Contrasting Georg Simmel’s And W.E.B. Du Bois’ Sociological Thinking Through The Case of Zionism

• In Event: 2129 - Section on Comparative-Historical Sociology Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 1. Collective Memory, Politics, and Representation

Abstract

Recent years saw a renewed interest and relevance of Simmel’s and Du Bois’ sociological work, but the two are hardly ever examined side by side. This paper develops a comparison between the two thinkers in regard to two texts they wrote on Zionism. The first was written by Simmel following the first Zionist congress (1987). In this text – yet to be published in English – Simmel expressed deep doubts regarding the viability and faith of the Zionist movement and makes rare explicit references to his views on a political issues, including Zionism, the Jewish question, and Jewish communities in Europe at the end of the 19th century. The second text was written by W.E.B. Du Bois about fifty years later as a newspaper article. In this text Du Bois expressed strong support for the recognition of a Jewish state in Israel and a seemingly orientalist attitude toward the Palestinian population. Such a comparative sociological account on a highly politicized issue like Zionism allows this paper a discussion of larger debates in the field of sociology, with a particular attention to the place of the political in sociological research and to the political attitude of the researcher. Connecting to the divisive discourse regarding Zionism today, I conclude that the complexity of political issues can benefit from taking into account, or bringing into a productive dialogue, the interpretative, formal, micro/interactional, and mostly apolitical Simmelian sociology with the empirical, scientific, historical, and comparative Du Boisian sociology, which is always charged with an agenda and orientation toward political action.
The paper opens with a short introduction, then presents the two texts in full, and then proceeds to develop a comparative analysis that places each text within the sociological approach and epistemological foundations of its author.

Author

• Ran Keren, Northeastern University