The Coming Crisis of Western Sociology

Abstract It comes as no surprise to the astute observer that academics on this continent are unable to cope with the ‘problems’ internal to their respective disciplines. Indeed, when attempts are made to intellectually grapple with these meta-theoretical issues, the effects are usually somewhat reminiscent of the catastrophes of U.S. foreign policy. The physical levelling of third world countries engaged in struggles for national liberation has its ideational counterpart in the hallowed halls of academia. Critical thought has been systematically transformed into behavioral and functional theory. The metamorphosis is complete — Sigmund Freud leads to B.F. Skinner, Max Weber is updated by Talcott Parsons, and Karl Marx succumbs to John Dewey's pragmatism, or so we are told.