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Contents from the Secretary We should have a debate and fortunately find a so- Contents lution for two other agenda items: Banks charge now tremendous fees and we should seek alterna- From the Secretary................................................. 1 tives to the present practice, either by starting our Letter from the President, No. 10....................... 2 own credit card collections or something which New Secretary..........................................................2 works similar. Timetable and Program for Brisbane ..................3 Another point for discussion will be the advisabil- RC Dinner at Brisbane...........................................6 ity to change from printed editions of our newslet- Mail Ballot Results ..................................................7 ter to an electronically distributed form, either Conference Announcement ..................................7 completely or at least partly, for those members Internet Resources with an e-mail account. This would reduce the for Historians of Sociology ...................................7 costs enormously and we could think about a bet- Recent Publications ..............................................15 ter allocation of our funds. I will report about the Statistics about the Membership.........................16 financial situation of the committee during the bu- siness meeting. Another suggestion goes into the direction of es- tablishing our own mailing list, or starting some From the Secretary kind of electronic forum to distribute news and This is the last newsletter produced in Graz by the debate topics. Similar endeavors by other groups outgoing secretary. It contains again primarily an look very promising (e.g. the Cheiron mailing list is updated version of the program for the World one of the most active ones) and we should think Congress in Brisbane next month. about starting something similar. The election for all the positions to be filled in our Finally I have to report that the Leo Chall Fellow- committee is over and I am happy to announce the ship has been terminated by the Board of Socio- result: Our next president will be Jennifer Platt, as- logical Abstracts, at least I didn’t hear from them sisted by Charles Crothers, as the new secretary, after they announced an evaluation of their activi- and an executive committee consisting of ten more ties. I am really sorry about this, since during the members. Congratulations to all the newly-elected. last years our selection committee did a very good (See the details of the mail ballot on page 7). job in selecting the most promising Ph.D. candi- The new executive will serve during the period of dates for this fellowship. July 2002 to June 2006 and will take over the busi- Finally, it’s our good tradition to arrange a dinner ness during the forthcoming World Congress. for all members interested to participate. You will There are some final suggestions to be made by the find the details on page 6. Please register by send- outgoing secretary, mostly just reminders for the ing me an email before July 1. business meeting to be held on Thursday July 11, After a very long period of hard working I am at 1:30 p.m. in Brisbane: happy to report that we finally were able to pro- We will have to discuss the place where the next duce the list of Web-addresses about papers and interim conference will be held sometimes in the other holdings by and about major sociologists. first half of 2004 and it will be time too to submit Many thanks to Reinhard Müller who did a tre- topics for sessions, and other activities at this still mendous job in searching for holdings. See more unknown place. on page 7. RCHS – Newsletter, June 2002 1 Letter from the President, No. 10: A look back and a glimpse forward: the RCHS shall live! by Dirk Kaesler (1) What has become of the 19th century pro- When the membership of the RCHS elected me as gramme of the sciences morales in relation to the your President in 1998 it was with quite some pride development of academic sociology since the turn that I gladly followed Igor Kon, Steven Lukes, of the 20th century? Tom Bottomore, Kurt H. Wolff and Lewis A. (2) Why has academic sociology distanced itself Coser in this office. After these four years this shall from its cause to contribute to a "moral improve- be my last Letter to you in this office. With Jenni- ment" of society? fer Platt as our new President and Charles Crothers (3) Should academic sociology reclaim the profile as Secretary the RCHS shall be in very good hands of a modern "moral science"? for the coming years. As a member of this RC (4) What could be the agenda for sociological intel- since the year 1978, as Secretary (1983-1992), Vice- lectuals in the 21st century? President (1992-1998) and President you may un- (5) Why is the sociological occupation with the his- derstand that I regard the RCHS as a group of tory of sociology essential for the preservation of scholars that is dear to my heart. And therefore it is the intellectual heritage of sociology?” a good feeling to know that it shall prosper and By thanking the members of the RCHS for their flourish. efforts and support to deal with questions like this This is not the place for a lengthy look backwards. and to provide answers to these and other ques- The results of these last four years are easily listed: tions I wish you all the very best in your personal Our sessions during the World Congress in Mon- and academic endeavours. With my very special tréal (1998), during our Interim Conference in To- thanks to Christian Fleck for his enduring efforts run (2000) and now during the forthcoming World and his successful engagement as our Secretary to Congress in Brisbane have and shall produce whom we owe much thanks and appreciation I printed results in which the success of the RCHS is wish our successors as much joy in these offices documented: The beautiful volume that came out and much support and encouragement by the of the Torun proceedings (Mirrors and Windows. Es- members of the RCHS. See you all in Brisbane… says in the History of Sociology. Edited by Janusz Mucha, Dirk Kaesler, Wlodzimierz Winclawski. To communicate with me by E-mail: Torun: Nicholas Copernicus University Press [email protected] 2001), the beautiful volume by Luigi Tomasi (New Horizons in Sociological Theory and Research. The frontiers of sociology at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Ed- ited by Luigi Tomasi. Aldershot / Burlington / Singapore / Sydney: Ashgate 2001), and the special In-coming Secretary’s issue of International Sociology on national associa- tions of sociology (IS, vol. 17, June 2002), together Address with the whole load of individual publications by the membership of the RCHS, proof that this RC Send all communication, starting with July 4, 2002, has been very productive indeed. to our new secretary: By saying good-bye to you in this office allow me to do this with the same words I used when I wel- Professor Charles Crothers comed you as President four years ago. Not much School of Education and Social Sciences has changed in my personal understanding of why Auckland University of Technology we as sociologists deal with the history of sociol- PO Box 92006, Auckland 1020 ogy, and why we should continue to do so. New Zealand “Sociology, some hundred and fifty years ago, set E-mail: [email protected] out to help human beings to observe, understand, ℡: 27-31-2602442 foresee, and solve problems of their societies. Fax: 27-31-2602347. Does sociology still serve these aims? And what does dealing with the history of sociology, of all themes, have anything to do with such aims? In order to sketch some of my answers to these question it might be helpful to distinguish these five questions: 2 RCHS – Newsletter, June 2002 XVth ISA World Congress of Sociology, 2002 Timetable 2002 13:30 – 15:15 15:30 – 17:15 17:30 – 19:00 20:00 – 21:45 Monday The History of Soci- History of Main- History of Main- 8 July ology in Australia and stream Sociology in stream Sociology in New Zealand Non-Western Socie- Non-Western Socie- ties I ties II Tuesday The history of empiri- The history of empiri- The history of empiri- RC Dinner cal social research and cal social research and cal social research and 9 July statistics I statistics II statistics III (optional) The utility vs the in- The utility vs the in- The utility vs the in- terpretation of the terpretation of the terpretation of the classics I classics II classics III (optional) Wednesday Public Understanding Next Generation 10 July of Sociology Thursday Business Meeting General Session I 11 July Friday General Session II General Session III General Session III 12 July (optional) The History of Sociology in Australia Western Societies I CHAIR: PETER BEILHARZ (La Trobe University, CHAIR: IRMELA GORGES (University of applied Victoria) and MICHAEL CROZIER (University of sciences, Berlin, Germany) Melbourne, Australia) E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] NILGUN CELEBI (Ankara University, Turkey) ‘Imported Goods’ into Turkish Sociology PETER BEILHARZ (La Trobe) E-mail: [email protected] Introduction: Finding Sociology in the Antipodes JEREMY SMITH (School of Sciences, University Bal- MICHAEL CROZIER (Melbourne University) larat, Australia) and TERUHITO SAKO (Japan Soci- The History of Social Sciences in Australia ety for the Promotion of Sceicne, Tokyo) Comparative Analysis of the Uses of the Word CHARLES CROTHERS (Auckland University, New “Shakai”
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