The Sociology of Knowledge

Abstract

The concept “sociology of knowledge” emerged from European sociology and especially from Marxist thought which posited that the social characteristics of a category of thinkers determine their intellectual products as much or more than the intrinsic merit of their ideas themselves.’ while Marxists, as materialists, naturally emphasized the effects of the social class of their bourgeois and feudal opponents on the latter‘s thinking in order to discount their arguments, the notion of social determinism can be equally well applied to other categories of thinkers such as national, ethnic, or religious in analyzing their impact on an academic discipline, provided that one is careful not to assume a simplistic, one-to-one correlation between a thinker‘s social background or religion and his ideas. It is my purpose in this paper to explore the causes, degree, and possible consequences of the disproportionate role of people of Jewish origin, if not faith, in the development of the social sciences, particularly in the period since World War II in North America, compared to the as yet meager impact of Muslims in those fields. The powerful impact of Jewish scholars is not just on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, which is well-known if controversial, but, anterior to policy-making , they have largely shaped the paradigms, the conceptual apparatus, with which most Westerners, approach, perceive, and analyze society in general and the Muslim world in particular. A cautionary note first is in order. Scholars who are by others or by themselves designated as “Jewish” vary, like Muslims and Christians, from the most orthodox to the most secualr, so one must avoid stereotyping and ...