Ó American Sociological Association 2016 DOI: 10.1177/0094306116653958 http://cs.sagepub.com FEATURED ESSAY Sociology as a Vocation 1 MICHAEL BURAWOY University of California-Berkeley [email protected] What does it mean to live for sociology, two spheres that must be kept apart. Weber today? In attempting to answer this question failed to grasp sociology’s place between I return to Max Weber’s famous lectures science and politics for two reasons: first, delivered toward the end of his life—one sociology as a discipline was still embryonic on science as a vocation and the other on pol- and pre-professional. It needed to be safe- itics as a vocation. He presented ‘‘Science as guarded from politics. Second, he had not a Vocation’’ in November 1917 toward the developed a coherent view of civil society end of World War I and the more pessimistic populated by institutions that could ground ‘‘Politics as a Vocation’’ in January 1919 a standpoint between science and politics.3 after Germany’s defeat.2 The essays them- Yet, and here is the paradox, his concep- selves exemplify Weber’s methodology— tion of sociology as an interpretive under- interpreting social action within the external standing of value-oriented social action calls conditions that shape it. Weber not only for its own value standpoint since sociology explicates the meaning of ‘‘vocation’’— cannot be its own exception. As a form of what it means to ‘‘live for’’ as well to ‘‘live social action it too must be impelled by value off’’ science and politics—but situates their commitments. Weber fully understood this. pursuit within historical and national Indeed, he was so insistent on the ethos of contexts. He explores the possibilities of an science precisely because he feared that soci- ‘‘inner devotion’’ to science or politics in ology might be overrun by arbitrary value Germany as compared to the United States commitments, commitments that are never- and Britain. Yet neither here nor elsewhere theless essential to its pursuit. The tension does Weber turn his sociology of vocation between science and politics was, therefore, back on to sociology itself. He does not complicated by a second tension, that advance from sociology of vocation to sociology between fact and value, or more broadly as a vocation, which is the endeavor of this between instrumental rationality and its essay, an endeavor that draws on but leads underpinnings in value rationality. But with- us beyond Weber. out a conception of civil society, he had no Consonant with Weber’s own life, I shall way of collectively mooring those values, argue that sociology sits uncomfortably and so they are instead reduced to an indi- between science and politics. Twisting vidual existential choice. The completion of between science and politics—since he could Weber’s program and the sustainability of not marry the two—he presented them as sociology depend on its connection to civil society. 1 This essay went through the wringer of my dissertation group: Herbert Docena, Fidan El- cioglu, Zach Levenson, Josh Seim, and Ben 3 One should note, however, that in 1909 Weber Shestakovsky. Thanks to them as well as Dylan submitted a proposal for sociological research Riley, Peter Evans, Black Hawk Hancock, Ca- into three areas: the press, voluntary associa- therine Bolzendahl, and Erik Wright for push- tions, and the relations between technology ing me in new directions. and culture, which suggests he did have an 2 For the dating of the lectures and their biogra- interest in both the public sphere and civil phical and historical situation, see Schluchter society, even if he didn’t use such terms (1968: Chapters 1 and 2). (MW:420). 379 Contemporary Sociology 45, 4 Downloaded from csx.sagepub.com at UNIV CALIFORNIA BERKELEY LIB on July 29, 2016 380 Featured Essay Irreducible to economy and polity, civil have to reassert our roots in civil society. society is the institutional birthplace and This is a moment defined by Bourdieu, support for diverse values. It is the stand- Polanyi, and Du Bois—the first defending point from which sociology evaluates the the autonomy of the academy and sociology world, just as the market is the standpoint in particular, the second providing the tools of economics and the state the standpoint to analyze the epic battle between society of political science. Sociology arises with civ- and the market, while the third helps us il society and dissolves when civil society place sociology in its global context. recedes. But civil society is not some harmo- Weber’s admonition to insulate science nious antidote to the colonizing powers of from politics reflects sociology’s period of state and market. It is itself the site of divi- inception and has to be reconsidered in sub- sions, exclusions, and dominations, reaction- sequent periods and in other places. To reify ary as well as progressive movements, all of insulation as though it has universal and which is reflected in the plurality of sociolo- unchanging validity—a sort of sociological gies. Civil society grounds two types of val- ‘‘originalism’’—is to contravene Weber’s ue commitments: anti-utopian sociology root- sociological method that instructs us to delin- ed in a critique of the over-extension of state eate the particular context within which his (totalitarianism) and market (neoliberalism) prescriptions hold, and imaginatively recon- and a utopian sociology that projects a vision struct them for the present. It is necessary to of a collectively organized society. The histo- examine how the relation between politics ry of sociology can be seen as a fluctuating and science shifts and with it, sociology. debate between its utopian and anti-utopian Thus, I will argue with Weber against tendencies, classically represented by Marx Weber. That is to say, the meaning of sociol- and Weber. ogy as a vocation actually changes with the Weber’s view of sociology reflects the context of its pursuit: in the period of incep- specific circumstances of the academic field tion it meant the defense of its autonomy; in and civil society of his time. A very different the second, self-confident period, it assumed perspective emerges with the opening up of an almost religious character; while in the the university and the consolidation of a present period, when sociology finds itself conformity-producing civil society, some- under assault, it calls for engagement. Before times called mass society. We may say that proceeding to these periods, however, sociology’s point of arrival—its golden we must first define ‘‘vocation’’ and then years—came after World War II, particularly ‘‘sociology’’—what it is that continues in in the United States. As a new and optimistic and through variation. science it flowered with the expansion of higher education. This was sociology’s mes- sianic moment captured, on the one side, by The Meaning of Vocation the utopian structural functionalism and In Weber’s view being in the modern world modernization theory that regarded the requires us to face two inexorable condi- United States as the promised land and, on tions: the advance of the division of labor the other side, by its anti-utopian critics and a plurality of incommensurable values. who condemned U.S. imperialism, class Durkheim’s response was to reconcile these domination, racism, and patriarchy. conditions by showing how the perfection of Today we live in a different epoch when the division of labor calls forth and in turn the university and civil society are in retreat, is driven by a specific collective conscious- assailed by neoliberal rationality (Brown ness. Marx, on the other hand, demands 2015). Sociology finds itself embattled in the abolition of the division of labor as inim- ways reminiscent of the world of Max ical to human freedom. Weber. It is swimming against the tide of Weber accepts neither solution: the divi- marketization that is flooding the university. sion of labor is debilitating, but it is here to Retreating into a professional cocoon or ser- stay. The best we can do is imbue specialized vicing the new economy would falsify our occupations with some immanent meaning traditions of anti-utilitarianism and threaten through passionate commitment. In other our utopian imagination. To survive we words, we turn it into a vocation, pursuing Contemporary Sociology 45, 4 Downloaded from csx.sagepub.com at UNIV CALIFORNIA BERKELEY LIB on July 29, 2016 Featured Essay 381 it as an end in itself. The prototype is the The same is true of the politician who is Calvinist entrepreneur devoted to the driven by devotion to a cause, knowing ‘‘irrational’’ pursuit of profit for profit’s that ‘‘the final result of political action often, sake. Unlike Lutherans who find it sufficient no, even regularly, stands in completely to passively accept their calling, the Calvin- inadequate and often even paradoxical rela- ist is consumed by the anxiety of not know- tion to its original meaning’’ (PV:117). So ing whether he or she is saved or damned. ‘‘passionate devotion’’ to a cause must be Fate is predetermined but unknown, leading balanced by a ‘‘feeling of responsibility’’ to a desperate search for signs of salvation in and ‘‘sense of proportion.’’ Like scientists the striving for profit and ever-increasing politicians have to comprehend the struc- profit, which is the source of the spirit of cap- tures within which they act—the legislature, italism. The elusiveness of success does not bureaucracy, and party organization. Com- lead to resignation but to the redoubling of paring the institutional configurations in efforts. Hence the meaning of vocation— the United States, Germany, and Britain, commitment without guarantees. Weber recognizes the limits of each: leader- Equally, for the scientist, ‘‘passionate ship democracy with a machine (U.S.) or devotion’’ to the rigors of scholarly pursuit leaderless democracy ruled by professional is a necessary but not sufficient condition politicians without a calling (Germany).