Skip to main content
Log in

Marxist sociology and humanist sociology: Diversity, intersections, and convergence

  • research Articles
  • Published:
The American Sociologist Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Marxist sociology is at the intersection of Marxism and sociology; while humanist sociology is at the intersection of humanist thought and sociology. Both see sociological theory as a living, evolving activity, and both take a critical stance toward the workings of capitalism. The main difference between them is that Marxist sociology is a body of thought tied to a movement, whereas humanist sociology is a movement tied to a body of thought.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson, Perry. 1976. Considerations on Western Marxism. New York: Prometheus Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buroway, Michael. 1990. “Marxism as Science: Historical Challenges and Theoretical Growth.” American Sociological Review 55 (6): 775–793.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Domhoff, G. William. 1967. Who Rules America? Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1978. The Powers That Be: Processes of Ruling Class Domination in America. New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuller, Abigail A. 1996. Producing Radical Scholarship: The Radical Sociology Movement, 1967-1975. Sociological Imagination, 33 (1), 1996. Accessible on the Internet at http://comm-org.vtoledo.edu/si/ Fuller.htm

  • Gil, David. 1981. Presidential address at AHS convention, Cincinnati, OH.

  • Goertzel, Ted. 1998. Albert Szymanski: A Personal and Political Memoir. Unpublished essay available at (http://crab.rutgers.edu/~goertzel/szymanski.htm). Anotation indicates that this is based on an earlier version that appeared as “Albert Szymanski: A Personal and Political Memoir” in Critical Sociology, 15 (Fall): 139–144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gouldner, Alvin. 1980. The Two Marxisms: Contradictions and Anomalies in the Development of Theory New York: Scribner.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoult, Thomas Ford. 1979. Sociology for a New Day. New York: Random House

    Google Scholar 

  • Knapp, Peter, and Alan Spector. 1991. Crisis and Change: Basic Questions of Marxist Sociology. Chicago: Nelson-Hall. Second edition to be published by Rowman and Littlefield, 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, Alfred McClung. 1978. Knowledge for Whom? New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marx, Carl. 1867, 1961. Capital, Volume I. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 301.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mills, C. Wright. 1959. The Sociological Imagination. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1960. The Power Elite. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skocpol, Theda. 1995. States, Social Knowledge, and the Origins of Modern Social Policies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alan Spector.

Additional information

Professor of Sociology, Purdue University Calumet. He is past chair of the Section on Marxist Sociology, has been a member of the AHS for twenty years, and is co-author of Crisis and Change: Basic Questions of Marxist Sociology.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Spector, A. Marxist sociology and humanist sociology: Diversity, intersections, and convergence. Am Soc 33, 111–126 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-002-1023-1

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-002-1023-1

Keywords

Navigation