printJacques Novikow’s Organicism:
Social Evolution as an Adaptation Proccess and Criticism of Socialism
Zotov A.A.
Research Fellow, Institute of Sociology of FCTAS RAS, Moscow, Russia andrzotow@yandex.ru
Rubric: History of sociology
For citation:
Zotov A.A. Jacques Novikow’s Organicism: Social Evolution as an Adaptation Proccess and Criticism of Socialism. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2021. No 6. P. 105-114
Abstract
The article is devoted to consideration of the views of the sociologist of the early 20th century Jacques Novikow on the evolution of human population and modification in the natural world around them. The study of the adaptation of the natural environment by people in the course of their working life became for Novikow the key to understanding many social problems of his time. One of the theses of his bio-organic theory is that people change the world around them and raise the level of social and individual well-being primarily out of love for themselves, and not out of altruistic considerations or on the basis of the values of collectivism. Novikow stood on the positions of the autonomy of the individual, proceeding from the possibility of a comprehensive and complete emancipation of a person. This was also reflected in his criticism of the socialist doctrines, which he opposed to the idea of non-violent building of a harmonious society.
Keywords
Jacques Novikow; organic approach in sociology; anthropogenesis; labour; capital; criticism of socialism
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Content No 6, 2021