The Sociology of Knowledge

The last two decades have witnessed, especially in Germany and France, the rise of a new discipline, the sociology of knowledge (Wissenssoziologie), with a rapidly increasing number of students and a growing literature (even a "selected bibliography" would include several hundred. titles). Since most of the investigations in this field have been concerned with the socio-cultural factors i nfluencing the development of beliefs and opinion rather than of positive knowledge, the termn "Wissen" must be interpreted very broadly indeed, as referring to social ideas and thought generally, and not to the physical scien.ces, except where expressly indicated. Briefly stated, the sociology of knowledge is primarily concer.ned with the "dependence of knowledge upon social position" (i) and, to an. excessive and fruitless degree, with the episternological implications of such dependence. In fact, as we shall see, there is a growing tendency to repudiate this latter problem as it becomes increasingly apparent that the social genesis of thought has no necessary bearing on its validity or falsity. 'T'he Seinsverbundenheit of thought is held to be demonstrated when it can be shown that in certain realms knowledge does not develop according to immanent laws of growth (based on obser--