REFLECTIONS ON DR. CLARK'S TEACHING AND APPLIED SOCIOLOGY

Weber, George H.

Publication

REFLECTIONS ON DR. CLARK'S TEACHING AND APPLIED SOCIOLOGY

Weber, George H.

Abstract

This paper offers a unique opportunity to formally pay tribute to one of Dr. Clark's many contributions to sociology: that of sharpening the clinical method through the intensive use of such concepts as value premises, attitudes, and definitions of situations by the applied sociologist. Moreover, he stressed the concepts of latent and manifest functions and indicated the potential of social systems theory in sociological analyses. While he taught aspiring sociologists to consider these variables as influencing the action of groups or individuals, Dr. Clark also clearly pointed out that the sociologist must: 1) recognize the values, attitudes, and conceptions that he carries into a situation, 2) control them if possible, and 3) be aware of their impact on the groups or individuals under study. These conceptions were presented as being interactional because they only became manifest in some type of social" relationship. In this respect Dr. Clark might be viewed as an exponent of the "interactionist school;" however, the breadth of his thinking and the keen intellectual stimulation he provided his students went beyond this and included the thought of social systems theory, human relations concepts, and psychoanalytic theory. His intellectual explorations covered other areas as well, and these fields are not meant to be the whole story.