ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests some of the main lines of such a sociology, and indicates its consequences in terms of the attitudes which one adopt towards existing institutions. The sociological theory of institutions which author should like to criticize is the apparent assumption that those who participate in them consciously share common purposes. Raymond Williams suggests the one important factor in the institutional complex which most sociologists leave out. This factor is the work done by the artists and intellectuals of a period in articulating the meanings and purposes of the cultural system and in positing new meanings and purposes which will shape the culture in the future. According to Dahrendorf there is always, in every institutional situation, a conflict between those who possess authority and those who do not. The test of life in an institution will be the extent to which its intellectuals are able to talk directly and listen directly, not just to the office holder.
