The Sociology of Knowledge

Abstract

The concept “sociology of knowledge” emerged from European sociologyand especially from Marxist thought which posited that the socialcharacteristics of a category of thinkers determine their intellectual productsas much or more than the intrinsic merit of their ideas themselves.’ whileMarxists, as materialists, naturally emphasized the effects of the social classof their bourgeois and feudal opponents on the latter‘s thinking in order to discounttheir arguments, the notion of social determinism can be equally wellapplied to other categories of thinkers such as national, ethnic, or religious inanalyzing their impact on an academic discipline, provided that one is carefulnot to assume a simplistic, one-to-one correlation between a thinker‘s socialbackground or religion and his ideas.It is my purpose in this paper to explore the causes, degree, and possibleconsequences of the disproportionate role of people of Jewish origin, if notfaith, in the development of the social sciences, particularly in the periodsince World War II in North America, compared to the as yet meager impactof Muslims in those fields. The powerful impact of Jewish scholars is not juston 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 bythemselves designated as “Jewish” vary, like Muslims and Christians, fromthe most orthodox to the most secualr, so one must avoid stereotyping and ...