The College of Sociology (French: ''Collège de Sociologie'') was a loosely-knit group of French

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...

s, named after the informal discussion series that they held in Paris between 1937 and 1939, when it was disrupted by the war. Its main objective was to find out signs of the sacred in everyday social life.

History

Founding members include some of France's most well-known intellectuals of the interwar period, including Georges Bataille, Roger Caillois,

Pierre Klossowski Pierre Klossowski (; ; 9 August 1905 – 12 August 2001) was a French writer, translator and artist. He was the eldest son of the artists Erich Klossowski and Baladine Klossowska, and his younger brother was the painter Balthus. Life Born in Par ...

, Jules Monnerot, Pierre Libra and Georges Ambrosino. Participants also included Hans Mayer, Jean Paulhan,

Jean Wahl Jean André Wahl (; 25 May 188819 June 1974) was a French philosopher. Early career Wahl was educated at the École Normale Supérieure. He was a professor at the Sorbonne from 1936 to 1967, broken by World War II. He was in the U.S. from 1942 ...

, Michel Leiris,

Alexandre Kojève Alexandre Kojève ( , ; 28 April 1902 – 4 June 1968) was a Russian-born French philosopher and statesman whose philosophical seminars had an immense influence on 20th-century French philosophy, particularly via his integration of Hegelian con ...

and

André Masson André-Aimé-René Masson (4 January 1896 – 28 October 1987) was a French artist. Biography Masson was born in Balagny-sur-Thérain, Oise, but when he was eight his father's work took the family first briefly to Lille and then to Brussel ...

Walter Benjamin Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin (; ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German Jewish philosopher, cultural critic and essayist. An eclectic thinker, combining elements of German idealism, Romanticism, Western Marxism, and Jewish ...

was invited to give lectures, but these never materialized.Esther Leslie, Walter Benjamin (London, UK; Reaktion Books, 2007). The members of the College were united in their dissatisfaction with surrealism. They believed that surrealism's focus on the unconscious privileged the individual over society, and obscured the social dimension of human experience. In contrast to this, the members of the College focused on "Sacred Sociology, implying the study of all manifestations of social existence where the active presence of the sacred is clear." The group drew on work in

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

and

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

which focused on the way that human communities engaged in collective rituals or acts of distribution such as potlatch. It was here, in moments of intense communal experience, rather than the individualistic dreams and reveries of surrealism, that the College of Sociology sought the essence of humanity. The group met for two years and lectured on many topics, including the structure of the

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, the Marquis de Sade, English monarchy,

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

, sexuality,

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

, and Hegel. This focus, and in particular their interest in indigenous cultures, was part of a wider trend towards primitivism of the time.

References

Sources

* (A collection of texts from Caillois, Leiris, Bataille, and others which were presented at the ''Collège'', with a well documented introduction.) * (About the ''Collège'', its members (Bataille, Leiris, and Walter Benjamin), sociological impact (Marcel Mauss, Robert Hertz, Emile Durkheim) and its influence on other philosophers (Derrida, Foucault, Baudrillard, etc.) * {{DEFAULTSORT:College Of Sociology Cultural organizations based in France Organizations established in 1937 Organizations disestablished in 1939 Surrealism History of sociology French scholars Learned societies of France