Welcome to the web-site of
Harry F. Dahms
Associate Professor
Director of Graduate Studies
Associate Head
Ph.D., New School for Social Research, 1993
my departmental web-page
curriculum
vitae
Department of Sociology
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996-0490
ph: (865) 974-7028
fax: (865) 974-7013
email: hdahms@utk.edu
INTERESTS
Classical
Social Theory
Contemporary
Sociological Theory
Critical
Social Theory
Globalization
Social Justice
Economic Sociology
Comparative
Sociology
Sociology of Science Fiction
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"Modern society is in such a state that not only is it the worthless that commands the pay, but the truly valuable is systematically kept out of view. Those having the least merits have the most love of applause. It is sufficient to make one believe in the alleged degeneracy of the times to see the zeal for 'cheap notoriety' evinced by persons having no merits, and the willingness of society at large, through the press and in other ways, to co-operate in the work. The really meritorious person shrinks from notoriety, and scorns applause not rendered to merit alone. Yet merit is rarely sufficiently appreciated to secure its own public mention. It has, therefore, come to be a tolerably safe inference, whenever such public mention is made, to assume that it has been directly or indirectly procured by the party complimented. Such a state of things makes merit take precautions against being put forward by appreciative friends, lest the manner of the commendation be misunderstood, and the belief be entertained that it had stooped to advertise itself. In this way the true condition of society is not only never known, but what is precisely the reverse of its true condition is publicly believed to exist. The light portion, representing mediocrity, is bolstered up and kept prominently conspicuous, while the serious and solid portion willingly aids the former in keeping itself constantly out of view."
Lester F. Ward, Dynamic Sociology (1883)
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Recent
Publications
GLOBALIZATION BETWEEN THE COLD WAR AND NEO-IMPERIALISM
Introduction
Table of Contents
Current Perspectives in Social Theory
Vol. 24 (2006)
*
“Capitalism Unbound?
Peril and Promise of Basic Income"
Basic Income Studies
1 (1) 2006
*
“Does Alienation have a Future?
Recapturing the Core of Critical Theory”
in:
The Evolution of Alienation:
Trauma, Promise, and the Millennium
ed. L. Langman and D.K. Fishman
(Rowman and Littlefield, 2006)
*
“THE
MATRIX Trilogy as Critical Theory of Alienation:
Communicating a Message of
Radical Transformation”
Transdisciplinary
Journal of Emergence
3 (1)
2005: 108-24
*
“Globalization
or Hyper-Alienation?
Critiques of Traditional
Marxism as Arguments for Basic Income”
in:
SOCIAL THEORY AS POLITICS IN KNOWLEDGE
Current Perspectives in Social Theory
Vol. 23 (2005)
*
“Historical
Materialism”
“Ideology”
“Modernity”
in:
International
Encyclopedia
of Economic Sociology
ed. by Jens Beckert and Milan Zafirovski
(Routledge, 2005)
*
“Lester F. Ward”
in:
Dictionary
of Modern American Philosophers
ed. by Jon R. Shook
(Thoemmes Press, 2005)
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CURRENT PROJECTS
Towards a Dynamic Theory of Modern Society
*
Schumpeter's Theory of Entrepreneurship
*
Decoding the Matrix of Modern Society
*
Cosmopolitan Sociology
*
Weber's "Iron Cage" Reconsidered
*
Basic Income and the Future of Capitalism
*
Alienation × Globalization
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Multimedia
Lecture on "Possibilities and Dangers of a Guaranteed Basic Income" (in German)
...held May 20, 2007, at Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany
available online at Uniradio Magdeburg
*
Video clip introducing students to a distance-learning course in
Sociological Theory at Florida State University (2004)
Members
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Prior Affiliations
Department of Sociology
Florida State University (1993-2004)
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Center for European and
North America Studies
Georg August University
Goettingen (1999-2000)
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Gallatin
School for Individualized Studies
New York University (1992-93)
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Department of
Sociology
New School for Social Research
(formerly Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science)
The New School. A University (1987-1993)
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Department of Sociology
University of Konstanz (1981-87)
Influences
G. W. F. Hegel -- Erich Fromm -- Ralf Dahrendorf -- Theodor W. Adorno -- Jürgen Habermas -- Karl Marx -- Joseph A. Schumpeter
Sources of Inspiration
Albrecht Wellmer -- Lawrence Hazelrigg -- Lester F. Ward -- Claus Offe -- Moishe Postone -- Max Weber -- Talcott Parsons