Conversations with History: Institute
of International Studies, UC Berkeley
This interview is part of the Institute's "Conversations
with History" series, and uses Internet technology to share with the
public Berkeley's distinction as a global forum for ideas.
Welcome to a Conversation with History. I'm Harry
Kreisler of the Institute of International Studies. Our guest today
is Neil Smelser, who is University Professor Emeritus of Sociology at UC
Berkeley and former Director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral
Sciences at Stanford.
He is a former president of the American Sociological
Association, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and a fellow
of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences. He's the author
of fourteen books, including The Theory of Collective Behavior. His
most recent book is The Social Edges of Psychoanalysis, published
by UC Press, and his forthcoming book is called The Social Sciences
and the Understanding of Terrorism, to be published by the National
Academy of Sciences.
- Background ... influence of parents ... education ... Harvard ... Rhodes
Scholar ... Society of Fellows ... career choices
- Being a Sociologist ... interest
in intersection of industry, family, and education ... capacity to objectify
... creativity ... evolution of sociology
- Being a Psychoanalyist ... exposure
and training ... skills and temperament required ... focus on the individual
... objectification ... tension in interdisciplinary work ... the
Center for Advanced Study in the Behaviorial Sciences
- Ambivalence ... influences from
psychoanalysis and sociology ... weakness of rational choice emphasis on
univalent ... recurring theme in his work
- Cultural Trauma ... similar to
psychological trauma ... unsettling event for a society ... need to remember
and re-experience ... subject to comparative analysis ... contested definition
... the problem of evil ... recurrence of social and cultural structures
... work on ideologies of social movements relevant for understanding terrorism
- Terrorism ... drawing on relevant
insights of the social sciences ... a problem that's here to stay ... inadequacy
of our response ... moralistic and instrumental ... advocates a policy of
discouragement ... need to combine containment and deterrence ... virtue
of restraint ... importance of consciousness raising concerning structures
in play ... application of knowledge ... importance of criticism and responsibility

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