Sorokin,PitirimA.(1889–1968)

Abstract

A world‐class scholar of exceptional erudition, Pitirim A. Sorokin contributed much to the development of both academic and public sociology in Russia and in the United States. As a young man, Sorokin was deeply involved in politics, but he became disillusioned and devoted himself to scholarship, though always with an eye toward social issues. He held professorships at the University of Saint Petersburg, the University of Minnesota, and Harvard University. In 1937, Sorokin published his major work, Social and Cultural Dynamics , which introduced his mature approach, called integralism. Sorokin subsequently pioneered the sociological study and teaching of altruism. He also founded the Harvard Center for Research in Creative Altruism, helped organize the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, and served as president of the American Sociological Association. Since the late 1980s there has been an international resurgence of interest in Sorokin, most recently highlighted by the 2014 decision of the Komi Autonomous Republic to rename a university in his honor.