From the Positive Psychology of Abraham Maslow to the Positive Sociology of Pitirim Sorokin
Discussion
Emiliana Mangone and Alexander Dolgov:
"Positive sociology (not to be confused with positivist sociology) is the field of sociological research related to the study of prosocial phenomena such as altruism, mutual aid, volunteer-ism, social solidarity, friendship, and neighborliness. The origin of positive sociology is driven by the positive psychology movement which arose in the 1990s. As Nichols notes by analogy with positive psychology, we have the option of building a “positive sociology” (Nichols 2005; Nichols 2012). Positive sociology is also based on various intellectual currents in classical sociology. In this paper, we want to show that the Russian-American sociologist Pitirim Aleksandrovich Sorokin (1889–1968) made a significant contribution to the positive sociology through the concept of “Altruistic Creative Love.” The positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living(Peterson and Park 2003), or “a science of positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions” (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2000, p. 5).
The origins of positive psychology are rooted in the humanistic psychology, which was promoted by Abraham H. Maslow and Carl R. Rogers in the mid-twentieth century. It is necessary to say that Sorokin and Abraham H. Maslow collaborated in the mid-1950s. They established the Research Society in Creative Altruism and arranged a conference following which they published the book New knowledge in human values (Maslow 1959).The necessity to reinforce “positive aspects” of psychology was due to the exclusive focus on pathology and psychological disorder such as neurosis, depression, alcoholism, and schizophrenia, that has dominated in the discipline. Positive psychologists believe that the science of positive subjective experience can improve the quality of life. They urge to study such phenomena as hope, wisdom, creativity, future mindedness, courage, spirituality, and responsibility. Positive psychologists note that Western countries have achieved the highest level of material well-being, but the most acute problems are still a lack of happiness, selfishness, and alienation between people (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2000). Positive psychology can point the way to a happier life, they consider. For example, in one of his important work, Seligman showed how optimism as a learned strategy of thinking can improve our life (Seligman 1991).
Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi mark out three levels of the positive psychology field:
“1) subjective level is about valued subjective experiences: well-being, contentment, and satisfaction (in the past); hope and optimism (for the future); and flow and happiness (in the present);
2) individual level, it is about positive individual traits: the capacity for love and vocation, courage, interpersonal skill, aesthetic sensibility, perseverance, forgiveness, originality, future mindedness, spirituality, high talent, and wisdom;
3) group level, it is about the civic virtues and the institutions that move individuals toward better citizenship: responsibility, nurturance, altruism, civility, moderation, tolerance, and work ethic” (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2000, p. 5).
Positive psychologists acknowledged that people and their experiences are embedded in a social context. Therefore, positive psychology needs to take ere strong in Russia especially in the anarchist’s movement and so-called Narodniks movement (Efremenko and Evseeva 2012). A very famous work in this field is the Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (Kropotkin 1902).Positive sociology can continue to develop the agenda of positive psychology and create new useful ideas. It can describe alternative resources of preserving the social order and show how to build a good society. The main methodological principle of positive sociology is the focus on positive social phenomena that can make society’s life better.
“Founding fathers” of positive psychology defined 24 character strengths as positive traits reflected in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Classification of character strengths is as follows:
Appreciation of beauty and excellence [awe, wonder, elevation]; Bravery [valor];Citizenship [social responsibility, loyalty, teamwork]; Creativity [originality, ingenuity]; Curiosity [interest, novelty-seeking, openness to experience]; Fairness; Forgiveness and mercy; Gratitude; Hope [optimism, future-mindedness, future orientation]; Humor [playfulness];Integrity [authenticity, honesty]; Judgment [open-mindedness, critical thinking]; Kindness[generosity, nurturance, care, compassion, altruistic love, “niceness”]; Leadership; Love; Love of learning; Modesty and humility; Persistence; Perspective [wisdom]; Prudence; Self-regulation [self-control]; Social intelligence [emotional intelligence, personal intelligence]; Spirituality [religiousness, faith, purpose]; Zest [vitality, enthusiasm, vigor, energy]. Altogether, the character strengths form six basic virtues: wisdom and knowledge; courage, humanity, justice, temperance, transcendence (Park et al. 2004).
By analogy with this classification, positive sociology can create its own one by defining the basic social forms of interaction and social institutions through which these forms are produced. We need to know what kind of social institutions promotes kindness and what factors contribute to prosocial behavior. Pitirim Sorokin expressed similar thoughts before all the above-mentioned researchers. He believed that sociology of the twentieth century was too focused on studying in the destructive social phenomena such as conflicts, crimes, and wars and paid little attention to positive phenomena. He considered that neither economic prosperity, nor democratic transformations, nor the growing role of science and education can eliminate the causes of social conflicts. It is interesting to note that Csikszentmihalyi mentioned Sorokin in his famous book about flow experience. He suggested that idealistic culture encourage flow activity — “a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so iduals and groups: In the twentieth century interhuman strife assumed the catastrophic proportions of two world wars and many other wars, of endless bloody revolutions and revolts, not to mention crimes and milder forms of the “struggle for existence”. At present, due to the discovery of the intra-atomic secrets and to the invention of Apocalyptic means of destruction, this moral anarchy begins to threaten the survival of mankind and especially the continuation of its creative mission. The situation explains why a notable increase of unselfish, creative love in the total human universe is the paramount present need of humanity (Sorokin 1958a, p. 185). In his works, Sorokin demonstrated that altruism is an effective resource for overcoming social disintegration in time of the social and cultural crisis, and it also plays the role of the most important regulator of social development. Sorokin was one of the first who institutionalized the research of prosocial phenomena. In 1949, he established The Harvard Research Center in Creative Altruism.