionsf faith f the crudestkind all these re somanyeuphemistichannels orhiding, rom thers nd from neself,hetruth fa scientificntent uspectfor tsarchaism r over-simpli-ficationnd, at thesame time,hostileto thecredo of anyphilo-sophicalhumanism,whether hristian r atheist.Did itnot takeall the prestige nd all the daringof a "heroicmediator" ikeMauriceMerleau-Pontyo make the transition romdyingphe-

5L. Goldmann, Sciences humaines et philosophie, Paris: Gonthier,"Mediation"Series, 1966 (to be published). L. Althusser, our Marx, Paris,Maspero, 1965.7M. Foucault, Les mots et les choses, Paris: Gallimard, series "Recherches enscienceshumaines", 1966.


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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 167nomenology o renascent nthropology? n an article on "Lephilosopheet la sociologie"("The Philosopher nd Sociology")which ppeared n 1951 n theCahiers nternationauxe sociolo-gie as well as in thecourseof lectureshe gavethe sameyear LesSciencesde l'homme t la phnomnologie "The social sciencesand phenomenology"), e stressed,while specificallyttackingthe"naturalist" aivety ftheDurkheimian efinition freligion,the absolutepriorityftheeideticanalysis. Someyears ater, nan articleentitled"From Mauss to Lvi-Strauss," he grantedethnologytsphilosophical mancipation, ut he did not fail toreserveto philosophythe rightto re-interpretor, better,toarouse the existential ignificancef the inanimate structuresbuilt up or discovered y the ethnologist.But the philosopherdid not have to do it all himself, or at the same time, n 1950,Claude Lvi-Strauss,n a foreword oSociologieetAnthropologie,inwhichhe presentedhe workof Mauss as a preface o his ownwork, lso brought ut in therole of the ethnologistwhatmusthave surpassedthe fondest xpectations f a phenomenologist:"The apprehension whichcannot be objective) of the uncon-scious formsof the activity f the mind neverthelesseads tosubjectivation; or, fter ll, it is a similarprocessthat, n psy-choanalysis,nablesus to recover urself,however lienatedand,in ethnological nvestigation,o reach the most alien of otherpersons s if he wereanother elfofours."

9 Far from upposingthatthesociologistmusthavehad to advancein disguiseto gainphilosophical ecognition, e shouldperhaps oncludethat twasno easierforhimthan forhis contemporarieso realize the sin-cerity fhis scientificntentions. For, speakingmoregenerally,8M. Merleau-Ponty,De Mauss Lvi-Strauss,"epublishedn Signes,Paris,Gallimard, 953. Simonede Beauvoirpublished n TempsModernes review fStructureslmentairese la parent "Elementarytructuresf relationship")searly s 1949, .e.,upon thepublication f thework, heproofs fwhich he hadaskedto see while she was writing he Second Sex. This is an exampleof theintercommunicationhich exists betweenFrench ntellectualsn differentieldsand ofdifferentersuasions.9C Lvi-Strauss,Introduction l'Oeuvrede MarcelMauss," n Sociologie tAnthropologie,aris,P.U.F. 1950, . xxxi.


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168 SOCIAL RESEARCHall the social sciencesnow live in the house of Durkheimism,unbeknownst o them,as it were,because theywalked into itbackwards.But as the philosophical mportance f the social sciences n-creases,we see the sociologists ecomingmore and more fullyaware of thephilosophicalmport f whatthey redoing,whereasthephilosophers,t one timeaccomplices, evertmoreand moreto theirtraditionaldiscourseabout the "reductive"nature ofthe scientificxplanation. It is thiswhichmakes one wonderwhether t was not because he had explained the philosophical"whereases" fhissociology hatDurkheim t once provoked hereaction f thespiritualisticlements. The divisionof the intel-lectualfieldbetweenthe Durkheimschool and itsadversaries fevery tripehad been so deep that t stilldominatedtheFrenchsociologicalscene as describedby Marcel Mauss in 1933 andRaymondAron in 1937:"The old rivals have not put down theirarms; antagonismspersistnd multiply. In Franceespecially, hephilosophers aveenergetically racticedtheirrole as critics. For example, M.Brunschwicg,n his Problme de la Conscience, till sees thesociologists s trappedby a dilemma which, in his view, hadalreadyheld Comteprisoner,ikede Bonald beforehim, nd fromwhichhe does not thinkDurkheim scaped as ifsuchdialecticaland historical rgumentswereof anyimportancen theprogressof a science! H. Bergson, n his book,Les deux sources de lareligionet de la morale,while preparedto recognizethe partplayedby the sociologists,ncludingDurkheimand others, nadvancingknowledge f thosesources,neverthelesselegates hesubject-mattertudiedbysociologistso therealmof the closed',the solidified. He reserves o psychology,hilosophy nd evento mysticism,he scrutinyf what is open, alive, trulypsychicaland creativen matters f morals nd religion/' 0

io M. Mauss, "La sociologie en France," 1914, La Science Franaise, Vol. I, La-rousse,1935.


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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 169"The complexcharacter, hilosophicallynd scientifically,fDurkheimian ociology xplainsthecontroversiest has aroused,the variouskindsof opposition t has encountered:oppositionfrom hephilosophers in the name ofpositive cienceDurkheimcastoutphilosophynlytoendup, it seems,witha new, o-calledscientifichilosophy; ppositionfrom ndependent ociologistslesssystematic,nxioustokeep theaspirations fthe new science

(particularly s regardsmorals and religion) within narrowerlimits;opposition, astly nd above all, fromCatholicswho sawin this creationofgovernmenteachers n expression f the laymentalitynd of modernmaterialism, weapon againstreligionand spiritualitysociology ound tselfwilly-nillyrawn ntothetraditionalonflict etween heCatholic Church nd Reason,andthat is why,in France, a distinctionmust be made betweenCatholicsociology nd university ociology, he latterprimarilyundertheinfluence f Durkheim/'nAs can be seen from heobituary n Durkheimwritten ythesociologistPaul Bureau, one of his Catholic adversaries, heconflictbetweenuniversity ociologyand the Le Play schooloccurred n the sphereof ultimatevalues,where no holds arebarred:"Consequently,he timeseemsauspicious:the recentdeathoftheundisputed eader of the Frenchschoolof sociologyhas leftthat chool n somedisarray,s was inevitable hedaywhen thebrilliantgifts nd propheticmasteryf the incomparabledialec-tician n Emile Durkheimwereno longer here o maskthe over-weening rashnessof conclusions deduced from an a prioriphilosophical ystem ather than froma methodical nalysisofthe facts."12Thus, when translated nto the logic of the intellectualfield,whereopposingviews,whatever heir real nature,mustbe pre-

11R. Aron, La Sociologie"n Les Sciences ocialesen France:enseignementtrecherche,reface yC. Bougie,Paris,Hartmann, 937,pp. 16-17.12p. Bureau,La sciencedes moeurs: ntroduction la mthode ociologique,Paris,1923,preface.


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170 SOCIAL RESEARCHsented n the trappings f scientificrgumentation,he conflictappears n an evenmoredeceptive nd effectiveisguise, hat oftheopposition etween idelityofacts nd thedogmatic priority,towhich tsopponents educedDurkheimism. tmaybe observedin passingthatthosewho deplore the fact that the triumphofDurkheimismn the universitiesmeant the triumphof dogma-tismover empiricalresearch,have adopted the view for whichthe opponents f Durkheimhad soughtto gain acceptancebut,at the same time,refuseto accordany scientific alue to Durk-heim's criticismof the "microscopic ociography"of his op-ponents.What religiousorthodoxy ad failed to impose completely nDurkheimism,heorthodoxy funiversityhilosophy ucceededin securing,fnot fromDurkheimhimself,t leastfromhis fol-lowers. There is,even today, philosophiaperennis f teachersof philosophywhich,unaffectedy the successionof schoolsofphilosophy,s handed on throughnd bytheteachingprocess ntheform f outlines fthoughtnd compulsory roblem-questions(as, forexample,dissertationubjects). It is not surprisinghathis veryuniversityuccesscompelledDurkheim to make con-siderable oncessionsothis ortof academicgoodmanners,whichrequires one to recognize, f not a pre-determinedystemofvalues,at anyrate thevalue of the subject,either ndividual orcollective,by whom values are posited. The recordsof thediscussions f the FrenchPhilosophical ociety evealhowDurk-heimhad to fight n his opponents'ground, cceptingthe roleof defendantby the veryfactof offering defenseand in theend yielding o his opponentsby explainingthe reasonsforhisactionin terms f thereasoning f his opponents.13Compelledconstantlyoseehis work n theobjectiveterms orced pon him

is The factthatDurkheim'shinking as profoundlyffectedy the categoriesof classicalphilosophy,nd especially fKantianphilosophys taught t Frenchuniversitiesas is particularlyvidentn his sociologyfknowledge),xplainswhyDurkheimismas so quickly erceivednd contestedy thephilosophers, hy twas susceptibleo objectionswhich t itself egarded s valid,and lastly,why tcouldso easilyprovidematerial orroutinizednstructionnd officialedagogism.


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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 171byhisuniversityntouragendthe ntirentellectualield, urk-heimwas ed, tone andthe ame ime, oprotestainlygainstthemisreadingfhisRglesde la mthodeociologique"Rulesofsociological ethod") ythe piritualistichilosophersascanbe seen ntheprefaceothe econd dition) nd,contradictorily,toenterntopolemicsndputforwardas a challengend outofspite, s itwere such n extravagantndprovocativeersionofhis deas onemay emember,or xample,ertainmechanisticandbiologicalmetaphors)s to givehiswork, o theeyesof asuperficialeader,nantiquatedppearance;r, gain,hewas edto retranslatento spiritualisticermswhat the hypothesisfcollectiveonsciousnessadpreviously ade tpossible oregardasmost ositivechievements.Moreover,here s no doubt thatwhatDurkheim's isciplespassed nwasthat spect fhisworkwhichhadbeen taxed hemost ythedemandsf the nvironment,or heywere loser othesocialconditionsn which heshiftn Durkheim'shoughttookplace than to theutterlynaccessiblexperience f thescientificevolutionwhich the masterhad wrought. In theAnne ociologiquef1925,MarcelMauss ontrastshe ituationof the second-generationurkheimians iththat of the firstmembersfthe chool:"Theywere oungnd,unlike urkheimndhisfirstollabora-tors, hey adnothadto fight,utmerelyo exploit victoryalreadywon. Theyno longerhad to devise method. Theycould, ndthey id,apply t."But, emarked auss n 1925,most fthenewcomers,hohadbeenrecruited ainly romheclasses rom 902to 1910oftheEcoleNormale uprieure, eredead,nearlyll ofthemn thewar. AlthoughMauss continued o exercise reat nfluence,although urkheimian orks,ikethose fGranet nd Meillet,werepublished fter 920,the Durkheimianchooltended obecome omore han universityormfsupportor n officialideology. Institutionalizednd routinized,nd the more itbecame subject f nstruction,hemore twascompletelyden-


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172 SOCIAL RESEARCHtifiedwiththatprophet-likeanctificationfsocietyo profoundlyshockingto the heirs of the EnlightenmentDurkheim be-cameindistinguishablerom stereotypefa secular nd RadicalFrance,which, ven before hewar of 1939,a newgeneration fintellectuals,hegeneration fRaymondAron,MauriceMerleau-Pontyand Jean-PaulSartre,rejected lock, stock and barrel.14The philosophical eaction,whichbecameapparent ustbeforethe outbreak fthewar,foundfertile oil in thesocial and intel-lectual conditionsof the Occupation and the Resistance,andsubsequently he Liberation.15 There is no need to go into adetailedsociological nalysis f the ntellectual ife ofthisperiodtorealizehow much so manyof the themes nd "commonplaces"of philosophy nd literature wed to the crisisthroughwhichFrance had just passed.16 Behindwhatmighthave appearedto

i*However,the scholastic ontinuation f a Durkheimian raditionwas atleast useful or hetransition: lestinBougiecollected roundhim, n the SocialDocumentationenter f theEcole Normale uprieure,hosewho, fter 945,wereto providethe impetusfora renewalof sociological esearchRaymondAron,Georges riedmannnd JeanStoetzel. L'AnneSociologiquethatwas agonizingsince1914, s only wo ssueswerepublished incethen)officiallyeasedto exist n1927. After 930, hepublications f the Durkheimian choolbecame rarer ndrarer, s J.Stoetzel otes J.Stoetzel,Sociologyn France:An Empiricist iew" nH. Becker nd H. Boskoff, odernSociological heory,New York,DrydenPress,1957). The Anne Sociologiquewas replacedby the AnnalesSociologiques n1934,which urveyedn the form f separatebooklets hevariousfields f studythat theAnnehad dealtwithtogether.For instance,he booklet n general o-ciologywas committedo the careof C. Bougieand R. Aron, ut Mauss also pub-lished few rticlesn it. The AnneSociologiquewas resuscitatedn 1945, ut itis no longer he center f French ociologyhat t wasin otherdays.is AsSartre bservedn 1960,n hispreface o thenewedition fAden ArabiebyPaul Nizan, hegeneration hich ominatedhepost-wareriodhad already eforethewar brokenwiththe philosophy f its teachers nd in particularwith thedynastyf neo-Kanianswho followed ne another romRavaisson o Brunschwicg.Apartfrom es chiensde gardebyNizan an aggressivexpressionf thisdesiretobreak way the thirtiesaw thepublicationf Le malheur e la conscience ansla philosophie e Hegel by JeanWahl,various rticles n Hegel and theHegelianstudies of AlexandreKoyr,GeorgesGurvitch's es tendances ctuellesde laphilosphiellemande,ndRaymondAron's a sociologie llemande ontemporaine.i Eventhough heresemblancesointed utbyobserversemain uperficial,heydo express hesense stillkeenamongthosewhowentthrough hisperiod of aprofoundonnection etween he historical xperiencend theworks t inspired.JeanWahlnotes hat certain toic choesn thethoughtf Sartre nd inparticular,


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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 173contemporarieso be a teemingmassoftrends nd arguments,t isonlytooeasytoseetoday wholesystemfcommon ssumptions.The philosophical hoiceswhich,at the time theywere made,musthave beenfelt s completebreakswith thephilosophies hatdominated ntellectual ife beforethewar,were in reality ssen-tiallyrelated to the philosophyof the subject,whether n itsBrunschwicgian r in its Bergsonianform. "Existentialism,"JeanWahl observes, certainly pposed Bergsoniantendencies,although odaywe can seemany ommon haracteristicsnd com-mon tendenciesbetweenBergsonand the existentialphiloso-phers." 7 For it is ratherby what mightbe called its "meta-physical tone" or, as Lovejoy says, its "mood," that thephilosophical hinkingfthisperiod, t leastwhere tsexpressionis mostimpregnated y the atmosphere f the time,renovatesthemes and problemswhich remain unchangedin their basicassumptions.Thus, in RaymondAron's ntroduction la philo-sophiede l'histoire"Introduction othePhilosophy fHistory"),although t claimed to be a criticalphilosophy f history nd,throughWeber and Rickert,inked tself o Kantianrationalism,readers ftheperiod, ometimeseaderseast ikely o be confused,found a mine of dramatically xistentialistueries on the con-flict fvaluesor theambiguities f politicalcommitment. Thephilosophical emantics f the timecould easilybe summedupin a fewconsecratedwords and phrases those, n fact,whichformed heheadlines fthemainreviews uchas Espritor TempsModernes:historicity,r thedebatebetweenmorals nd politics;class consciousness, r the debate between existentialism ndMarxism;commitment,r thedebate betweenthe genuineandthe idea thatour freedoms intact ven whenwe are slaves, elate to a problemwhichwas felt n theResistance"J.Wahl, Tableau de la philosophie ranaise,Paris,NRF, des, 1962, . 152).The relationshipuggestedyJeanWahlmight eendorsed ySartre imself, howroten Qu'est-ce ue la littrature?,fthe novel-istsof the nter-wareriodthat theirmorale,which ouldbuoy up thespirit ndaily ife, nd whichmight erhapshave beenable to do so duringWorldWar I,proved nadequatefor a greatcatastrophe.n such times,men turnto Epicurusor to Stoicism."Paris,Gallimard, 948,p. 247).itJ.Wahl,op. cit.,p. 150.


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174 SOCIAL RESEARCHthe ungenuine.18While it is true that this dramatization x-presses tselfnaturallyn thedouble languageofphilosophyndthetheatre,s can be seen nSartre rGabrielMarcel, t is Camus'L'hommervolt, universalhistory f the existential ragedy,thatbringstogether nd condensesthe colorful cut-outfigureswhich onstitute hepopular mageof existentialism.Neverbefore, erhaps,has therebeen so complete manifesta-tion of the logic peculiar to the French intellectualfieldthatrequiresevery ntellectual o pronouncehimself otally n eachand everyproblem. Every ntellectualfelthimselfperpetuallyputon noticebyall theothersas can be seenfrom sociologicalanalysisof themostcharacteristichenomenonof the periodthepoliticalpetition) o ustify is ntellectual tatus ya politicalcommitmentn keepingwithhis public image,and,morespeci-fically,oexamine ll thepolitical onsequences f hisphilosophi-cal options, s also to ustify hilosophically ispoliticaloptions.19It is significanthatthebibliographies f thephilosophersf theperiod show theoreticalworksalternatingwith politicalworkswhich hrownto discussions f theproblems f thedaythe entireweight nd reputation ftheir heories. MauriceMerleau-Ponty,forexample, althoughmore closelybound than Sartreto thecanonicaltexts fphenomenology,nd in his theoreticalworkswhichdrewuponthe atestdiscoveriesfthe ocialsciences moreremovedfromthat existential ontactwith the century lwaysreflectedn theworkofSartre, ollows a structure u comporte-ment "The StructurefBehavior")withSensetnonsens "Senseand Nonsense"), collection fessays n suchdiverse ubjects s

is "And as there s no theater nless ll the spectators ave been united, t isnecessaryo find ituationshatare so general hatthey re common o all. Wehaveourproblems: hose f theend and themeans, f the egitimacyfviolence,of the consequencesf action, he relationship etween he individual nd thegroup,between ndivdual initiative nd historical nvariables." (J.-P. Sartre,quotedbyF. Jeansonn Sartre ar lui-mme,aris, euil,1958,p. 12).i Studentsinkedto intellectualifeby reasonof their tudies nd especiallythose n philosophylasses tilladopt today- he lag is inevitable- ot onlytheintellectualnterestsfthisperiodbut also thecomplete ttitudes f such modernclassics s Malraux, artre ndCamus,whoare studied n their enioryear.


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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 175the art ofCzanne,the cinema nd thenovel, ndLa phnomno-logiede la perception"The PhenomenologyfPerception")withHumanismeet terreur"Humanismand Terror"),a comment nthehistorical ctionsof communistparties. While, in general,all Europeansocial thought fromWeber,Paretoand Durkheimto Aron and Lvi-Strauss differs from the Americantradition in that Marx and Marxism are of major im-portance as points of reference, in France the wholeof intellectual life is affected by the existence of anorganized nd long-standingommunistParty, nd by the pres-ence of a sizablegroupofMarxistntellectuals.Every ntellectualis consequentlyalledupon bythe de facto ituation o ustify isadherenceor non-adherence. For example,the first oncern ofSartre n mostof his politicalwritingss to explain the reasonsforthe positionhe is takingat the momentvis--vis he Com-munistParty,rangingfrompainfuldisassociations o unityofaction,withor withoutmentalreservations.While the impera-tive to commit neself s particularlyompelling n thepoliticalsphere, t applies equally to all fields f activity onnectedwithintellectual ife defined n verybroad terms: "We must missnothing fourtime," artrewrote n themanifesto ithwhichheintroduced he first umber of Temps Modernes.The worksofSartre,nwhichweseehimtakepositions n refusal fmilitaryservice nd help fortheAlgerianresistance,s well as on theartofNathalieSarraute, hepainting fLapoujade and theplaysofJean Gent,and above all, the Temps Modernes,are perfectillustrationsf thispolicyofbeingpresent t all theoutposts fthe intellectualfront nd participatingn all the avant-gardemovements, hichmayalso be identified, ithhardly variationin sense,by thedesire to "missnothing." From the diaryof aprostituteo thememoirs fa priest, rom hemilitary eminis-cencesofan Indo-Chinawarveteran o theconfessionsf a taxi-driver, romwarsof independence o anti-semitismnd the de-

20Sartre,"Prsentationdes Temps Modernes", Situations III, 1949, pp. 126-127.


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176 SOCIAL RESEARCHcolonizationof women, t is alwaysthe same chasingafterthelatest alienation/1However, n choosing ll theabove examplesfrom he amedistrict fthe LeftBank,we do notwish tosuggestthat the unityof the intellectualfield extendsno further. Acomparison f the reviewEsprit, representingmmanuel Mou-nier'spersonalistmovement,withTempsModernesreveals trik-ing coincidences n the choice of causes and campaigns. Hereagain, t is largely matter f tone that giventhesameserious-ness of spirit, fnot the samespiritofseriousness distinguishesthoughtfulnd alwaysgood-naturedeadiness rompremeditatedand alwaysreadyferocity.21Such a to and fro of themes nd thoughts uggests ntensiveintegration f the intellectualdomain,whichmightbe gaugedfrom hehighdegreeof intercommunicationmongthe differentcategories f intellectuals. The organization f the intellectualfield n Franceundoubtedly rovidesmoreopportunityor con-tactthan s thecase elsewhere. The best knownperiodicals re,in fact, istinguished ytheirundifferentiatedeceptivity,hichenablesthem oprint, idebyside,a structuralnalysis fa mythand an article on twelve-tonemusic or modernpainting. Suchperiodicals ncourage nd attract specialclass of intellectualsspecialistsn generality who areoftenmarkedbytheir bility o

21The titles fthe pecialnumbersfthese woreviewsre enough o bring utthe convergencef preoccupations. hat is to say, n 1945,forexample,whenSartrewrote a QuestionJuive "The Jewish uestion"), here ppeared specialissueofEsprit ntitled Les Juifs arlent ux nations" "The Jews peakto thenations"). In 1946,Espritpublished specialnumber ntitled L'homme amri-cain" ("The American")while TempsModernes ut out an issueon the UnitedStates. In 1947,Espritpublished wospecialnumbers n Germanynd fascism,and in 1949TempsModernes evoted n issueto Germany.Lastly,n 1951thereappeareda specialnumberof Espritentitled Conditionproltariennet lutteouvrire""The stateof theproletariatnd theworkers'truggle"), hile n 1952Sartre ublishedLes Communistst la paix" ("Communistsnd peace") in TempsModernes.From1955onwards,ocialproblemsf a newkind leisure, ducation,working omen, the newworking lass," tc.) and economic roblems, egantomaketheir ppearance n the twopublications, ut the differencef ideologicalmood s shown ythetime-lag efore empsModernes ackled heseproblemsndby tsgreater idelityo old approachesoproblems,n contrast ith hereceptivityofEsprit oward he concernsrising ut of theeconomic oom.


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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 177move,alwaysat the same level of generality, romone area toanother from lectoral ociology, orexample,to structuraln-thropology.Thus there risesa smallrepublicof letters, kindofkoine, r sometimes linguafranca ommon o thenovelistwhodiscusseshis works n philosophicalterms, he philosopherwhodelivershimself f udgments n the novelist's rt and the our-nalistwho talks bout everythingnd everybody.

An intellectualworld of such strong ntegration "terminolo-logical," logical and moral conceals beneath patent sectariandisputes heunspoken cceptanceofan orthodoxy.The shatter-ing ruptureswhichpunctuate iographiesndmarkoff hephasesof intellectualhistory re possible onlywhen based on a com-plicitywhichmaynot be known because the pass-wordsre themasterwordsofrejection nd repudiation:naturalism,material-ism,positivism,xplicative eduction nd analytical tomization.Thus Sartre,who enteredupon the intellectual cenebymakingan attackupon Brunschwicg's niversitydealism, ndedbyfind-ingthat hey othhad the same absoluteenemies Comte,Taine,Durkheim:"Open a biographywhereyouwill and that s thekind ofde-scriptionyou will find, nterrupted y the recital of externalevents nd byreferenceso thegreat xplanatorydolsofour era:heredity,ducation, nvironment,hysiologicalonstitution."And at the conclusion f a polemicalattack n all the scientificacts of positivepractice, he inviolablerights f subjectivityrereaffirmed:"This unitywhich s thebeingof theman in questionis freeunification. And unification an never come aftera diversitythatit unifies."When he laysdown that his unity fresponsibility . . mustbe personalunity," artre s revertingo boththe letter nd thespiritof personalism."Being,forFlaubert, s for nysubjectof biography',s unifi-cation n theworld . . . , it is theunification fa novelproject,


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178 SOCIAL RESEARCHa unificationwhichis to reveal itself o us as a non-substantialabsolute/' 2The wholesale rejectionof the rightsof scientific ositivitywhich foundsyncreticnd indeterminateupport n a Germantraditionconfusedly nderstoodas a sort of confederation ocombatpositivism,sreminiscentf theway nwhich piritualisticeclecticismiledon Durkheim'sheadall thesinsof materialism.23As G. Davynotes withregard o P. Bureau, "under the name ofsociologicalmaterialismhe rejects simultaneously iberal eco-nomics,Marx's scientificocialism,Durkheim'ssociologism ndsocial science tself,nd all this, n the Catholicsociologist's wnwords, n order to 'acceptthedemandsof freedom.' 24In relating he historicalnd socialenvironmentf intellectuallifeto theattitude f an entiregeneration an all-embracingt-titudecharacterizedather ythedesireto rejectutterly hanbyany clear consciousness f what is being rejected we are onlyindicatingwhatSartre uggests, ithmoredetailbutalso perhapswiththe corrections f retrospectivellusion, n thefragmentf

22 artre, 'tre t e nant, aris,NRF,1943, . 648.23 t is common t thistimeto deploy n extended attle rray hecriticismsfDilthey r WeberagainstComtianpositivism,heteeming rgumentationf Hus-serl against he naturalism f the psychologistr the sociologist,he holismofGoldsteinian iology, he Hegelianism ulled fromthe teaching f Kojve, theexistentialertaintiesfKierkegaardr theexcommunicatoryrophecies rofferedbyHeidegger gainst ontics," ut themeans f familiarizingneselfwithGermanphilosophy ere, erhaps, arelyopooras at thetimewhen heprestigef Germanphilosophy as at itsheight. The fewtranslations,requentlyf minorworkswhosedeliberatelyaboriousword-by-wordendering ainedadded prestige roma baroqueuse ofhyphensnd parenthesesmade any attempt t historical er-spective mpossible ythevery equence f their ppearance. The Heideggerianswhodidnot knowGermanand theyweremorenumeroushanone might hink)had to waittwenty-sixears fter he French ranslationf Was istMetaphysik?before hey aw theFrench fSein undZeit; and in thebiographies ritten yanumber f Husserlians,heCartesianische editationen amebefore deen I andLogischeUntersuchungen,onsequently,ince t was commentaryhatreplaceddirect ontactwiththeoriginalwork, he concealed ommentatorould turn theprestigefthework o hisownaccount,whiletheopenand authorized ommenta-tor ouldgloryn therecognitioneserved or he words eceived irectlyrom helips of the master.24P. Bureau, ntroduction la mthode ociologique, uoted by G, Davy inSociologies 'hier t d'aujourd'hui, aris,f. Alean,1931, . 11,


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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 179intellectual utobiographyo be found in the first ages of LaCritiquede la RaisonDialectique:"Under the influence f thewar and the Russian revolution,we setup violence onlyin theory, f course in oppositiontothegentledreams f our teachers. It was a sick violence insults,brawls, uicides,murders,rreparable atastrophes)whichcouldhave ed us to fascism.But itsmerit n oureyeswasthat tplacedtheemphasis n the contradictionsfreality. . . We plungedblindly long thedangerouspathof a pluralistrealismdirectedat menand thingsn their concrete' xistence. . . For a longtime,weconfused hetotalitynd the ndividual/' 5The fact hat, n orderto define hephilosophical ttitudes ftheperiod,one has to rediscover he very anguageused by itsactors odescribe heperiodreminds s that t would be extremelynaveto describe s nave therelationship f thephilosophers otheirobjects. Nevertheless,hisphilosophymanagedforsomefifteen earsto keep the "natural navet" of scientific racticesat the lowest evel of intellectualprestige nd thereby elped tohold back thedevelopment f thehumansciences nd especiallythe social sciences. While, in the prevailingphilosophicalcli-mate,psychology aturally enefited rom theoretical oleranceas offeringpre-eminentretext orphenomenologicaleworking,sociologicalworkproper,whichoutside the Sorbonnehad con-tinuedonly n thefringereas ofelectoral ociology nd religioussociology reduced to their most sociographicalaspects andwhich had scarcelybegun to experiencethe first eactionstoAmericanresearchhad, as one can imagine, ittle or no chanceofattractinghe mostenterprisingminds.However,when it enlistedthe phenomenologicalmethod in

25J.-P. artre, ritiquede la RaisonDialectique,Paris,NRF, 1960,p. 24. Onemust lso reread hepreface o AdenArabie,publishedn 1960, n whichSartredescribes in all likelihood,more authenticallythe existentialposturewhichdetermined isphilosophicalttitude nd surreptitiouslypposedhimto a Nizan,who"spoke ittle bout thehumancondition utmuchaboutsocialmatters"ndwho found n Spinozaand Freud the answers o his questions P. Nizan,AdenArabie, reface ySartre, aris,Maspero, p. 14 and 29-30).


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180 SOCIAL RESEARCHtheserviceof theinsistent emand for thetotally oncrete, hatintellectual eneration rokecompletelywith thecanonicalrulesand subject-matterfuniversityhilosophy,nd therebyiberatedanthropological cience fromthe conventions hathad held itprisoner. By decreeingthat the most ordinarysituationsofeverydayifewereworthy fphenomenologicalnalysis, yoblit-erating any borderlinebetween literature nd philosophy,byallowing nto the mosttheoreticalwritings he cafwaiter,themansufferingrombraindamage,theexperimentalmonkey ndthe rat in a maze,thedrawings f a child and thephotographicimage, this new type of philosophicaldiscourse,which madeeverythinghilosophizable,aid thegroundwork or a social sci-ence intent n seeing n every bject an object of science. Theplayonwords nd on things fRaymondQueneau or BorisVian,philosophicalparodies like Saturnini slang monologue in LeChiendentor the irreverentokes in L'Ecume des jours about"Jean-Sol artre" are all partof the sameeffort o obliterate hedistinction etweennoble and unworthy ubjects, etweenphilo-sophicalgoodmanners nddown-to-earthhings,nd in their wnway,along with their humorousdetachment romthe everydaylife,they ntroduce hemethodological etachment alled forbythe social sciences.While theempiricalresearchwhichbegan in the early1950'sby borrowinghemethods nd techniques fAmerican ociologyanswered heneedforbasing nalyses n somethingther han theexperience f the analyst, heobjectsto whichthisresearchwasimmediately irectedpostulated n intellectual ieldhauntedbyMarxism, heworking lassand the exploitation f labor. Thisis the asewhetherwelookatChombardde Lauwe's urban tudiesor theresearchncouraged yFriedmann n industrial ndhandi-craftworkers.This approachno doubtowed itsattraction o thefact hat t appearedtoreconcile,morerealisticallyhan themar-riage betweenverbal political commitment nd philosophicaltheory,hedemandfora totalchoiceand, at the same time, ci-entific igor, The traces f Sartre's nfluence re stillsufficiently


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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 181numerousn AlainTouraine's astwork oprove hat he hoiceofempiricalnvestigations a total xperienceanco-exist iththephilosophyf commitment. verythingn SociologiedeV ction 6 from herefusal o "reduce ociologyothe tudy fsocialdeterminismsonsidereds thepressurefa situation nbehavior"o theefforto provide s an objectofsociologyotonly hefunctioningf social ystemsutalsothe"agent, ithercollective r individual, hoconstitutesis socialexistence yhiscommitments a participantn discussions,isputesnd de-mands" shows hatthe"sociologyf freedom"an expressionalreadysedby he chool fLe Play) s a formfphilosophyithsubject.Just sBergsoneft othe ociologisthatwas"closed"andsolidified,o Touraineconcedes o structuralismnd func-tionalismhe tudyfsocial ystemsndsymbolicystems,hilereservingo"actionalism" hathe calls the otalityfforcesndformsapable fbreakingpthegame," hat s tosay nBergson'slanguage,what s open,vital,psychicnd creative.And it isBergson'spproach nd evenlanguage hatTouraineborrowswhenhegives referenceothemomentsnwhich thefaith fthebeliever verwhelmshe ifeof thechurch,hebelief fthemilitant psetspolitical trategy,heconviction f the teachergoesbeyond edagogicommunication."7The same esire oreconcileotal heoreticalommitmentitha concernor he oncretes reflectedlso n a kindof iteraturewhich asbeen ppearingince1958 ndwhose ropheticathoshas s itsfavoritehemeshe ollectiveragediesf"mass iviliza-tion," he cience-fictionarvelsfan "affluentociety"ndthe"anthropologicalutation"roughtboutbytheefficientagicof modernmeans fcommunication.his commentaryn ourage,which oes not exclude heempirical nymorethan t isexcluded ythe mpirical,asproliferatedomuch nlybecauseall the ociologicalonditionsorts uccess ere resent:1) The

26A. Touraine, Sociologie de l'action,Paris, Seuil, 1965.27Touraine, "La raison d'tre d'une sociologie de l'action/' Revue Franaise deSociologie,Octobre-December1966.


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182 SOCIAL RESEARCHavailability f intellectualswho had been excludedfrom r hadlefttheCommunist arty, fter hecrisisofconscienceprovokedin thembytheBudapestevents, roughtntosociological r para-sociologicalproduction ome Marxistpart-timers ho found inUtopian ociology substitute orthetotal, r thetortured,om-mitment hich dherence o Stalinism adbeen formany fthem.(2) More generally,he members f thisnew intellectual enera-tion broughtup in the periodwhen existentialismwas trium-phant,were inclined to adhere to old intellectual ttitudes ntheirmanner of approachingnew fields, specially s theiruni-versity raininghad more often ntroduced hemto a patheticvulgateofexistentialism,hichwas like manna fromheaven forthehypokhagnes8of the late 1940's,than to phenomenologicalthought, omethingmore ascetic and thereforeomething nlyfor hosewhoseuniversitypecialization itself, fcourse, hepro-duct ofa socially onditionalhierarchyf ntellectual eputations)led them othestudy fthenecessaryeference orks. Lastly,3)the fragmentationf major problems nd the disintegrationfthe old allegiances promotedthe appearanceof new systems faffiliationn theintellectual ield. For a fewyears, orexample,the reviewArguments which is to Temps Moderneswhat agroupof minorprophets s to a circle of disciplesaround themaster proposed a world-widemeditationwhich found thebrightestfitsmarvelsn a mutualassistance actthatmade pos-siblepolemicson the finedistinctionsfMarxologywithout nyhumor and withoutany consequences. This marginalintelli-gentsiafound ts favorablepublic amongstudents, specially nParis,where the mere effect f numbers s enough to cause afeelingof lonelinessand confusion the basis of all Utopiandreams. It is obviouslyno accidentthatthemystique f groupdynamicsand psychotherapeutictopias briefly ssumed thefeaturesfcanonicalreligiosityn a sectarianhubbubofrecipro-cal excommunications.

28University lang for students showing a serious but still immature approachto life'sproblems,with a connotationsomewhat similar to that of "sophomores."


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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 183In settingtselfp asanautonomousub-systemfthe ntellec-tual universe,he worldof thesociologists as revertingo aprinciple f structurationotunlike thatwhichgovernedheorganizationfphilosophicalife n thepreceding eriod:theostensibleonfrontationf American-inspiredositivism iththehumanismfhistoricityr thepathosfworld-wideodernityactually onceals deep-seatedomplicityasedon a common

social ituationnda commonntellectualast. The Argumentsgroup,iketheprecedingeneration,arried oitsdegree fper-fection he art of maintaining coquettish elationship ithselectedworkswithin man'stotalwork, hereby eplacingherelationshipfthereader othetotalwork s a systematicnter-rogationndanefforto followhe equence f rguments,ithrelationshipetween eaderswho are united n their asteforthemutual xcitation erived romllusive ndelusive eading.During he ameperiod,hemethodsndtechniquesfAmeri-cansociologywhich wedpartof theirhighreputationo thefact hat heywere ittleknown nd,more mportantly,oorlyunderstoodfulfilledfunction,n a differentectorfthe ntel-lectualworld, lmostdentical,xcept or hedifferencen style,with hatwhichwasexercisedmong he deologistsythewrit-ingoftheyoungMarx, fLukcs,Korsch,nd ater,Moreno ndRogers,ragain, n a differenteriod, ytheworks fGermanphilosophy.A journeyotheUnited tates owreaps he amerewardsnprestigesdidonce pilgrimageo theBlackForest,nd a staytHarvard r Columbia owrepresentshe amekindof nitiatoryrite sdidonce visit otheHusserlianrchivestLouvain.Althoughheshortageftranslations,hich eganto appearonly fter 960, ertainly as notas great barriero acquain-tancewithEnglish ociological r anthropologicaliteraturesthe ackoftranslationsadbeen nthepastwith especto Ger-manphilosophicalorks,he nadequate acilitiesfspecializedlibrariesnd the hortagefthemost ssentialnformationools,ouruniversityradition hich ndervalueshetechnicalide of


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184 SOCIAL RESEARCHintellectualwork (translations, nnotated editions, intelligentbibliographies)n favor frisky mprovisationnd solitary eflec-tion, and, more specificallys regardsthe social sciences,themeagerness fmeansand financial llocations, he absence of asociologicalteachingtradition riented towardresearch, he re-cruitment f the firstwave of researchworkerswho could notbut resent he inferior ositionof sociology n the hierarchy fintellectual isciplines nd the fact hatthecreation f theCNRS(National ScientificResearch Center) freed these researchersfrom heneed to attend, t least for theirown instruction,hebasiccoursesn sociology, hichno one had evertaught hem ndwhich the current ntellectualfashiontarred nd feathered inshort, whole combinationof factualconditionsexplainswhythemere conversion o experimentnd measurement ould havebeenregarded s something eroic nd have seemedto thosewhohad been so converted s an absolutebeginning nd an absoluteend.Thus, because empirical ociology n Francewas foundedonthe llusion ofa first eginning nd,bythesametoken, n ignor-ance of the epistemologicalproblemsposed by any scientificpractice, s well as on a deliberateor unwitting isregard f thetheoretical ast of European science, t could not but succumbto positivistemptations,specially s thelogicofdifferentiationwhichgoverns he ntellectual ield ondemned t, fnotto adopta positivist hilosophy utright, t least to finda substitutentheform fa modernist rofessionffaith.29Thus, in order to

29 n 1961J.D. Raynaud, estined yhisphilosophicalrainingo act as spokes-man of theempirical ociologistso thephilosophers,evoted n article ntitled"Sociologynd DialecticalReasoning"Revuefranaise e sociologie) o thebook,Critiquede la RaisonDialectique. The aim of the articlewas,bymeans of theoften egitimateronyof the practitioner,o neutralize he impugnations hichSartre'sheoreticalerrorismought o layupon thesociologists.Alongwithothersigns,uch s the imultaneousppearance,n 1960, fa number f newsociologicaljournals Archives uropennes e Sociologie,Communications,tudes Rurales,L'Homme,Revuefranaise e sociologie),heestablishmentfnewresearchabora-tories r the strengtheningf oldercenters,uchself-confidenceeflectsnd pre-supposes profoundhange n thebalanceof forcesn the ntellectual ield.


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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 185exist n a field n whichone cannot existwithoutustifyingne'sexistence,nitialpost-war mpirical ociology uarded tself romany ntellectual estofstrengthnd, in orderto avoid comingtogripswiththe theoreticalmisgivingswhichwould have allowedit, fnotcompelled t,to go beyondpositivism,t was to invokeAmerica, heimageof the civilization nd scienceof the future,as a totalvindication; allbackupon theautomatic spects f themosthumdrum'methodology'and, in extreme ases,upon auto-maticmulti-copierss the absoluteanswer;cloak itself n a self-assuranceborn of belongingto a small worldrecruitedby themethod of co-opting,nd thereforeafe fromcompetition ndoutsidequestioning;use systematicallys a bogeyacademic soci-ology long entombed n theoreticalroutine or in taxonomieswhich were as frivolous s theywere ponderous; 0and, lastly,indulge n those asyrefusalsvailableto thetechnician: pposingtheoretical ueries in the name of his techniques, nd politicalchallengesn thename ofscientific eutrality.But apartfrom he assurance nd thereassurance rovidedbythe intellectual limateforthe growth f a neo-positivism,t isundoubtedly hedevelopment f Frenchsociety nd, more par-ticularly,conomicexpansion,whichconstituted he terrain arexcellencefor sociology redisposed,n appearanceat anyrate,to become an applied science. Justas in differenteriodstheintellectualworld s dominated yone or another fthescientificdisciplines, o it seemsthatone can identifywithoutdifficultythe differenteriodsofsociology ytheparticular ranchofthatsciencewhichranksfirstn discussion nd research. Thus, laboror industrial ociologygraduallygivesway,between 1950 and1960, to organization ociology, ncluding administrationoci-ology. When sociology,whichup to thenhad been an almostexclusively cademic discipline,becomes an applied science in

soAs JeanStoetzel ays n a referenceo GeorgesGurvitch,Mostrecently,hisgreat xercisen taxonomyas finally roduced omeresults roclaimed nderthetitle . . Dterminismesociauxet libert umaine Paris,1955)" J.Stoetzel,oc.cit.).


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186 SOCIAL RESEARCHresponse othedemands fa bureaucracy,ither ublicorprivate,it tendsnotonlyto lose itsfreedom fchoiceas regards esearchoptions nd to approachreality ookingforanswers o theques-tions skedby tspatrons for towes tssubject-matternd itsre-sourcesto a bureaucracy nd makesadministrativerganizationitsfavorite bject of study but it morethaneverrisksturninginto administrativeociology r sociologicaladministration.

We have accordinglyeen particularlyince the introductionof the FourthPlan,whichplaced somerather arge "orders" nthe fieldof sociologicalresearch thedevelopmentn Franceofa movementwhichhad begunmuchearlier n theUnitedStates,especiallyn thesphereof labor sociology:"Withthe shift rom reform-mindedublic to an audienceofstability-mindeddministratorsnd bureaucrats, iththeshift fmany ociologists rom cademicand scientific o extra-academicandtechnical oles,wenoteda decreasingoncernwiththetheoryof conflictnd a tendency o replaceanalysisof conflict y thestudyof 'tensions', strains'and psychologicalmalfunctioning.While earlyAmericansociologists ddressedthemselves o anaudienceofconflict-orientedroups lawyers, eformers,adicals,politicians laterAmericansociologistshave found theiraudi-ence largely mong groupsand professionsoncernedwith thestrengtheningf commonvalues and the minimizing f groupconflict: ocial workers,mentalhealthexperts, eligious eaders,educators, s well as administrators,ublic and private. Therelativeweaknessof reformmovementsn the laterperiod andtheriseofbureaucratic tructuresequiring he services f socialscientistsn thetaskofadministrationavehelpedtobring boutthis hiftn audience. Accompanyinghis hift, heself-imagefmanysociologists as changedfromthatof self-consciousdvo-catesof reformo thatofa 'trouble-shooter'nd expert n humanrelations." 1The wideningof the audience of sociologists o include thesi L. Coser, The Function of Social Conflict,Glencoe,Free Press, 1964,pp. 28-29.


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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 187administrativeccupationscontributes,t least as much as thepurelymaterialpressure f the ordersplaced by administrators,to shapingthe intellectual ntentof sociologists. This helps toexplainwhy, ven in France,wheretherole of thegreatuniver-sity esearch odies CentreNational de la Recherche cientifique,Ecole des HautesEtudes,MaisondesSciencesde l'Homme)wouldordinarilye sufficiento makescientificesearch t leastrelativelyindependent,we can see theshift escribedbyCoser evenin thesociological iterature hat s not as directly ependentupon de-mandas theoutputofthecompany esearch ivisions,whichhavemultiplied o greatly,specially n the last decade. In order towinrecognition or disciplinewhose scientificegitimacys stillchallenged,nd in orderto avoid thecustomaryhargeoffutilityor uselessnessmade by men in authority r in business, omesociologistsend to identifyhemselves prioriwiththeexpecta-tionsofan audience which s at the same time theirpreferredb-jectofstudy, oingso far s to reduceadministrationociology oa mirror-imagef the image which administrators ave of ad-ministration.This can be seenfrom heappearance n this iterature f thenewstyle something etweenan administrativereport nd dis-tinguishedournalismforadministratorsof which Le Monderepresentshe perfect xample) that is cultivated n the newexchange-places/'clubs,"tudygroups nd intellectual ects suchas the X-Criseofpre-war aysor,today, he Club JeanMoulins,Prospective nd the Futuribles where senior officials nd so-ciologists ftheupperechelonsofadministrationool their om-mon ideas on the "administrativehenomenon."The lastCongress fthe Socitfranaise e sociologie October1965)reflects hisrapprochementf the twoculturesbothby itsprincipaltheme, FrenchSociety Trends and Desires,"and bytheparticipationn it ofresponsibleeaders of theeconomy ndthenational administrationuch as R. Grgoire,whosename islinked to income policy; C. Gruson,Directorof the NationalInstitute fStatistics;nd P. Mass,Directorof thePlan.


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188 SOCIAL RESEARCHThus, in theFrench ntellectual ield new,portentous efer-encepositionhasemergedn theform fa groupwhichhadneverbefore been active in French intellectual ife, for the Saint-Simoniansbegan to play a part in the industrialboom of theSecondEmpireonly by cutting hemselvesfffrom he intellec-tuals. No doubt Frenchcentralization,othadministrativendintellectual,longwith tsfacilities all in Paris forexchanging

opinions, uchas thereviews ikeEspritwhichhaveopenedtheirpagesto thisdialoguefor hepastfifteenears r so, is contribut-ing greatly o thisrestructuringf the fieldby authorizing ndencouraging irect contacts t the highest evel. Owing to thevery pecial susceptibilityf the French ntellectualfieldto thetemptationsfthe ntellectual ashions f theday,thisrestructur-ing s accompaniedby spectacular ransfersfpersonnel rom nesectorof intellectualproduction o another:a philosopherwhoin 1949 wrotea Heideggerianarticle on Maurice Blanchot inTempsModernes s todayresponsible or ciencepolicy n a largeinternationalrganization. More broadly, n analysisof censusresultsndicates hatbetween1954 and 1962those n the "tradi-tional" intellectualoccupationsdecreased in proportion andsometimesn absolutenumbers to those n the intellectual c-cupationsmoredirectlyinkedto industryr large-scaledminis-tration.32

32A comparisonf the1954and 1962censuseshows hat, n thosebranches factivityirectlyinked o theeconomynd thesocialneedsresultingrom rowth,thenumbermployedn intellectualccupations asexpanded t a faster atethanthepersonnelf thebranch aken s a whole, nd eventhan thenumber fpersonsemployedt the eniorevels f thebranch.Contrariwise,n thebranchesfactivitycharacterizedythe sale of serviceso individuals, here ntellectual orkhas thestatusof a liberalprofession,he number mployedn intellectual ccupationsin eachbranchhas increasedt a slower atethan thetotalnumber f employeesand thenumber f senior ersonneln thebranch. Similarly,he artistic ccupa-tionshaveconstantlyeclined n relative ize,themore harplywhere he artisticactivityay n a traditionalector: or xample, herehas beena netdecline n thenumbersmployedn artistic ccupationsonnected ith the theatre. Lastly, henumbersfthose ngagedn the egalprofessionsre declining,oth n thepublicsector nd in the iberalprofessionswhichmore nd morewomen re entering).Since, t thesametime, he aw schools ave recordedn increasen the numbers


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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 189Similarly,e see the atest haseofsnobberyaking n a newcolorationyborrowingrom urrent ashion he"tradition fthenew" andfindingn theadvocacyfmodernityhe modernformfthe earch or riginality. eilhardde Chardin nd, ntheopinion fsome, ven thereview lante,whichmixes s-tronomyith strology, etapsychologyithpsychology,rchae-ologywithmythologynd sciencewith cience-fiction,etranslate

for hebenefitf thescientificallynclined,who are starvedorspiritualnourishment,he old eschatologicaleliefs. So thetaste or he atest efinementsfcomponentialnalysisndthetheoryfgraphs erves he samepsychologicalnd socialfunc-tions s therefinementsfstyle ndmanners id in an earlierperiod. Even the iterary orldhasbeen reached ythe conta-gion:thetraditionaleapon fall avant-gardeovements,hatofdenouncingheoppositionor tsbackwardness,akes n newmeaningn a contextn whichbackwardnesss a challenge olongerimplyoa fashion utto"modernity"nd inwhich, orexample,artfor rt's ake"givesway o"art s a strictcience."Thisshiftsfelt otonly ythe mall roup f ociologistshoare ndirect ontact ith dministrativeemand ut lsothrough-out the ntellectual orld, ecause t involves redeterminationoftherelationshipetweenocialdemand nd intellectualifeand,thus, redefinitionfthefunctionfthe ntellectual. x-cept for theirvalue judgments,ociologistss diametricallyopposedn their hilosophicalptions s L. Goldmannnd M.Crozier eel his ealredefinitionf the tatus fthe ntellectualkeenly:"Such changesaysM. Crozier]mplies wo ssentialnnova-tions: irst,heupgradingfthe ocial ciences, hich re assum-inggreaterndgreatermportanceis--vishe raditionalorma-oftheirtudents,t must e assumed hat he tudentsraduatingromhese choolswill be goingmore nd more nto businessmanagementr publicadministrationat theexpense f traditionalareers,which, ecauseof theway n whichtheoldlegal professionsereexercised,fferedndependenceor and thefreepursuitofintellectualnterests.


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190 SOCIAL RESEARCHtive disciplines law, philosophy,the humanities and whichare penetratingnd renovating hosedisciplines;and secondly,and more mportant,he transformationf therole of the intel-lectual,who finds imselfmuch moredirectlynvolved n action.While he does not thereby ecomea man ofaction,his thinkingcomes much closer to action,much more pertinent o it, anddirectly sable. Action s no longera worldapart. Compromiseand bargaining re no longershamefulbut maybe studiedra-tionally.The intellectual o longer pendshis timedenouncingthem n thename of the ideal but tries o understand hemandtorationalize hem." 3"FuturehistorianssaysGoldmann]will probably dentifyheyears1955 to 1960 as the sociological turning-pointn Francebetween crisis capitalismand organizationcapitalism,accom-panied bya transition romphilosophical, istorical nd human-istic ociologyothea-historicalociological hinkingftoday. . .In the intellectual ife of WesternEurope, and particularlynFrance, hesocialsciences sociologynd anthropology)re moreandmore ccupyinghe deologicalplaceonce heldbyphilosophy.If one shouldask who are the thinkers illing herole in Frenchintellectual ifetodaythat once belongedto Bergson,Meyerson,Brunschwicg,artre,JeanWahl and Merleau-Ponty,here s nodoubtabout theanswer:they re firstnd foremost vi-Strauss,an anthropologist,nd R. Aron, a sociologist,who began hisintellectual areeras a philosopher fhistory uringthepreced-ingperiod."34Whatever hediagnosis, he case comes down to the same re-definition f themissionoftheintellectualwhich observerssso-ciatewitheconomicgrowth, nce this s perceived nd acceptedas the "main objectiveof society," o use Comte'sexpression.Lipsetcommentshat hedisfavornwhich bstract ntellectual

33Crozier, p. cit. One cannothelpnoting revealing lipoftonguen the astwordof thisquotation, earing n mindthemeaning sychoanalysisas giventothe term rationalization."34Goldmann,ciences umainestphilosophie,aris,Gonthier,966, p. 6 and 8.


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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 191activities,rt for rt's akeand the contributionhich ntellec-tualsmaymaketopolitics reheldin thenew states asbeenencouragedytheirnterestnmaterialrogressn the conomicand socialfields.The desire o catchup with nd surpass heformerolonial owerhas made tnecessary,othforpoliticiansand for he ntellectualshemselves,orelegatebjectivesavingnopracticalignificanceoa secondaryevelofpreoccupations.35

Thisdescriptionouldbeapplied,mutatismutandis,oFrance,where referenceo the United tates ould,factuallypeaking,replace he referenceo theformerolonialpower.One couldfind thousandxamplesf his, ornstancen a certain ational-isticposturewhich s simplyhereversemageofitsmodelor nthe hangesf tyle, urposendspiritwhich irectlyeflectthetransformationfa weeklyikeExpress r, n a more ound-aboutway, hatofleading eviewsikeEsprit nd TempsMo-dernes,which etranslateheobligatoryhemes f thepresentperiodnto anguageonsistentith heir articularoloringndphilosophicalurpose,nshort, ith heirdeologicalmood.Thesereferencesothe elationshipat eastntime inwhichFrance's ntryntoa phaseof continuousconomic rowthsaccompaniedythereorganizationf thephysicaltructureftheeconomy,ytheappearance fan explicit onsciousnessfthephenomenonnd ofa desire o controlt,and,at anotherlevel, y whole etof ocial ransformations,fwhich he truc-tural hangesn the ntellectual orld re one aspect,make tnecessaryo look into thenature nd thesignificancef thatrelationship.There s a structuralffinityetween heatmospheref eco-nomic nd social risis hat ominated rance fter 945, gainsta backgroundf nternationalension,nda subjectivisthilos-ophywhichwas characterizedy a tortured arcissismnd apatheticnterestn history. ndtoday,heeconomic rosperityandconcomitantecurityeflectedt the evelofprofoundtti-

35S. M. Lipset, The First New Nations, New York,Basic Books, 1963.


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192 SOCIAL RESEARCHtudesboth in a highbirth-ratend in theoptimism hat charac-terizes he intellectualmood of theperiod,and, even morepro-foundly,n a faith n theautonomous nd anonymous fficiencyofdemographicnd economicmechanismsapable ofproducingtheirown regulatorymachinery r, at the verymost,requiringonly imitedmanagement do not thesethings ave a direct on-nectionwiththeintellectual rends s well as the artforms hatdominatethisperiod? 6 The development f an empirical oci-ology f positivist ind like the ppearance fthe"new theater"or the "newnovel,"which first epresentedn objectivist itera-tureof "personalnon-existence,"r,again,thetriumph fstruc-tural nthropology7extending arbeyond hecircleofspecialists- entailsa weakening f theprevious nterestn historynd inthesubject s theagentofhistorys well as of fictional arrative.Obviously,we would have to describe n greater etail all theintermediate onnectionsby which the economicsituationcanbe related to intellectual ttitudes:forexample,the greatlyn-creased mportance f sociologists s a resultof the recognitionaccordedthembypolicymakers;theenlargementf theiraudi-ence as shownby the largereditionsof worksdealingwith the

86The history f the Frenchword"contrle" s a perfectllustrationf this.Whereas, y a changeof sign,the post-war eneration ad shiftedts meaningfromts Durkheimianonnotation,n which t had expressedhe deal of a moralintegrationfsociety,o one thatwasstronglyegative,n which t designatedhehidden organized onstraintsf an invading ocial order exemplified y "theAmerican ayof ife," t is gradually ecovering positive onnotations it under-goessemantic ontaminationrom heEnglishword"control," ut with two dif-ferent olorations:hetechnocraticiterature ses the wordto designate he dealofrationalmanagement,hileforthe"new Left"theword s associatedwith theidealof theparticipationfthegreatest umbern decision-making,s exemplifiedbyYugoslavelf-administration.t is,ofcourse, ecessaryogobeyond hese artiallexicological otations nd, as Trier suggested, elve into the restructuringsnlinguisticreasthatreflecthehistoryf deas.87 n a guide to contemporaryonversationhat recentlyppeared n France,we find hefollowingxtremexampleof theextent o which tructuralistolywrithas spread mong aymen: Claude Lvi-Straussas studied hefamilytruc-tures fprimitiveeoples, aw and cooked oods, o-it-yourselfechniques,nd thenatives f SouthAmerica.The thoughtshese ubjectsuggestedo himform neofthe basesof structuralism*which ee)."


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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 193social ciencesndbythe pecializedollectionsutoutvirtuallysimultaneouslyy themost mportantublishing ouses;theincreasedemand or cientificpplication, hich s expandingopportunitiesor ngagingn sociological ork utside heuni-versityramework,swellas universityecognitionfsociology,which, longwiththemultiplicationf researchnd teachingposts, rovidesareers requentlyromising ore apid dvance-ment han hose n the traditionalniversityisciplinesall ofthishelps ocreate kindofsecurityhat s perhaps ot uncon-nectedwith heprevailingntellectualptimismfsociologists.38Asidefromhechangeswhichhave taken lace n thestrictlyvocational orld fthe ociologists,heoccasions or ommitmentwhich reated heobjective onditionsorthekindofthoughtthat haracterizedhe ate1940'shavegrownncreasinglycarce.This is due in the first laceto thedisappearancef thegreatissues uch s thechoicebetweenhe socialist nd theWesterncamp,or of theAlgerianwarwhichwas thelast of thegreatcauses ftheFrenchntelligentsia.t is due also to theroutineoftoday's conomicnd social ife,which rovidesmaterial oreclectic ound-tableiscussionsather han for ndignant eti-tions,ndno ongerallsforpectacularommitmentsrdramaticchallenges.The optimistic topian iterature hich ooks tothehorizonsftheyears 980or2000hastaken heplaceoftheoldmillenarianiterature,hile he ociologicalpproach, henitdoesseek ooppose heeuphoric eutralizationfsociologicalproblems,sdirectedoward indingtill nothermpersonalat-tern ftheproblemsfthe ffluentocietyydeliberatelyookingat themfrom distance nd from n unaccustomedngle attherisk,t is true, fconfusionrisingn thepublicmindwith

38The licencede sociologieDegree n Sociology) as created n 1957upon theinitiative fRaymond ron,whohad beenappointed rofessort theSorbonne n1955. Now,tenyears ater, here re in Parisas many tudents egisteredorthisnewdegreewhichhas also beengraduallyntroducedn all theprovincial niver-sities) s there re candidates orthe Degree n Philosophy.The teaching taffhas shown parallel ncrease: heFaculty fLetters t theUniversityfLille,forexample,which n 1960had onlyone facultymember n sociology,owhas nine.


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194 SOCIAL RESEARCHthe literary redilection ordramatizing he mostobvious, i.e.,themost uperficial,hangesnmodern ociety ypresentinghemas something bsolutelyunheard of.Nothingexpresses etter hisalterationn the intellectual li-mate than thesuccessive hanges n thepublic imageof the workofRaymondAron: thesamephilosophical r critical extwhichunderwent einterpretationn the late 1940'sin the lightof thepessimisticmood of theperiod,todayappearsto offer throughthe same selective ogic and reinterpretationa philosophy hatjustifies hegeneraldemobilization f the intellectual rmy ndthe end of deologies.And,indeed, fone weretoreadRaymondAron as one would read Burnham, ne could see in thework ofthe theoretician f the relative utonomyof the politicalordertheclosureofthegreatdebateson thevalue of politicalsystemsand on the effectivenessf politics,and findin his "EighteenLessonson Industrial ociety" he theoreticalustificationoranattitude f ndifferencencouraged ythe ntellectual tmosphereof a societywhosefuture, oreshadowedytheAmerican xample,appearsto dependon morphologicalnd economicdeterminingfactors ather hanon thewishes f thesubjects fhistory.But an analysisof the successivemagesof thework of Lvi-Strausswouldbe no less lluminating.WhatSimonede Beauvoirsaw in it in 1949 expresses he intellectual xpectations f theperiodmuchmore than the intrinsic ruthof thework,and isdiametricallyppositeto whatRicoeur or Sartre s able to readinto it today. The reviewwhichSimonede Beauvoirwrote n1949 on theStructures lmentaires e la parent "ElementaryStructures f Kinship") presents he picturethata philosophermighthave of structuralismnd makes it possible to see howLvi-Straussiannthropology, hich reconciledconcernfor theexperimentalwith theoreticalpurpose,succeeded,by its veryphilosophicalhandiness, n provoking he fascinated nterest fphilosophersnd becomingone of thepolesof thephilosophicalworld:"French sociologyhad been wrapped in a long sleep: Levi-


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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 195Strauss' ookmust ewelcomed s an eventmarking brilliantawakening. he effortsf the Durkheimianchoolto organizesocialfactsntelligiblyroved isappointingecause hey eliedon questionablemetaphysicalypothesesndon no lessdubioushistoricalostulates.n reaction,heAmerican chool alledforabstention rom nyspeculation:t confinedtself o amassingfactswithout ttemptingo explaintheir pparent bsurdity.Lvi-Strauss,ho inheritedhe French raditionut whowastrainednAmericanechniques,assought o pursue hesameendeavor s his masters hile voiding heirweaknesses."9Thus, Simonede Beauvoir an discern he resurrectionfsocial cience nly yfailingosee, na blunderwhich s all tooobvious oday,hephilosophicalmplicationsfthis cience,ndthusfeels ntitledo attributeo it a then urrent hilosophy,thereby,n effect,issociatingt from urkheimiancience ndphilosophy:l'Lvi-Straussas refrainedrom enturingpon philosophicalground; enever llowshimselfostray rom igorouscientificobjectivity.uthisthinkingsclearly art fthat reat umanistmainstream hich onsiders uman xistences bearingwithinitselftsown ustification.. . The booknotonlyhasMarxistechoes; ome t ofteneemed oreconcileelicitouslyngels ndHegel formanoriginallyppears o us as an anti-physis,ndwhathisaction chievess theconcreteositionfconfrontationwith elf,with differentelf,withoutwhich hefirst ouldbeunable o definetself. alsofound ingularlytrikinghe gree-ment etween ertain escriptionsnd thepropositionsutfor-wardbyexistentialism:xistence,n establishingtself, y theselfsame omentumstablishests aws; t snotgovernedy nyinternal ecessity,ndyet tescapes ontingencyyassumingheconditionsf tsspringingorth."0However,s Lvi-Strauss*nthropologicalcheme akeson amoreprecise hapeby referenceo linguistics,nd makes ts

39S. de Beauvoir, Temps Modernes,Nov. 1949,p. 943.40de Beauvoir, loe. cit.,p. 949.


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196 SOCIAL RESEARCHscientifichilosophymoreexplicit, nd as,similarly,tructuralism- which has only reallycalled itselfthat since 1958 imposesmore and more upon philosophers he cipher-stencily whichit insists n beingdeciphered, hilosophersre agreedin seeingin it a philosophywithout ubject, venthough hey re still notsure about the exact dentityfthisnewphilosophy."Structuralist hilosophy, t seems to me, is condemned tofluctuate etweena numberof roughlyoutlined philosophies.At timesone would say it was a Kantian philosophywithouttranscendentalubject, or even an absolute formalismwhichwould laydown thevery orrelation f natureand culture. . .There is thus in Pense sauvage, in addition to the hint of atranscendentalism ithoutsubject,the outline of a philosophyin whichstructure lays the part of mediator,placed betweenpraxis nd practice. . . There is, in Pense sauvage,the outlineof a very ifferenthilosophyn whichorder s an orderofthingsand itself thing. . ." 41As one can see, everythingombines to make Lvi-Strauss'ideas"bothfascinatingnddisturbing,"o borrow he wordsusedby Paul Ricoeur in concludingthe discussionon structuralismsponsored y Esprit.The ambiguous attitude of Lvi-Strausswith regard to thephilosophicaldebatewhich s developing roundhim is not un-relatedto the success fstructuralism,nd no doubtexplainsthediversityf hisaudiencesas well as theambiguitieswhichphilos-ophers findin his philosophy. Unlike Durkheim,who couldestablish ociological cienceonlyby brutally ssertingherightsof the philosophy hatmade it possible,Lvi-Strausss able toadopt an attitude of ironical detachmentwith regard to thephilosophical ttentionbeing shownhim because this attentionitself emonstrateshatthesocialsciences, ow irrevocablystab-lished, mposethe questionof theirphilosophy n philosophers

4i Paul Ricoeur, "La pense sauvage et le structuralisme"The Savage Mind andStructuralism),Esprit, Nov. 1963, pp. 618-619.


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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 197and no longerneed to impose a philosophy n themselves,nordertobe able to impose t on philosophers.Called upon by Ricoeur to statewhetherthe philosophy fstructuralisms necessarilymplied n thepractice fthe scientistorwhethert is injectedbythephilosopheriving n thescientist,Lvi-Strausseaves, he philosophers ree to choose,whichis themost legantwayofreservingne'sright o a philosophyfscien-tificpositivitywithoutriskingbeing chargedwith the crimeinexpiabletoday ofpositivism:"I confess hat thephilosophywhichseemsto me implied bymyresearch s themostdown-to-earth,he briefest f thoseyououtlined n yourstudywhenyouwondered bout thephilosoph-ical orientation f structuralism nd observed thatmore thanonewas conceivable. would not be alarmed, herefore,f t wereto be provedtome that structuralismeads to therestoration fa kind ofcrude materialism. am toowell aware,however, hatsuch an orientation s contrary o the trend of contemporaryphilosophical hought ot to impose upon myself cautious atti-tude: I read thesign-postnd I preventmyself rom akingtheroad it showsme."42Suchdiplomatic ourtesy which s notwithoutrony ismadepossiblebythepositionwon forthemselvesythesocialsciences,particularlyinguistics nd ethnology. Insofar as Lvi-Strausshas awakened these sciences in France fromtheir empiricistslumber, t is ofteneasyto see in therebirth f theory breakwiththeneo-positivistnclinations f theimmediately recedingperiod rather than a revival of Durkheimianapproaches. Itwould, however, e veryeasyto find n thework of Durkheim,and in thetheoreticalapital bequeathed by thegroupthatputout theAnneSociologique, he outlinesofmostof thequeryingsof structuralnthropology.A secondbeginning ntailsthe per-sistent eaffirmationf principles nd an almostobsessionalpre-

42Esprit, loc. cit., p. 652.


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198 SOCIAL RESEARCHoccupationwithepistemological roblems. Furthermore, newdivisionof scientificabor has led anthropologyo confine tselfto ethnological esearch even if it still harbors, nd above allinspires,hehopeofa totalknowledge fman,as is shownbythechange in the meaningof the term 'anthropology,")3and toavoid bringing ut all the implicationsnd all theconsequenceswhichwould inevitably esultfrom heextension o our societiesof the ethnologist's pproach. In agreeingto wear oftenun-knowingly themaskofexoticism,heethnologistisks ollectinga speciousfollowing. The successof Tristes Tropiques ("SadTropics") can onlybe understoodn the lightof the factthat,whatever hescientificualificationsf this"philosophical ssay,"its readershave been able to find n it ambiguoussatisfactionsprocuredbytheobjectivizing erspective roducedbyethnology,withoutrunningthe riskof performing similarobjectivizingreductionupon themselves.For proofof this,one has only toobserve hefuror rousedbytheanthropologicalpproachwhen,in keepingwiththeDurkheimian radition,whichmade no dis-tinction etween thnologynd sociology,t is rigorouslyppliedto familiarbehaviorand institutions, hetherwithreference othefunctionsf a universityr to attitudes o worksof art.44In sketchingut a sociology f the audience metwithby the

43AsPaul Rivetpoints ut n his ntroductiono VolumeVII of theEncyclopdiefranaise,heterm nthropologyhichhad retained ts Kantianmeaning f thegeneral cience fmanup to the econdhalfof thenineteenthentury,or xamplein thewritingsfde Quatrefagese Brau,thereafterecame pecialized nd wasappliedonly ophysicalnthropology,hilethe bulk ofitsmeaningwas inheritedby the terms thnologynd sociology,epending n thegroupsof scientistson-cerned. Byre-introducingheconcept fanthropologyn thesense ccorded t inthe English xpressionscultural nthropology"nd "social anthropology",vi-Strauss elegitimatizedhebroader nd oldermeaning f theword, lmost imul-taneously ith M. Foucault'snewtranslationf Kant'sAnthropologie.44 t is thesociological spects f knowledgend educationwhichhad been attheheart fDurkheimiannthropologyhathaveseen themostrecent enewal theDurkheimianpproach. Morebroadly peaking,t is among newgenerationofsociologists,ho started ut in philosophynd were chooledn ethnology,hatthere as beena reunificationf theethnologicalnd sociologicalnterestshathadbeencompletelyissociatedyneo-positivism.


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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 199work f ClaudeLvi-Strauss,ndofthepublic mages hroughwhichtreaches nd influenceshe ntellectualublic nd eventhepublicat large,t is not our intention o suggesthatthesincerityfthisworkdepends,n thefinal nalysis,n what sgraspedn tby readingrientedythe ntellectualxpectationsof period ra group. t wouldbenave, or xample,oattempttoestablish relationshipfthe ametype etween,n theonehand, n economicnd social ituationharacterizedycontin-uousexpansion ith tsresultanteelingfsecuritynd,on theother and, uchdifferentntellectualhenomenas technocraticsociology, hich s often carcelymore thanan ideological y-product foptimismvergrowthr of euphoric oncernwithefficiency,ndstructuralisms a scientificpproach,venthoughthephilosophyithoutubject hat t implies fferssuperficialanalogywith eliance n automatedmachinery.

The ideological tmosphereesponsibleortheoptimismfthe "younggentlemen" raduatingrom he Ecole Nationaled'Administration,s sureofthemselvess of their uture,s nodoubtvery imilar o thatwhich artre ecreates henhe tellsus oftheattitude hich heyoungmen ofhisbackgroundndofhisgenerationadtowardheir uture,ight p to theyearsofthegreat risis:"In thecenturyf theairplane ndofelectricitye did notthinkwe wouldbe exposed o suchsurprises;t did notoccurto us thatwewereon theeve ofanything;n thecontrary,ehada vague ense fpride n feelinghatwewere ivingn themorningfterhe astgreat pheaval fhistory.ven fweweresometimesorriedytherearmingfGermany, e thought ehad entered ntoa long traightoadandwe were ure hat hetissue f our liveswouldbe woven olelybypersonal ircum-stances, unctuated y scientificiscoveriesnd felicitous e-forms."5It will not be surprisingo find, t thelevel of systemsf Sartre, Qu'est-ce ue la littrature?",aris,NRF, Ides, 1948,pp. 25&-257.


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200 SOCIAL RESEARCHthought hathave theirvisionof the future nd theirphilosophyofhistory,hattheexistential mood" ofa stratumfadministra-torsbent on identifyinghemselves as is shownbytheir astefor"projection" with all theascending urves hat characterizehecentury,s closely onnectedwiththe forward-lookingiteraturewhichtheyfinance,nspire, roduceor consume, r evenwithatheologyfgrowthike thatof Teilhard de Chardin,who,recon-cilingthereasonsforfaith nd faith n reason,provides cientificand metaphysicalackingfor thesecularcreed of thosewho be-lieve in everythinghatgrows: 6the symposia, ther kinds ofround-table alksand discussion lubs,whichare becomingthedominant mode of intellectual xchange,offer means and aprivileged lace forthereciprocal ontamination f intellectualsand technocrats.Whereas, n the case of an intellectualoutputwhichis closely keyedto the expectations f a special class ofconsumers,t is almosttoo easyto identifyhe interveningle-ments, ew n number nd self-explanatory,hat inksuch worksto their ocial context, similar ttemptwithrespect o a scien-tific cheme ike thatof structuralism ould prove nfinitelyessfruitful.For itcan be seenthatworkswhich reproducedundersuch social conditions hattheycan have no other audience ofreferencehan theirpeersare objectivelyonstrained o take ntoaccountthequestionsbequeathedby theirpredecessorsnd con-sequently hey re linked, bove all, to a historyfsocial science,which s not the samething s a socialhistoryfscience, n that,as such,science s relatively ndependent f intellectualhistoryand, a fortiori,f economicor social history.Thus most of thecontradictionsnd outright rrors ontained n thepublic imageof theworkof Lvi-Straussre due to the factthat,where thislink is not made betweentheworkand its theoretical ast,thereader s condemned o theillusionofreading omethingwhollyunique or an autodidactictext,which,reversing he order ofimportancesnd disregardingonclusive ubordinations, educes,

46The review spritdevoted wospecial ssues n 1963and 1964to the deas ofTeilhardde Chardia


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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 201forexample,Lvi-Strauss'nalysis f thedo-it-yourselfobbytoan instrument f Parisian-stylentellectualdo-it-yourselfutter.However, s soon as this ink is made, it becomes clear that,in ordertodevelopto itsmaximum, .e.,intoa scientificmethod,whatwas in factonlyone of thepossibilitiesndicatedbyDurk-heim,Lvi-Strauss ad to refrainfromreviving n its entiretyan approach that associatedthe science of the functioning fsocial systemswith the scienceof their historicaldevelopment.Is it notthis bdicationwhichLvi-Strausss concealingwhenhecondemns he ethicalassumptions f evolutionism,which,evenin themodified orm t takeswithDurkheim, lwaysowes some-thingto a philosophy f progress?The aim of Lvi-Straussiananthropology,o setup a "basic catalogue" to echo Leibniz inreferringo a typically eibnizian scheme of simple elementsand the awsgoverningheir ombination,whichshouldmake itpossible oexplainthecombinationsctually ound n thevarioushistorical ultures,eads to theplacingofhistory etweenparen-theses, lmost s isdone bystructural-functionalism,n whichtheoverridingnterestn the functioningf social systems educeshistory o a subordinate ole, or again, as RaymondAron does,paradoxically,n Paix etguerre ntre es nations "Peace and WarbetweentheNations"), n whichhe constructs trans-historicalsystematizationf international elations.It was the modern nthropologicalpproach n its most ambi-tiousformthatFontenelleexpressedwith the triumphantelf-assurance f thenationalism f the Enlightenment hen he setout to deduce from knowledgeof the eternalmechanisms fhumannature heuniverse fall possiblehistories:"Human nature is composedof ignorance, redulity, anity,ambition ndwickedness, ith little ommon enseand honestythrown n, but in a verysmall dose comparedwith the otheringredients. onsequently,uchpeoplewill constructn infinitenumber ofridiculous nstitutionsnd a veryfew sensibleones;theywill oftenfight ne another nd then make peace treaties,almost lways n bad faith;thestrongerwill oppresstheweaker


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202 SOCIAL RESEARCHand will tryto give theiroppression n appearanceof justice,etc. . . . Afterwhich,one could examineall thepossiblevaria-tionsproducedbythesegeneralprinciples,nd jugglewiththem,so to speak, n all possibleways;one could imagine n detail aninfinityf eventsthateitherhave happenedor are very imilarto thosethat have happened. This method of learninghistorywouldcertainly otbe a bad one; one would be at the sourceofthingsand fromthat standpointone could amuse oneselfbyobserving he consequencesone had alreadyforeseen;foroncethegeneralprinciples ave beenmastered,ne can envisagefroma global viewpoint verythinghatthey an produce,thedetailsbeing no more than an entertainment hich can even be dis-pensedwithat timesbecause of theirpointlessnessr lack ofchallenge. .. I would ustas much ikea man to learn theexacthistoryfevery lock n Paris, twhatdateand bywhatcraftsmanitwasmade,howoften ndforhow ong thas failedtokeeptime,whichclocksstrike ouder thanothers;but let him not botherat all to findout how a clock is constructed r what makes ittick." 7

Although sociology f thehistory f Frenchsociology s wehaveoutlined t could not but accentuate hecontrasts etweenthevariousperiods n orderto do justiceto thedifferenceshatseparatethem, here re neverthelessertainconstants resentedby thestructure f the French ntellectualfield n its organiza-tionand consequentlyn the ogicofitsactivitieswhichmustbegraspedexplicitly nd analyzed ociologicallyfwe are to avoidthoseverbalexplanationswhichbring n theeffectsf "nationalcharacter,"venthoughn theguiseofan "intellectual radition."Among ll thecharacteristicseculiarto theFrench ntellectualworld, the physicalconcentration f the intelligentsia s un-doubtedlythe mostobvious and thusthe mostoften remarkedupon. Sartre n 1947 stateda commonplaceof sociologywhichintellectualsike to apply to themselves:

*tFontenelle,Essai sur l'histoire,Paris, Payot, 1966,pp. 159-161.


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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 203"Withinonlyfiveyears fter he appearanceofmyfirst ookI was on friendlyermswith ll myfellow-writers.entralizationhadbrought s all toParis. With a little uck, rushedAmericancould meetus all in twenty-fourours nd in that imeobtainourviews n UNRRA, theUN, UNESCO, theMillerCase, the atombomb. In twenty-fouroursa trainedcyclist ould carry fromAragontoMauriac,fromVercors o Cocteau,callingen routeon

Breton tMontmartre,ueneau atNeuillyand Billyat Fontaine-

sociology and philosophy in france-bourdieu

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