The Austrian Sociological Association and Austrian Sociology - another view

Abstract

"In the June 2002 issue of International Sociology, Christian Fleck published a report on the Austrian Sociological Association (OeGS) which was very critical of that association and the achievements of Austrian sociology in general. In this paper, we argue that this was a rather one-sided view. We show that the OeGS and its members have been very active in fostering international contacts with sociologists from neighbouring countries (Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland), by organising common congresses and workshops, and publishing books. In the Eighties, one of the most important achievements – comitted by Fleck - was the initiation of the European Sociological Association and the organisation of the first European Congress of Sociology in Vienna in 1992. Fleck not only disparages the achievement of Austrian sociology in the Sixties and Seventies, but even more so those in the Eighties and Nineties. Between 1950 and 2002, Austrian sociologists have published nearly 1200 books (Haller 2004) thus contributing significantly to the establishment of sociological research and thinking about contemporary Austrian society." (author's abstract