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ДОКУМЕНТЫ. ПЕРЕПИСКА П. А. СОРОКИНА И Р. К. МЕРТОНА
Редакция журнала благодарит за возможность публикации оригиналов писем куратора семейного наследия Питирима Сорокина, доктора философии Университета Висконсина Павла Петровича Кротова
Долгов Александр Юрьевич
сотрудник Центра «Наследие» им. Питирима Сорокина, Сыктывкар, Республика Коми;
Питирим Сорокин и Роберт Мертон в социологии и в жизни
Питирим Сорокин и Роберт Мертон — два классика социологии, проделавшие разные пути в науке: Мертон оказался на вершине научного олимпа в годы популярности парадигмы структурного функционализма и монополии парсоновской школы, а Сорокин, пытавшийся расширить границы социологии, включив в нее анализ культурных суперсистем и позитивных девиаций, подвергся за это острой критике и, как следствие, забвению со стороны американских коллег.
Одна из главных тенденций, которую Сорокин определил в науке, — это переход от классического представления об эволюционном развитии к «неклассическому» его пониманию в социологии. Имея личный опыт наблюдения за социальными кризисами (русская революция, Первая и Вторая мировые войны), он одним из первых включил в анализ такую переменную, как ценность, обозначив тем самым «культурный поворот» в науке.
В методологическом плане исследования Сорокина способствовали «смягчению» позиции «чистого эмпиризма», или, как он выражался, «квантофрении», в науке. В некотором роде уже при жизни Сорокин получил признание «эмпириков». Парсонс в письме Сорокину признавался: «Я уже давно считаю, что в по-настоящему важной теории в нашей области значительно больше сходств, чем различий, если мы возьмем на себя труд взяться за анализ основ» (Питирим Сорокин, 2009: 107). Сорокин в своих теоретических построениях создал «мостик», соединивший человека с его ценностями и глобальный мир.
Трудно говорить о каком-либо идейном влиянии Сорокина на Мертона. В то же время стоит отметить, что становление Мертона-социолога происходило в Гарварде благодаря и при помощи Сорокина-руководителя. Сам Мертон в своей «Социальной теории и социальной структуре» называет Сорокина одним из шести коллег, у которых он «в особом долгу»: «Еще до того, как Питирим Сорокин погрузился в изучение всемирных исторических процессов (что представлено в его „Социальной и культурной динамике“), он помог мне избавиться от узости кругозора, разрушив представление о том, что эффективное изучение общества ограничивается территорией Америки, и от подсказанного трущобами представления, что основная тема социологии заключается в изучении таких периферийных проблем общественной жизни, как развод и преступность несовершеннолетних. Я с радостью и честно признаю свой долг перед ним, который я еще не отдал» (Мертон, 2006: 13—14).
Для Мертона существует «ранний» и «поздний» Сорокин, Сорокин — до и после «Социальной и культурной динамики», к которой Мертон отнесся негативно, хотя и помогал в сборе статистических материалов. Однако для Мертона Сорокин никогда не переставал быть авторитетом в общественных науках, о чем свидетельствуют частые ссылки на его работы в той же «Социальной теории и социальной структуре», где научные теории Сорокина он анализировал наряду с теориями Маркса, Шелера, Мангейма, Дюркгейма и других классиков.
Хотя в своих воспоминаниях (Мертон, 1992) Мертон довольно сдержанно отзывается о фигуре Сорокина, приведенная ниже переписка демонстрирует довольно теплые отношения между социологами. В письмах они поздравляют друг друга в связи с выходом новых работ, рассказывают о своих семьях, делятся планами на будущее, просят оказать поддержку в той или иной ситуации.
О противоречивых отношениях между социологами свидетельствует надпись, на однотомном переиздании «Динамики», которую Мертону прислал Сорокин. Мертон вспоминал: «Надпись была подчеркнута и, я думаю, не без симпатии, двусмысленна. Ее первая часть должна была напомнить о моем несогласии использовать сорокинскую теорию как тему моей диссертации; вторая намекала на наши очень тесные отношения в то время: я был молодым и трудолюбивым помощником в его преподавательской и исследовательской работе и даже ценителем его шедевра (хотя и не одобрившим его). Надпись гласила: „Моему заклятому врагу и самому дорогому другу Роберту от Питирима“» (цит. по: Зюзев, 2009: 167—168).
Если Мертон был и остается популярен, а его признание повсеместно, то ренессанс многих сорокинских идей начинается только сейчас. В сентябре 2010 года Республику Коми, родину Питирима Сорокина, в рамках работы над проектом «Возможности культурной социологии: Питирим Сорокин» посетили профессор университета Киото Татибана Митикуни Оно и его ассистентка, доцент литературного факультета университета Тэйкё, Светлана Корнеева. В одной из бесед профессор Оно рассказал, что о Сорокине он узнал в 1960-е годы именно из работ Мертона, и уже много позже, почти через 40 лет, вновь заинтересовался творчеством русско-американского социолога. Между тем, как и во всем мире, в Японии безоговорочным авторитетом в социологии был Парсонс, а Сорокин оставался «забытым мыслителем». Но события последних лет демонстрируют определенное оживление интереса к теориям Сорокина со стороны ученых из разных стран. Об этом, в частности, свидетельствует и сам визит японского социолога, который получил грант от Японского общества продвижения науки (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (c),
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science: JSPS), и дальнейшие планы по популяризации имени Сорокина в Японии, где планируется создание Научного собрания последователей Питирима Сорокина.
Интерес к творческому наследию П. Сорокина проявляется и в США, где в рамках Американской социологической ассоциации идет работа над созданием новой секции «Альтруизма, морали и социальной солидарности». Цель секции состоит в том, чтобы способствовать теоретическому развитию и эмпирическому исследованию, имеющему отношение к альтруизму и социальной солидарности. Как сообщалось в официальных заявлениях и обращениях, работа секции во многом будет основана на научных достижениях русско-американского социолога Питирима Сорокина. Именно он в свое время стал пионером в области изучения амитологии и позитивных девиаций, в частности альтруизма, любви, самопожертвования и т. д.
В целом, понимание того, что структурный функционализм лишь одна из возможных альтернатив развития общественных наук, дает возможность по-новому взглянуть на многие моменты в творчестве «забытого мыслителя», а современный экономический, социальный и нравственный кризис вновь возрождает актуальность работ по исследованиям созидательного альтруизма, необходимость которых доказывал П. А. Сорокин.
Литература
Питирим Сорокин: избранная переписка / под ред. П. П. Кротова. Вологда : Древности Севера, 2009.
Мертон Р. Социальная теория и социальная структура. М. : ACT, 2006.
Мертон Р. К. Фрагменты из воспоминаний // Социологические исследования. 1992. № 10. Зюзев Н. Ф. «Американские горки» Питирима Сорокина: «Зырянский мудрец» глазами заокеанских социологов. Сыктывкар : Эском, 2009.
Pitirim Sorokin and Robert Merton in Sociology and Life
Alexander Yu. Dolgov
Sorokin Research Center,
Syktyvkar, Komi Republic; [email protected]
Pitirim Sorokin and Robert Merton — two distinguished sociologists — walked two different paths in science. Merton reached his scientific peak at the time when the structural functionalism flourished and Parsons’ school dominated. Sorokin tried to extend the frontiers of sociology by bringing into it the analysis of cultural super-systems and positive definitions which resulted in sharp criticism and subsequent oblivion on the part of his American colleagues.
One of the main trends that Sorokin identified in science was a transition from the classical concept of “evolution” to what is called a “non-classical” understanding in sociology. With his personal experiences having observed social crises (i. e. the Russian Revolution(s), World Wars I and II) he was one of the first scientists to include in his analyses such a variable as “value,” which marked the “cultural turn” in science.
Methodologically, Sorokin’s studies were conducive for “mitigating” the positions of “pure empiricism,” or as he put it, “quantophrenia” in science. For this reason, Sorokin was often picked out by empiricists during his life. Parsons, in a letter to Sorokin, confessed: “ I have felt for a long time that in the really important theory in our field there was far more agreement than difference if we took the trouble to analyse its basis.” (Pitirim Sorokin, 2009: 107). Sorokin in his theoretical constructions built a “bridge” that connected man with his values and with global socio-cultural changes.
It is difficult to speak about Sorokin’s influence on Merton. But it is worth noting that Merton emerged as sociologist at Harvard thanks to Sorokin and with his assistance as a mentor. Merton himself in his “Social Theory and Social Structure” named Sorokin as one of his six colleagues, whom he was especially “indebted” to: “Even before Pitirim Sorokin plunged into studying global historical processes (what is presented in his “Social and Cultural Dynamics”) he helped me to get rid of the narrow world view by destroying the idea that an efficient study of a society could be limited by the American territory, as well as of the idea suggested by slums that the main subject in sociology was to study those peripheral problems of social life like divorce and juvenile crime. I acknowledge, with joy and honestly, my debt to him that I have yet to pay off” (Мертон, 2006: 13-14).
For Merton there was an “early” and “late” Sorokin, that is, Sorokin before and after the “Social and Cultural Dynamics” to which Merton’s attitude was negative, though he helped to collect statistical evidence. Nevertheless, Merton always considered Sorokin an authority in the social sciences. Proof of this may be found in his frequent references to Sorokin in “Social Theory and Social Structure” where, along with Sorokin’s theories, he analyzed the ideas of Marx, Scheler, Mannheim, Durkheim and other scholars.
Though Merton spoke in his recollections (Мертон, 1992) about Sorokin with reservations, the following correspondence pointed to a rather warm relationship between the two sociologists. In their letters, they greeted each other with new publications, told about their families, plans for the future, asked for support in various situations.
The controversial relationship between the two sociologists may be symbolized in the inscription on the one-volume republication of the “Dynamics” that was sent by Sorokin to Merton. Merton recollected: “The inscription was underlined and I think, not without sympathy, ambivalent. Its first part had to remind about my disagreement to use Sorokin’s theory as the subject of my dissertation: the second one hinted at our very close relationship at the time: I was a young and hardworking assistant to his academic work and even an expert on his masterpiece (though I did not approve of that). The inscription said: “To my darned enemy and dearest friend Robert from Pitirim” (quotation from Зюзев, 2009: 167-168).
If Merton has remained popular and he is everywhere recognized, the renaissance of many of Sorokin’s ideas has started only now. In September 2010, professor of sociology Michikuni Ohno of Kyoto Tachibana University and his assistant, Svetlana Alexan-drovna Korneeva, a senior lecturer at the liberal arts faculty at Teikyo University, visited the Komi Republic, Pitirim Sorokin’s birthplace, as part of the project “Capabilities of Cultural Sociology: Pitirim Sorokin”. In one of his conversations, Professor Ohno said
that it is from Merton’s writings that he had learned of Sorokin in the 1960s, and much later, nearly 40 years after, he again got interested in the works of this Russian-American sociologist.
Nevertheless, as in the whole world, it was Parsons who was regarded in Japan as an unquestioned authority in sociology, Sorokin remaining a “forgotten thinker”. But the events of the recent years point to a certain revival of interest in Sorokin’s theories. Witness to this is this particular visit by a Japanese sociologist, who had received a grant (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research) (c) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). As well, there are further plans to promote Sorokin’s name in Japan where a scientific community of Pitirim Sorokin’s followers might be founded.
Growing interest in Sorokin’s scholarly legacy can also be observed in the USA, where a new section “Altruism, Morality and Social Solidarity” is being formed within the American Sociological Association (ASA). The aim of the section is to promote theoretical progress and empirical studies related to altruism and social solidarity. According to formal declarations and announcements the section’s work will be largely based on scientific achievements of the Russian-American sociologist Pitirim Sorokin. It was he who pioneered studies of amitology and positive deviations, particularly, altruism, love, sacrifice, etc.
Summing up, the idea that structural functionalism is only one of the many possible alternatives to identifyng progress in social sciences. Recognizing this enables us to take a new look at multiple aspects in the work of this “forgotten thinker”. Focus on understanding the present-day economic, social and moral crisis revives the significance of studies in creative altruism, the necessity of which were demonstrated by P. A. Sorokin.
References
Питирим Сорокин: избранная переписка / под ред. П. П. Кротова. Вологда : Древности Севера, 2009.
Мертон Р. Социальная теория и социальная структура. М. : ACT, 2006.
Мертон Р. К Фрагменты из воспоминаний // Социологические исследования. 1992. № 10. Зюзев Н. .Ф. «Американские горки» Питирима Сорокина: «Зырянский мудрец» глазами заокеанских социологов. Сыктывкар : Эском, 2009.
Documents Correspondence between P. A. Sorokin and R. K. Merton1
ROBERT K. MERTON 111 Pinecrest Drive
Hastlngs-on-Hudson 6 New York
6 March 1959
Dear Pitirim,
Since I am on leave of absence from the university this semester,
I was away for a few weeks in order to get some work done. It was a pleasant surprise to find your letter upon my return, and so I answer it at once.
I need hardly say that I shall immediately do everything possible to find out the prospects of a financial grant to enable you to finish up the three books you have in process. It would be absurd to have these held up for want of funds for secretarial services, research assistance, and the like. In making these queries, I shall take the liberty of raising the questions about this on my own initiative, without your making a formal request until it is clear just how and when and to whom this should be made. I don't know, of course, what the best prospective sources are, bat I’ll try to discover these, as I proceed. In any case, I intend to begin by discussing the matter with some people at the Ford Foundation.
On one matter, however, I should say that the reports which have reached you are not quite correct. I have no affiliation with the Jehavioral Sciences Division of the Ford F'd'n; indeed, I never have had. I do have an advisory connection with the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, which was established b^ the Ford people, but which has no further connection with the F d'n. The Center simply provides fellowships to those who work there; it has no grant-making powers or funds. I should tell you also that, last year, the Ford F'd'n discontinued its special division for research in the "behavioral sciences" (i.e. sociology, psychology and anthropology), when they decided to move, rather, into engineering, the sciences, and the humanities. This means, of course, that grants for work in sociology are now difficult to come by. However, there might still be some way in which such a grant could be arranged and I intend to find out by direct inquiry. As soon as I can get the information, I'll write you whatever I have learned.
I am grateful to you for giving me the opportunity to search out possibilities of funds to enable you to get on with your work, and I'm glad that you overcame your reluctance to raise the matter at all. Perhaps I'll get nowhere, but if so, it will mean that the institutions for grants in support of scholarly work in sociology have lost all sight of fundamentals.
With all my best, Yoursr"
1 The original letters are kept in The Pitirim A. Sorokin Collection, the Special Collections
Department at the University of Saskatchewan Library:
3 Campus Drive University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada S7N 5A4
URL:http://library2.usask.ca/sorokin/Credits
Columbia University in the City of New York | New York 21, N. Y.
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
3 October 1961
Dr. Pitirim A. Sorokin 8 Cliff Street Winchester, Mass.
Dear Pitirim:
I have seen Professor Lazarsfeld for a few minutes since his recent return from Paris, and in order to facilitate matters, I am writing you on his behalf as well as my own.
First, we do want to thank you for your warm invitation to attend the First International Congress in Salzburg next week. If there were any possibility of our obtaining a leave from the University to attend the Congress, we would surely do so. But these being the first weeks of the new semester, it is simply impossible. You have our every good wish for success of the Congress and we look forward to the Proceedings.
We are of course delighted by the thought that you will give a paper at the 1962 meetings of the ASA. I have taken the liberty of pre-empting your paper for the session I will be chairing. Plans for this session are of course still fluid, and we can correspond about your paper upon your return from Europe.
It makes me particularly glad to know that you will be taking part in this Bession.
As for the Fifth World Congress of the ISA, neither Professor Lazarsfeld nor I have any responsibility for the program. As I understand it, the program is being arranged by a program committee with all correspondence about it being handled by the Secretary General of ISA, Pierre de Bie. He can be reached at the Association Internationale de Sociologie, 118, rue des Flamands,
Louvain, Belgique. I am sure he would be very eager to hear from you and to make the necessary arrangements.
Once again, my thanks for your letter and best wishes for your trip. I look forward to seeing you before long.
Sincerely,
/fUcrt /C
Robert K. Merton
RKMrea
ROBERT K. MERTON 111 Pinccrait Drive
Hastings-on-Hudson 6 New York
6 October 1963
Dear Pitirim,
As one of the newest victims in the current mild epidemic of influenza,
I am enjoying the last three days at home. Happily enough, the new issue of the ASR, with its lovely lead review of Pitirim Sorokin in Review, reached me during my bed-borne siege. I happen not to know the reviewer, Charles Tilly, but he has surely caught the spirit and intent of the volume as well as the character and significance of the work to which the book was devoted. In all frankness, I must also add that it gave me pleasure to find that he picked up several strands of the RKM-BB paper on PA for this meant that he recognized the deep seriousness with which we took the writing of the paper. As I said at the Eastern meetings, this is surely a time celebrating the Renaissance of Appreciation of PAS in those few anas quarters where it has not been a continuing celebration.
I have not written you before now to congratulate the Anoexx members of the American Sociological Association on their collective capacity to confess to an altogether absurd and self-indicting oversight during the last twenty years and more. To have written you at once about this would have seemed to suggest that I was even minutely surprised by the event -and I hope it is a matter of record that I was not. Do be kind -- «xtckunlike Faraday or Spencer or Veblen or D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson or Mr.
Justice Holetns (or innumerable others) who were accorded a certain kind of recognition by some of their contemporaries decades after perceptive scholars had taken it for granted -- and say not a word about the absurd delay in according this particular brand of esteem. (If you will forgive it,
I speak as the son of a proletarian to the son of a peasant in asking for noblesse oblige. ) And by all means, £pater le bourgeois by demonstrating that, in your spare time, you can turn over administrative matters to the administrators of the Association just as you can organize a memorable annual meeting of the Association.
And since this is a day iac in which all is said, my love to Ileana.
Yours,
