Word: sorokin
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Twenty-five years before Pitirim A. Sorokin came to Harvard, President Lowell made up his mind to form a Department of Sociology. An obvious prerequisite, however, was a sociologist; and not until 1931, when Sorokin appeared to deliver a few guest lectures, did Lowell find one worthy of the first chairmanship...
During the 20 years that followed his appointment, Sorokin has spent much of his time at the University doing research in the science of Love, work to counteract "man's predatory instincts." With the forming of the new Research Center in Altruism, he has been relieved of much of his teaching and administrative responsibility, and now spends a $20,000 a year grant trying to systematize culture...
...Sorokin's first intimate contact with the motivations behind men's action came in 1904, when he was swept up in the revolutionary spirit sweeping Russia. At the age of 15, he became a member of the Social Revolutionary Party--"morally one of the purest actions imaginable." It was an almost inevitable step for his peasant background combined with an extensive (if largely self-administered) education to give him an acute sense of the misery of the people. He was, in his own words, "a mongrel of mongrels," and often remonstrated to Lenin and Trosky...
Sociology is about second best, with Parsons and Sorokin leading this part of the department. Sorokin, of course, goes his own merry way, which is a different way from all the other sociologists, but he is certainly a stimulating teacher. Parsons, on the other hand, gives a solid and very valuable, though uninspired analysis of sociological phenomena...
...other four professors questioned did not differ nearly so much as Sorokin with current policy. They indicated that most faculty members would endorse the broad outlines of America's present foreign program. But immediate concern was expressed by Charles R. Cherington '35, associate professor of Government, who said that the coming year will be the most vulnerable time for the United States...