Irving Louis Horowitz

SOCIAL DEVIANCE AND POLITICAL MARGINALITY: TOWARD A REDEFINITION OF THE RELATION BETWEEN SOCIOLOGY AND POLITICS

The traditional distinction between social problems and the political system is becoming obsolete. Behavior which in the past was perceived as social deviance is now assuming well-defined ideological and organizational contours; while political marginals are adopting a deviant life style. This merger of social deviance and political marginality creates a new style of politics, based on strategies that are traditionally considered illegitimate. The result of this trend is estimated to be an increase in the use of violence as a political tactic, and the development of a revolutionary potential among the expanding ranks of deviant sub-groups. In the light of such developments, sociology and political science must revise their theoretical formulations to take into account the merger of social deviance and political marginality.

Social Science and Public Policy: An Examination of the Political Foundations of Modern Research*

Economics, sociology, psychology, and the other social sciences have in recent times begun to play a new and problematic role with respect to national and international policy. The problem of social policy has become acute precisely to the extent to which social science has become exact. Legitimation of policy recommendations from social scientists emerges in this period and not in previous periods because of a demonstrable feasibility of putting social science and social theory into a framework of political action. Demand for operations research analysts, tactical data systems, war gaming and simulation experts now rivals the search for basic engineering personnel. There is a paucity of exact information on how this transvaluation took place, due in part to the novelty of the situation and in part to the novelty of self-examination in the social sciences. What is at stake as a result of this newly acquired influence is not the feasibility of social science, but the credibility of social scientists. Any discussions of villains and values, which inevitably is what the study of social science and public policy boils down to, involves two distinct areas. One is the empirical basis of present relationships between social science and public policy, its formation and its

The Hegelian Concept of Political Freedom

TRADITIONAL SOCIOLOGY tends to assume that the State is part of the Social System, and that a system of power operates only at some levels within the System. This is not the only possible or plausible vision of human interaction. If the dialectical tradition culminating with Hegel did nothing else, it established the unique place of political theory in the study of culture. Hegels analysis of freedom is distinguished by a firm separation of civil society from polity. His approach is theoretical in that throughout he is concerned with basic properties of social and political structures. Social phenomena are not viewed empirically as going entities, but selectively, through logical, i.e., dialectical distinctions. The Hegelian approach assumes completeness in that all relevant concepts and relations which would be required in empirical undertakings are -worked out. This special sense of methodology as ideal typification should be kept in mind when examining Hegel. What we are provided with is a systems approach rather than empirical analysis. Few commentators have viewed the directly political and social writings of Hegel as an extension of his more abstract works. A British analytic philosopher has even suggested that Hegels Philosophy of Right, in which the social and legal basis of political freedom

Noneconomic Factors in the Institutionalization of the Cold War

The problem of converting world-war industry to peacetime enterprise is being seriously posed for the first time since the outbreak of World War II. Thus far, the cen ter of concern has been the economic feasibility of the transition process for an industrial complex. There are also noneco nomic factors which produce a lag between technical know-how for the reconversion process and the practical implementation of steps toward industrial reconversion. Five major noneco nomic deterrents are: absence of consciousness of the problem of conversion; rise of new industrial activities heavily depend ent upon continuation of arms spending; belief in armaments as a bulwark of social solidarity; acculturation to patterns of secrecy and coercion; fear that industrial reconversion would lead to deterioration of the Western alliance. Under critical examination, these factors prove to be insubstantial. How ever, disarmament and conversion to peacetime industrial poli cies would have to be phased in sociologically as well as eco nomically. A policy of heavy arms expenditures has gener ated profound social and political disorientation. No major shifts in the production orientation of American industry will occur until doubts about the future of the American economy are either assuaged or overcome by still greater trepidations about the future of the human community as such.