CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2023
| Author | Zivas, Vasileios |
|---|---|
| Title | Pitirim Sorokin's 'unborn IR offspring': sociocultural crisis, creative altruism, and the intellectual emigre context in the US |
| Summary | Amidst the disciplinary identity crisis of International Relations (IR), attempts to provide alternative accounts of the discipline’s history have made significant strides in overcoming traditionally instrumentalised parochial genealogies, such as the ‘Great Debates.’ Yet such attempts still obscure significant strands of thought pertinent to the field of IR in its nascent state. Drawing from Vineet Thakur and Karen Smith’s framework on the “multiple births of IR,” the “new sociology of ideas” as illustrated by Charles Camic and Neil Gross, and Patrick Baert’s positioning theory, this study aims to offer an expanded perspective into the history and sociology of IR. The project’s focus lies in presenting the concealed ‘birth’ of IR within Pitirim Sorokin’s international political thought, which will be examined in a comparative setting alongside the ideas of Hans J. Morgenthau. By providing a comprehensive account of the intellectual underpinnings and experiences that shaped the conceptions of Sorokin and Morgenthau, the study exposes the significance of the ‘émigré experience’ for the formulation of their theories and their perception of American social science. The thesis ultimately illustrates that institutional and socio-political factors have served as the catalyst drivers that have either set obstacles or have provided support for certain theories in assuming the role of ‘IR theory.’ |
| Supervisor | Etkind, Alexander |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2023/zivas_vasileios.pdf |
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