Sorokin Warns 'Sensate Culture' Will End in Total Disintegration

The predominant world culture of the last five centuries is crumbling, according to Pitirim A. Sorokin, director of the Research Center in Creative Altruism.

In a lecture sponsored by the Social Relations Society last night at Emerson Hall, Sorokin noted the disintegration of the old "sensate" culture as one of the basic trends of our age. If man can avert total destruction in the struggle between the new and the old systems of thought the "dawn of a new, great culture is awaiting the man of the future," he claimed.

Although Sorokin recognized hints of the new emerging culture in fields as diverse as science, sociology, and the fine arts, he felt that its conflict with firmly entrenched traces of the old "sensate" culture could only point to more violent struggles in the future. As a result, in 1937 he was able to discount the optimistic hopes of many of his colleagues for a lasting universal peace, and instead said mankind must look forward to an age of "bigger and better wars." Sorokin noted that since that time his most severe critics have been banished to the "ash can of history," and their "apple sauce-sweet theories" have gone with them.

As another important trend, Sorokin noted a "shift in the creative leadership of mankind" from its traditional seat in Europe to a wider area, including the Americas, Asia, and Euro-Asian countries, notably Russia.