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PARTISAN REVIEW
ing that would feature some of the people who had been engaged in these
events. I had hoped that in addition to theorizing about them and thus
"emasculating" the human achievements and analyzing notions of "agency"
(individuals with intentions) and "humanity" (essence oflarge groups) - which
are the "business" of sociological theory - some of the excitement might rub
off. Instead, professionalism won out and the organizers decided that the oc–
cupation of sociology came first.
Too bad that the ISA has become too big to allow for flexibility. We
had a unique opportunity to start reconceptualizing our paradigms, to make
them more reflective of reality, and to try undercutting the taken-for-granted
ideologies. As an "afterthought," on the afternoon of the last day, the orga–
nizers did schedule a session about" 1989" - when nine participants drew
seven listeners.
Too bad the Madrid Congress ended up not only as a circus but as the
pursuit of the customary business of sociology. I wonder whether interna–
tional meetings ofother academic disciplines, such as political science, anthro–
pology, economics, or history, are equally disappointing.
Coming in
Partisan Review
• Fiction by Amos Oz
• Julia Kristeva on the French Revolution
• Mario Vargas Llosa:
The Country to Come
• Leszek Kolakowski:
The Decline of Historicism
• Philippe Raynaud:
Feminism and the Ancien Regime
• Pearl
K.
Bell on Elizabeth Bishop
• A
B. Yehoshua:
The Israeli Novel
• Robert Alter on Vladimir Nabokov
• Shlomo Avineri:
Reflections on Eastern Europe
