R.F. Geyer – författare

The original papers which appear in this volume were initially presented in a series of sessions of the Ad Hoc Group on Alienation Theory and Research at the 1974 World Congress of Sociology in Toronto, Canada. This group was organized by the editors as a result of their longstanding research and teaching interest in the field. The purpose of the Toronto sessions was to provide an international forum where scholars and researchers could come to­ gether for a personal exchange of ideas and research findings. To our know­ ledge this was the first forum of its kind concerned specifically with aliena­ tion theory and research. More than fifty theoretical and empirical papers from thirteen countries and several overlapping disciplines were organized into panels and workshops during the span of four days. The response to these sessions indicates that interest in the study of alienation by philosophers and social scientists continues unabated. The Toronto sessions were organized largely around a fundamental concern for further theoretical development and conceptual clarification in the alienation field. The papers selected for this volume reflect this thematic concern. Although many excellent empirical papers were presented, it was generally felt that meaningful empirical research would benefit from a continued elaboration and refinement of alienation theory. The present collection is consequently geared to problems of meaning, theory, and method. Considerable emphasis is also placed on a critical evaluation of the alienation theme as it has evolved from social philosophy to empirical social research.

The fifteen papers comprising this book were chosen out of the sixty-one contributions to the Symposium and Section on Social Systems held in the context of the Fourth International Congress of Cybernetics and Systems (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 21-25 August, 1978). These papers, as­ sembled here on the basis of their topicality, depth and originality, cover a wide range of problems, ranging from ''Societies and Turing machines'' to ''Dialectics and catastrophe''. An interesting array of themes is considered by authors from six countries. It is felt that these papers, some of them thought-provoking and of great merit, will cast new light on social problems. Though the contributions consider a wide variety of topics, the underlying trend is apparent in many instances. Of special value is the discussion of the relevance of cybernetics and systems to a wide spectrum of social problems. I think the treatment and the approach adopted by the contributors merit wide attention, since their contributions constitute an appreciable advance in a fairly novel field. 1. ROSE BLACKBURN (U.K.) May, 1978 Acknowledgements First of all, we want to thank the authors for their contributions to these volumes, often produced under severe time pressure. We are particularly indebted to publisher Hans van der Sluijs and desk editor Judy Marcure for their helpful cooperation in having both volumes edited and published on schedule.

The original papers which appear in this volume were initially presented in a series of sessions of the Ad Hoc Group on Alienation Theory and Research at the 1974 World Congress of Sociology in Toronto, Canada. This group was organized by the editors as a result of their longstanding research and teaching interest in the field. The purpose of the Toronto sessions was to provide an international forum where scholars and researchers could come to­ gether for a personal exchange of ideas and research findings. To our know­ ledge this was the first forum of its kind concerned specifically with aliena­ tion theory and research. More than fifty theoretical and empirical papers from thirteen countries and several overlapping disciplines were organized into panels and workshops during the span of four days. The response to these sessions indicates that interest in the study of alienation by philosophers and social scientists continues unabated. The Toronto sessions were organized largely around a fundamental concern for further theoretical development and conceptual clarification in the alienation field. The papers selected for this volume reflect this thematic concern. Although many excellent empirical papers were presented, it was generally felt that meaningful empirical research would benefit from a continued elaboration and refinement of alienation theory. The present collection is consequently geared to problems of meaning, theory, and method. Considerable emphasis is also placed on a critical evaluation of the alienation theme as it has evolved from social philosophy to empirical social research.