Uncertainty and the accumulation of risks in modern societies are almost the main challenges to institutional systems (state, market economy, education system, church, army, business). The article analytically differentiates and considers three states of institutional reality, represented by the event-time pictures of the world. Normally, institutions are relatively autonomous, in the process of their reproduction ensuring the stability of social orders and generating new problems. In pathology, some institutions form a kind of coalition, in which they lose their traditional functions, concentrating on their own sustainable reproduction. In a state of emergency caused by exceptional events (war, pandemic), the state and the army monopolize the right to legitimate violence, and other institutions lose the potential for effective functioning. This happens due to the material and financial damage caused, as happened in Ukraine since 2014 and after the armed invasion of the armies of a neighboring state on February 24, 2022. The situation of emergency in its institutional aspects remains the least conceptually equipped, and therefore not so studied.
The attitude of German sociologists to the First World War, which today is unconditionally included in the classical tradition, was not unambiguous. All of them shared the convictions set forth in the open letter of 93 German scientists, philosophers, historians, art critics "Toward a Cultural World", which justified Germany’s participation in the war. But the modality of sociologists’ patriotism varied within fairly wide limits. The extreme nationalist position was occupied and expressed by W. Sombart. M. Weber considered it necessary to find rational and realistic conditions for a truce acceptable to all participants in the conflict. G. Simmel adhered to the most moderate opinions, in his lectures and articles promoting Eurocentrism from the point of view of the vital interests of Germany. R. Michels, who lived and worked in Italy before and during the war, did not hide his anti-German views and sentiments.
W. Sombart’s attitude to the First World War is characterized in the literature as extremely nationalistic. It made a radical revolution in his perception of the processes in world civilization. He saw in a new light the main conflict of the era — the conflict of national worldviews, and with it the purpose and meaning of the world historical mission of the German people. The war is a phenomenon that has a stressful impact on its participants, transforms feelings and mindsets, ordering the supreme authority of blood, soil, roots, and intellectuals are extremely sensitive to such orders. However, nationalism, even in minimal doses introduced into speech and writing, takes the spoken words and texts beyond the limits of scholarship, turning them into propaganda statements. So the 1915 book "Traders and Heroes. Reflections of a Patriot" belongs to the propaganda genre, which is an apology for the war. In it, the most famous economist and sociologist of his time justifies the war on the part of Germany by the fact that the development of economy, culture, communication, caused and promoted by market capitalism, turns into consequences that destroy the very foundations of human existence. Mainly — the growth of selfish individualism, the desire for comfort and the fullest possible realization of everyday needs and pleasures. According to the author, the war of German "heroes" against the "traders" personified by the British will turn the human race to recognize the paramount importance of high ideals of spiritual culture. This a priori introduced initial distinction is clarified by a set of dichotomous oppositions: "us — them", "high — low", "sacred — profane", "good — evil", "general — individual". Talking from a radically nationalist perspective turns the apologetics of culture into the apologetics of war. As a result, war is one of those rather rare events that are mythologized and mystified in the most radical way. In W. Sombart’s descriptions, the undeniable, as he is convinced, spiritual significance of war obscures and marginalizes the pain, suffering, loss and destruction that accompany it.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.