THE SOCIOLOGY OF THE ABSURD: or: The Application of Professor X

by Daniel J. Boorstin ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1970

Prominent historian Boorstin introduces with paternal clucking (why, it's almost as if he had written it himself) the startling project proposal (allegedly summarily rejected by the Institute for Democratic Studies) of an anonymous Professor X and his secretive cadre of ""thoroughly unrepresentative"" faculty members. Dedicated to ""finding the stream of development so that we can better swim along with it,"" this small group of social scientists employs the handy tool of sociological quantification to fashion gloriously simple solutions to the problems of all oppressed peoples. To promote the principles of the New Democracy (""we are not what we are but where we came from"") so ably advocated by the Ku Klux Klan, the Black Panthers, etc. and to provide ""Every Soul Its Own Role,"" X and colleagues offer a system of Ethnic Proportionalism based on the Ethnic Quotient, a keyed series of numbers accurately indicative of each individual's entire ethnic background. It can be ""conveniently noted on his or her Social Security card and can thus become the permanent basis for his proper institutional treatment--in ways not violating his true ethnicity"" (ethnically balanced diet in school lunches, ethnically proportioned programs of study, etc.). Another key concept is the Merit Quotient, which translates into mathematical symbols ""all the satisfactions, privileges, pleasures, sufferings, and punishments enjoyed or undergone by anybody's ancestors"" so that these historical imbalances can be redressed with scientific precision. Then there's Model Slums projects, the doctrine of social antitoxin (combat violence with more violence, racism with more racism), and ""The New Equality"" aimed at dissolving all differences between people and institutions--and then dissolving all institutions. An irreverent reductio ad absurdum, most clever and not without serious intent, that looks current sacred cows in the mouth. He may annoy those he does not amuse.

Pub Date: March 1, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1970

Categories: NONFICTION