ABSTRACT
Zetterberg is reacting to "grand theory" the way William James reacted to "dialectical idealism" at the turn of the century. Sociology must be practical. It must understand the difference between tough-minded scholarship. Underlying Zetterberg's sociology is a simplistic hedonism, in which "motivation" is equated with the desire to have what others already possess. It was inevitable, once empiricism in sociology made it canon law to view sociology as an academic commodity rather than an intellectual pursuit, that someone would come along and "package" the commodity in a fancy package and hang a "for sale" sign on it. Given a more rationally coordinated social order, Zetterberg's kind of approach would prove most helpful. But in an irrational social order the rationalization of the crackpot does not lead to more reason in relations between men, but only to more dangerous varieties of social madness. Zetterberg points out that the sociologist in relation to a businessman may-function as an "anxiety-reducing ritual".
