Paul Hollander

Paul Hollander (born 1932) is an American political sociologist, communist-studies scholar, and non-fiction author. He is known for his criticisms of communism and left-wing politics in general. Born in 1932 in Hungary, he fled to the West after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was bloodily put down by Soviet forces. Quotes Sociology, Selective Determinism, and the Rise of Expectations (1973) "Sociology, Selective Determinism, and the Rise of Expectations", The American Sociologist, vol. 8, no. 4 (1973), pp. 147–53 [T]he popular social determinism of our days is not consistent but selective. In general, it proposes (or implies) that only the behavior of underdogs is socially determined, that only people assigned to such groups are not in full control of their lives and behavior; only the lower strata are cast into certain roles by more powerful social forces, groups or agencies, or are equally helpless victims of expectations or labeling. p. 148; qtd in Michael S. Moore, Placing Blame: A Theory of Criminal Law (1997), p. 281 It is noteworthy that a deterministic tendency in the form of a strong sense of the social-cultural determination of personal lives is very often linked to a far from fatalistic attitude toward the social determination observed and decried. p. 149 The Survival of the Adversary Culture (1991) The Survival of the Adversary Culture (1991), Transaction Publishers In the final analysis alienation is, among other things a response to the frustration created by the lack of meaning in modern society. It has been pointed out often enough that politics takes on religious overtones when religion proper withers, at any rate among intellectuals. Along these lines Doris Lessing observed: "There are certain types of people who are political out of a kind of religious reason...I think it's fairly common among socialists: They are in fact God-seekers, looking for the kingdom of God on earth...trying to abolish the present in favor of some better future -- always taking it for granted that there is a better future. If you don't believe in heaven you believe in socialism." pp. 157–158 There is a close and obvious connection between the embrace of Marxist socialism and the social critical impulse. Marxism is a philosophy of intense moral indignation -- a worldview that helps to organize and systematize moral passion and which provides a seemingly scientific foundation for protesting social injustice. Marxism performs additional religious functions by pointing towards a better future which will arrive as a combined result of both the inexorable forces of history and the freely chosen effort of individuals who achieved the proper understanding of social forces. Leszek Kolakowski concluded his monumental study of Marxism as follows: pp. 157–158 The influence Marxism has achieved, far from being the result or proof of its scientific character, is almost entirely due to its prophetic, fantastic and irrational elements...Almost all the prophecies of Marx and his followers have already proved to be false, but this does not disturb the spiritual certainty of the faithful... for it is a certainty not based on any empirical premises or supposed 'historical laws', but simply on the psychological need for certainty. In this sense Marxism performs the function of religion... pp. 157–158 External links Category:1932 births Category:Living people Category:Sociologists from the United States Category:People from Budapest