نوع مقاله : علمی-پژوهشی
نویسندگان
1 دانشجوی دکتری رشته جامعه شناسی اقتصادی و توسعه دانشگاه فردوسی مشهد. ایران
2 دانشیار گروه علوم اجتماعی دانشگاه فردوسی مشهد. ایران
3 استادیار گروه علوم اجتماعی دانشگاه فردوسی مشهد. ایران
4 استادیارگروه علوم اجتماعی دانشگاه فردوسی مشهد. ایران
5 دانشیار گروه علوم قرآن و حدیث دانشگاه فردوسی مشهد. ایران
چکیده
کلیدواژه‌ها
موضوعات
عنوان مقاله [English]
نویسندگان [English]
Thinking about an ideal society shows an intellectual need to reform societies and move towards a better situation. The trajectory of intellectual developments in societies regarding the formation and introduction of desirable societies and the emergence of sociology in the last two centuries has shown a meaningful relationship between societies and the growth and evolution of these ideas until the present time. Early sociologists during the 19th and early 20th centuries, influenced by the political and social spaces and the roots of utopian thinking in the previous periods, defined their desired society in a different way. With the aim of identifying the important elements of the ideal society in their works and thoughts, this article analyzes the relationship between utopianism and sociology at the beginning of its formation. The evidence and results show that there is a strong commonality between the concerns of sociologists and utopianism at the end of the 19th century, so it can be concluded that the early thoughts of sociology had a hidden utopian element.
Keywords:
utopia, ideal society, sociological thinking, founders of sociology, analytical review.
Extended abstract
1.Introduction:
The intellectual developments of societies regarding the introduction of ideal societies and the emergence of sociology have shown a kind of long-term relationship between societies and the evolution of ideas around them until now. Describing sociology as an evolutionary stage of utopian thinking often contains implicit and sometimes explicit ideas of a "good society". Despite the differences between classical sociologists such as Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Simmel, they all have one thing in common: they place the utopian dimension at the heart of social theory. In this article, we attempt to identify the views of early sociologists on the topic of the ideal society and to identify their opinions from theoretical aspects related to the dimensions of the ideal society.
Methodology:
The method of this study is an analytical review in which, while examining and systematically comparing the views of classical sociologists on the subject of the ideal society, their important opinions are discussed.
Findings:
The goal of the San Simon community is the free development of human talents. The main components of the government considered by him are as follows: industrial society model, compliance with moral principles, cooperation and cooperation, wealth-producing class, private property, liberalism, abolition of inheritance rights, and equality.
After him, Comte considered the scientific age as his ideal society and considered scientists and sociologists to be the leaders of this society.
In his various works, Marx focused on the realization of the ideal communist society through the explicit invitation of the working class to rise against capitalism. The idea of the complete abolition of private property and the elimination of class contradictions has appeared many times in his works. According to him, the most important feature of human life in a class society is alienation, and communism is prone to creating an ideal society because it fully recognizes human freedom.
For Spencer, the ideal society is a society in perfect balance, which can only be achieved by removing all restrictions and stopping government interference in human societies. In fact, Spencer hoped for a completely free utopia in the future.
Durkheim’s book The Divider also contains a picture of a good society. He does this by juxtaposing the morbid reality of society with the utopian possibility that emerges as normal. As a result, the natural and abnormal idea that he brings to the book has a utopian nature. Durkheim’s other concept in the context of an ideal society is the issue of organic solidarity at the global level. Durkheim notes that people have long dreamed of realizing the ideal of human brotherhood, and these dreams can only be fulfilled if all human beings can form a society subject to the same laws.
According to Max Weber, to understand the problems of the modern world, one must know its most important feature, which is the development of rationalization processes. The consequences of extreme rationalization in modern societies can be examined from several perspectives, including disenchantment with the world, relativism and the pluralization of the biological world, the formation of an iron cage, and the meaninglessness of life. In his opinion, rationality, despite the benefits it has had, has created damages in the life of the new human being due to its distance from its origin, which hinders the realization of a desirable society.
Most of George Simmel’s idealistic thought can be found in the book "Philosophy of Money". The proposal to abolish money and, along with it, private property in socialist thinking is described as the biggest break from the utopian imagination. Simmel’s critical view of the role of money in society is the type of concern he saw in overcoming social relations. By going beyond a tool that facilitates economic exchanges, money has become the goal of social relations, and its achievement has threatened all the main and spiritual elements of social life.
Discussion
The thoughts of the great sociologists mostly include an explicit or implicit idea of the ideal society in accordance with the conditions and issues that modern society has been involved in during its formation. What is obtained from reviewing the works of these thinkers is a strong commonality between the concerns of sociology and utopianism during the 19th century, which has manifested in the works of each of them in a special way. Despite some differences, classical sociologists such as Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Simmel have one thing in common: they place the utopian dimension at the heart of social theory. In fact, both sociology and utopian thinking form part of the social imagination about a better society. From this perspective, sociology and utopia are similarly involved in revealing the processes and relations hidden in the social imagination, while they themselves form a part of it. With the emergence of sociology, the conflict between utopian ideas, which contain ideas of artificial reconstruction of society, and science, which includes descriptions and real propositions, intensified in such a way that, on the one hand, the sociological content of utopian texts was generally ignored, and on the other hand, the utopian content of sociology, while recognition as a respectable science was sought, denied, and suppressed.
کلیدواژه‌ها [English]
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