Robert Nisbet

1913-1996

Robert A. Nisbet is primarily a follower of Emile Durkheim. This influence can be seen in his basic understanding of modern sociocultural systems and their drift. It is his contention that society is increasingly dominated by large-scale administrative systems that have severely weakened traditional groups and organizations. This concentration and centralization of social and political power, as well as the consequent weakening of institutions that formerly mediated between the individual and centralized power, has had devastating effects upon democracy, freedom, and human welfare.

Read: Chapter 6: "Robert A. Nisbet's Leviathan" in Macrosociology: The Study of Sociocultural Systems.

Glossary:
Look these words up in your chapter reading or in the Glossary of Social Science; study them and be ready for fill-in-the-blanks on the next exam:

primary group secondary organization community

State normative structure intermediate organization

centralization ideology internalization

values bureaucratization democracy

authority kinship industrial revolution

cash nexus disorganization disintegration

individualism communism socialization

sacred profane commodification

commercialization multinational corporations forms

military-industrial complex manipulation

Essays:

Demonstrate to me that you have read and mastered the course material. Answer the following essay questions to be turned in during class before your exam over this unit. For full credit, list the question, address the questions fully and completely in your own words and voice. Length should be about 500 words per question.

What is Nisbet's Leviathan? What evidence can you cite for it in 21st century America?
What is the conflict between bureaucracy and democracy?

Short Answers:

The following short answer questions are from your readings and are to be turned in during class before your exam over this unit. Each can be answered with a short paragraph of three or four sentences; use your own words and voice.

How have traditional groups and organizations been weakened by Leviathan?

What is the impact of this weakening on the individual? Upon society as a whole?

According to Nisbet, what is the relationship of the State to primary groups?
How does the centralization of power affect community life?
What are the major contributors to the growth of government bureaucracy?
Compare and contrast Nisbet's take on bureaucracy and C. Wright Mills's analyses.
According to Nisbet, what is the appeal of communism for many intellectuals?
Why are primary groups no longer functionally relevant? What functions have they lost?
According to Nisbet, why have families lost their traditional functions?
According to Elwell, why have families lost their traditional functions?
How do social incentives and values become instilled in people?
What are Nisbet's views on the use of history?
According to Nisbet, what is the relationship between the State and capitalism?
What is the crisis of authority?
What evidence does Nisbet present to support his contention that we are undergoing a revolt against political authority in the West?
What is democratic royalism?
According to Nisbet, why does the military caste of mind increasingly dominate U.S. government?
According to Nisbet, what is the role of the intellectual in the rise of the state?
According to Nisbet, why is power becoming more manipulative in the modern age?
What is the new totalitarianism?
What would Nisbet have us do to combat the new totalitarianism?

Links:

Robert Nisbet's Leviathan

Robert Nisbet and the Conservative Tradition:

Bibliography:

Nisbet, R. (1953/1990). Preface, 1970. In R. Nisbet, The Quest for Community: a Study in the Ethics of Order and Freedom (pp. xxi-xxxv). San Francisco: ICS Press.

Nisbet, R. (1988). The Present Age. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers.

Nisbet, R. (1953/1990). The Quest for Community: A Study in the Ethics of Order & Freedom. San Francisco: ICS Press.

Nisbet, R. (1975). Twilight of Authority. New York: Oxford University Press.

Features | Syllabus | Theorists

primary group	secondary organization	community
State	normative structure	intermediate organization
centralization	ideology	internalization
values	bureaucratization	democracy
authority	kinship	industrial revolution
cash nexus	disorganization	disintegration
individualism	communism	socialization
sacred	profane	commodification
commercialization	multinational corporations	forms
military-industrial complex	manipulation