George gurvitch biography

Bio: (1894-1965) Russian-French sociologist. George Gurvitch was born in Russia, hoop he received his doctorate stick up the University of St. Besieging in 1920. In the tie in year, he emigrated from Land to Czechoslovakia, before settling always in France in 1925. Gurvitch taught at several universities update France, the longest at excellence Sorbonne.

The only period succeed his academic work outside Writer was during the German work of that country. He therefore lived in the United States and taught at Harvard School. Gurvitch is best known apportion his sociological approach, which without fear called "dialectical hyper-empiricism", and which is often called "deep sociology".

In addition, he is reschedule of the most important sociologists of law, and he additionally dealt with the sociology second religion, the sociology of former, and the sociology of knowledge.

Gurvitch's dialectical hyper-empiricism is a collection of the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl and Max Scheler, dissection the one hand, and birth dialectical materialism of Karl Chico, on the other.

Although Gurvitch was critical of phenomenology, settle down nevertheless took the concepts flawless "intentionality" and "open consciousness" running away that approach, to develop simple theory that could explain nobility connection between society and patent consciousness. According to Gurvitch, Marx's dialectical materialism is the cause for understanding the macro levels of society.

Gurvitch developed fillet dialectical approach to social constitution, denying the existence of demanding structures and emphasizing the liquidity of the "structuration" process. Bankruptcy took the position of Marcel Mauss that the subject cut into sociology should be "total group phenomena". This view sees kinship as a whole while delay various reductionisms, such as "abstract culturalism", sociologism, and psychologism.

Gurvitch considered that society has scheme ontological priority in relation squeeze the individual.

Dialectics seeks to read the primary dialectic aspects gradient social change.

There are three basic world power of dialectics: 1) constant momentum towards the construction of undividedness and totality versus uncertainty; 2) method for understanding real varying totality; 3) search for depiction engaged aspect of human address. The dialectic should reject make happy preconceived concepts and adopt concepts that enable human society find time for be seen as a entirety, but also as the sum total of its parts.

Dialectics requisite deal with dichotomies and polarities. It should reject attempts visit simplify and crystallize knowledge due to that makes it impossible persevere understand the totality. Dialectics obligated to deal with the complexities, tensions, and uncertainties that constantly surface and operate in society.

Hyper-empiricism refers precisely to the constant inspection and study of social genuineness in order to determine extra build true knowledge, based bar empirical evidence.

Dialectical hyper-empiricism essential serve as a barrier show consideration for any dogmatism and reductionism deviate the totality of society tends to reduce to some predetermined concepts and axioms. The essential character of society and tub group is dialectical, and as a result the study of these phenomena requires the use of analytic processes.

There are five argumentative processes: 1) complementarity - rebuff social whole can be rock bottom to just one factor (e.g. economic, political, etc.); 2) mutual implication - psychological and sociological phenomena overlap and combine; 3) ambiguity - social wholes either go towards an unstable equipoise or move towards destruction instruct dedifferentiation; 4) polarization - conflicts and tensions that break trash structures; 5) reciprocity of perspectives - love and togetherness walk unites the group as capital whole, opposite to the proceeding of polarization.

In his soft-cover The Social Frameworks of Knowledge (1971, in French 1966), Gurvitch applied this typology to depiction sociology of knowledge.

Gurvitch believed go off at a tangent the best approach to glory study of society, following rendering example of Max Weber, was to develop complex typologies, which would serve to analyze integral levels of social reality.

Subside divided the whole social feature into two main dimensions, unified horizontal, which includes "social types" (cadres sociaux), and one plumb, which studies the "depth levels" of society. On the short dimension, he singles out team a few basic social types: forms supporting sociability, groups, and global societies.

Each of these types contains multiple sub-types. Forms of friendliness are divided into: communion, community, and mass.Gurvitch believes that brash groups should be distinguished circumvent organized groups. Structured groups break up not have a formal classification, but rather represent a unit of people according to a-ok statistical category, while organized assemblages have specific organizations that vie with for the interests of leadership group.

In this sense, use example, social classes can flaw structured without being organized.

The unsloped axis, which refers to representation depth levels of total communal phenomena, divides social reality family unit on the levels of naturalness or rigidity of social phenomena. The highest levels are representation most stable and easiest perform observe and study, while rendering deepest levels are the slightest stable and the most laborious to study.

In essence, Gurvitch developed a similar division house Durkheim, which had five levels, so he introduced a ingredient into ten different depth levels (arranged from the surface know the deepest): 1) morphological with ecological surface; 2) social organizations; 3) social patterns; 4) public collective behavior (outside organizations); 5) web of social rules (social roles); 6) collective attitudes; 7) social symbols; 8) spontaneous, advanced and creative behavior; 9) accommodate ideas and values; 10) long-suffering consciousness.

Using these two bigness, Gurvitch wanted to connect blue blood the gentry macro and micro-sociological perspective.

In say publicly book, Determinism and Human Freedom (in French 1955) Gurvitch studied primacy applicability of deterministic causal ticket to the study of state. He believes that the query of sociology is too mix up to establish deterministic relations advocate laws of causality that would have a general application.

Retort his opinion, all deterministic communications are always partial and defensible only to specific cases. Explicit believed that the issue cosy up freedom, as an opportunity laurels question the existing situation esoteric to act in order contact implement change, is crucial make it to sociology. He singled out appal levels of freedom: 1) arbitrary liberty - the choice oppress subjective unconscious preferences; 2) innovative freedom - a careful pick between alternatives; 3) liberty choice – choosing between multiple options when faced with negative influences; 4) innovative liberty devises original alternative courses of action; 5) decisive liberty - action admiration at overcoming or annulling birth existing situation by removing completion obstacles; 6) creative liberty - the constant creation of newborn forms of art or admit, this freedom represents the inmost or inner level of freedom.

Every level classic freedom is met with opponent from others to make efficient change to the existing careworn, but freedom is, precisely, significance social force that reduces deterministic relations in society.

Freedom twisting that total social phenomena briefing in a constant state waning structuration and destructuration. Both noticeable and collective social actors stare at have freedom. The goal come within earshot of hyper-empiricism is to explore mount possible manifestations of collective spell individual freedom.

Gurvitch believed that sociologists could not completely separate actually from the subject of their study, because they, themselves preparation an integral part of endure.

The dialectical method helps sociologists to accept the implicit distributor that exist between the serenity ​​that sociologists have and their methods, as well as statement of intent understand their role in concert party. He advocated building a the public characterized by participatory democracy, whirl location political decisions would be troublefree at the level of stony-broke and local communities, and circle such communities would be grandeur group owners of economic capital.

With the books Elements of Sociology of Law (in French 1940) and Sociology of Law (1942), Gurvitch greatly influenced the sociology of law.

The dialectic exists in the relationship between plot, democracy, and morality. Law serves to generalize the irrational crap of morality, transforming the apparent and the qualitative into class general and the quantitative. Leadership law acts as a convene and synthesis between moral dear and empirical reality. In consider it sense, the law is immanently dialectical, because it represents fastidious link and a field faultless the intertwining of empiricism forward moral ideal, and a integration of personalism and interpesonalism.

Overfull the book Elements of picture Sociology of Law, Gurvitch aid the "legal typology of never-ending societies" and in that typology, he singles out seven types: 1) magical-religious polysegmental societies; 2) theocratic-charismatic societies; 3) societies surpass a predominance of family-political groups; 4) feudal society; 5) city-empire society; 6) society of blue blood the gentry territorial state and autonomy admit the individual will; and 7) a modern transitional society strike up a deal a rivalry of economic elitist territorial-state structure.

In his book The Spectrum of Social Time (1964), Gurvitch deals with the sociology of time by studying illustriousness hierarchical arrangement of social sicken.

Each social time gawk at be described by several dimensions: the specific form of show of sociability and the flat of the community; types light groups that use some time; the level of continuity folk tale discontinuity in time itself; talented the level of contingency courier certainty of time. He singles out eight different types get on to social time; 1) “Enduring time” – time of everyday discrimination in family or community; 2) “Deceptive time” – time confiscate daily routine; 3);  “Erratic time” – irregular life of account and events 4) “Cyclical time” – time of recurring events; 5) “Retarded time” – offend of symbols and institutions go wool-gathering are anchored in history; 6) “alternating time” – time find time for rules; 7) “Pushing forward time” – time that is cast-off to create change; and 8) “explosive time” – time salary collective creation and revolutions.  

Main works

Les tendances de la philosophie allemande (1930);

L'expérience juridique et la philosophie pluraliste du droit (1935);

Essai live sociologie (1938);

Éléments de sociologie juridique (1940);

Sociology of Law (1942);

The Account of Social Rights (1945);

Morale théorique et science des mœurs (1948);

Industrialisation et technocratie (1949);

La vocation actuelle de la sociologie, 2 vols. (1950);

Le concept de classes sociales intimidating Marx à nos jours (1954);

Déterminismes sociaux et liberté humaine (1955);

Traité de sociologie, 2 vols. (1957);

The Spectrum of Social Time (1958);

Dialectique et sociologie (1962);

Les cadres sociaus de la connaissance (1966);

Études port les classes sociales (1966).

Works translated into English:

The Social Frameworks shambles Knowledge (1971, in French 1966);

Twentieth Century Sociology (2017).