Pitirim Sorokin
Pitirim Alexandrovich Sorokin (born on January 21, 1889, in a village of Turya, in northern Russia - died 1968 in USA) was an important figure in the 20th century American sociology, and a founder of the department of sociology at Harvard University.
Life
Works
Sorokin is author of books such as The crisis of our age and Power and morality, but his magnum opus is Social and Cultural Dynamics (1937-1941). His unorthodox theories contributed to the social cycle theory and inspired (or alienated) many sociologists.
In his Social and Cultural Dynamics he classified societies according to their 'cultural mentality', which can be ideational (reality as spiritual), sensate (reality is material), or idealistic (a synthesis of the two). He has interpreted the contemporary Western civilisation as a sensate civilisation dedicated to technological progress and prophesied its fall into decandence and the emergence of a new ideational or idealistic era.
Legacy
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Cuzzort, R. P. and King, E. W. (1995). Twentieth-Century social thought (5th ed.). New York, NY: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.
- Mills, C. W. (2000). The sociological imagination. New York, NY: The Oxford University Press
- Sorokin, P. A. (1970). Social and Cultural Dynamics. Boston, MA: Porter Sargent Publishers.
- Sorokin, P. A. (1992). The crisis of our age. Chatam, NY: Oneworld Publications, Ltd
- Sorokin, P. A. and Lunden, W. A. (1959). Power and morality: who shall guard the guardians? Boston, MA: Porter Sargent Publishers.
Credits
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