Sociology and moral education: The conditions of impartiality

Abstract

This chapter argues that a sociology which ignores the problem of the sociologist’s values, under the guise of value-freedom, and which fails to treat seriously the values which govern human purposes, is likely to fall prey to social determinism. Sociology satisfies the primary conditions of moral education only when it recognizes honestly the value-premises upon which it is based and when it makes scrupulous use of the scholarly procedures that are essential if that value-commitment is not to degenerate into mere ideology. Karl Mannheim’s sociology of knowledge indicates some of the premises upon which a theory of moral education might be built. In general, however, given reasonable encouragement, a student will often overcome his initial reluctance to enter an opinion before his tutor and before his colleagues. Teachers in institutions of higher education far too easily assume, despite evidence to the contrary, that the student already knows how to read and write and argue.