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Man and Society in Calamity: The Effects of War, Revolution, Famine, Pestilence upon Human Mind, Behavior, Social Organization and Cultural Life
Book by Sorokin, Pitirim Aleksandrovich
- GenresSociology
354 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1942
About the author
Pitirim A. Sorokin
127 books47 followersThe first edition of his 1942 book Man and Society in Calamity lists him as "Doctor of Sociology; Chairman of Department of Sociology, Harvard University; Former President of international Institute of Sociology".
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 12, 2013
Sorokin focuses on the four most significant calamities: war and revolution, famine and pestilence. (He does not examine natural disasters and accidents, although he devotes a few pages to the Halifax Explosion of 1917.) He looks at the mental and social impacts, acknowledging that individuals and groups are affected differently. In times of drastic and sudden depopulation, he observes that there is often "vertical mobility," meaning that people in lower social strata may seize opportunities to fill seats left vacant in the higher strata, as well as benefiting from higher wages and freedom from serfdom.
Some of his beliefs are bothersome.
Less virtuous people, he believes, are more likely to survive famine and pestilence (stealing food, avoiding sick people), while war and revolution are often survived by the courageous. He occasionally makes comments derived from the theory of eugenics, such as: "Finally, since the upper, professional, and middle classes exhibit a lower criminal rate than the depressed strata of the population, and since the latter are generally weaker economically, the selective rôle of famine and epidemics tends to militate against the survival of the ethically inferior elements." (pp. 100-101, 181-182) It is only assumed, not argued, within this book that ethical capabilities are inborn and that these alleged genetic variations are typified within corresponding social classes.
He uses the phrase "ethico-religious" frequently, explicitly joining ethical behavior and religious belief. He acknowledges that calamities may either intensify or loosen an individual's ethico-religious commitment, but he fails to acknowledge that ethics and religion may be separate. He even (mis)quotes Dostoevsky, "If there is no God and no absolute value, everything is permitted." (p. 161, 231)
His philosophical motivation behind the book seems to spring from a religious worldview. Toward the end, he says there is a possible "justification for the signal tragedies of human history": "the principal steps in the progress of mankind toward a spiritual religion and a noble code of ethics have been taken primarily under the impact of great catastrophes." (p. 226) A society can shorten a crisis "by reintegrating its religious, moral, scientific, philosophical and other values...in such a way that the new system of values is rooted not only in the noblest values of this sensory world, but primarily in the values of moral duty and the kingdom of God...the way out will always be the 'way of death,' ordeal, and destruction...Then the presence of calamities in human history becomes inevitable and above all meaningful. For they become a part of Theodicy, the only educative instrument that by pitiless ordeal can restore the demoralized human animal and remind him of his Divine mission on this planet." (pp. 318-319)
[All page numbers from the first edition.]
Some of his beliefs are bothersome.
Less virtuous people, he believes, are more likely to survive famine and pestilence (stealing food, avoiding sick people), while war and revolution are often survived by the courageous. He occasionally makes comments derived from the theory of eugenics, such as: "Finally, since the upper, professional, and middle classes exhibit a lower criminal rate than the depressed strata of the population, and since the latter are generally weaker economically, the selective rôle of famine and epidemics tends to militate against the survival of the ethically inferior elements." (pp. 100-101, 181-182) It is only assumed, not argued, within this book that ethical capabilities are inborn and that these alleged genetic variations are typified within corresponding social classes.
He uses the phrase "ethico-religious" frequently, explicitly joining ethical behavior and religious belief. He acknowledges that calamities may either intensify or loosen an individual's ethico-religious commitment, but he fails to acknowledge that ethics and religion may be separate. He even (mis)quotes Dostoevsky, "If there is no God and no absolute value, everything is permitted." (p. 161, 231)
His philosophical motivation behind the book seems to spring from a religious worldview. Toward the end, he says there is a possible "justification for the signal tragedies of human history": "the principal steps in the progress of mankind toward a spiritual religion and a noble code of ethics have been taken primarily under the impact of great catastrophes." (p. 226) A society can shorten a crisis "by reintegrating its religious, moral, scientific, philosophical and other values...in such a way that the new system of values is rooted not only in the noblest values of this sensory world, but primarily in the values of moral duty and the kingdom of God...the way out will always be the 'way of death,' ordeal, and destruction...Then the presence of calamities in human history becomes inevitable and above all meaningful. For they become a part of Theodicy, the only educative instrument that by pitiless ordeal can restore the demoralized human animal and remind him of his Divine mission on this planet." (pp. 318-319)
[All page numbers from the first edition.]
February 25, 2015
Fantastic book. Chapter Twelve will be added to my cadets reading list but the whole book is really fascinating. Why Sorokin has fallen out of favor among sociologists, I cannot fathom. Course, I still can't figure out why we abandoned Parsons, either.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews