REALITY CONSTRUCTION UNDER TOTALITARIANISM: AN ETHNOMETHODOLOGICAL ELABORATION OF MARTIN DRATH'S CONCEPT OFTOTALITARIANISM

Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities

Volumn 65, Issue , 1998, Pages 239-271

  Patzelt, Werner J ^a  

^a DRESDEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY   (Germany)

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EID: 85184259000     PISSN: 03038157     EISSN: 18757243     Source Type: Book Series    
DOI: 10.1163/9789004457652_012     Document Type: Chapter

References (108)

1. Introductions to theories on totalitarianism may be found in Michael Curtis, Totalitarianism, New Brunswick and New York: Transaction Books, 1979;
2. Martin Janicke, Totalitare Herrschaft. Anatomie eines politischen Begriffes, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1971;
3. Alexander Korchak, Contemporary Totalitarianism: A Systems Approach, Boulder and New York: Columbia UP, 1994;
4. Leonard B. Schapiro, Totalitarianism, London: Pall Mall Press, 1972;
5. Steven P. Soper, Totalitarianism: A Conceptual Approach, Lanham (Md.): University Press of America, 1985;
6. Simon Tormey, Making Sense of Tyranny. Interpretations of Totalitarianism, Manchester and New York: Manchester UP, 1995.
7. The German discussion is reviewed in Uwe Backes and Eckhard Jesse, Totalitarismus, Extremismus, Terrorismus: ein Literaturfuhrer und Wegweiser zur Extremismusforschung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Opladen: Leske & Budrich, 1985;
8. and in Michael Schongarth, Die Totalitarismusdiskussion in der neuen Bundesrepublik 1990 bis 1995, Cologne: PapyRossa-Verlag, 1996.
9. In recent years, however, some very useful empirical work based on the concept of totalitarianism has been published, cf. Eckhard Jesse, Totalitarismus im 20. Jahrhundert: eine Bilanz der internationalen Forschung, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 1996. As examples may be cited Klaus Hornung, Das totalitare Zeitalter: Bilanz des 20. lahrhunderts, Frankfurt/M.: Propylaen, 1993;
10. Irving Howe (Ed.), 1984 Revisited: Totalitarianism in our Century, New York: Harper & Row, 1983;
11. Jerzy J. Mackow, Die Krise des Totalitarismus in Polen: die Totalitarismus-Theorie als Analyse-Konzept des sowjetsozialistischen Staates. Eine Analyse der System- und Strukturkrise der Volksrepublik Polen in den siebziger und achtziger fahren, Miinster: Lit, 1992.
12. Cf. Gert-Joachim GlaeBner, Kommunismus, Totalitarismus, Demokratie. Studien zu einer sakularen Auseinandersetzung, Frankfurt/M.: Peter Lang, 1995;
13. and Matthias Vetter (Ed.), Terroristische Diktaturen im 20. Jahrhundert. Strukturelemente der nationalsozialistischen und stalinistischen Herrschaft, Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1996.
14. Cf. David Bosshart, Politische Intellektualitat und totalitare Erfahrung: Hauptstrdmungen der franzdsischen Totalitarismuskritik, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1992.
15. Cf. Peter C. Ludz, "Offene Fragen in der Totalitarismusforschung," in Bruno Seidel and Siegfried Jenkner (Eds.), Wege der Totalitarismus-Forschung, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1974, pp. 466-512;
16. and Walter Schlangen, Die Totalitarismus-Theorie: Entwicklung und Problems, Stuttgart etc.: Kohlhammer, 1976.
17. A collection of seminal articles is presented in Seidel and Jenkner, Wege der Totalitarismus-Forschung. Among others, the following monographs also remain important: Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism [1951], New York: Harcourt, 1973;
18. H a n s Buchheim, Totalitare Herrschaft. Wesen und Merkmale, Munich: Kosel, 1962;
19. Karl D. Bracher, Zeitgeschichtliche Kontroversen: um Faschismus, Totalitarismus, Demokratie, Munich: Piper, 1984;
20. Carl J. Friedrich and Zbigniew K. Brzezinski, Totalitarian Dictatorship and Autocracy, Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard UP, 1965;
21. Jean Francois Revel, The Totalitarian Temptation, translated by David Hapgood, New York: Penguin Books, 1978.
22. It was first published as a preface to Ernst Richert's study on former East Germany; see Martin Drath, Totalitarismus in der Volksdemokratie," in Ernst Richert, Macht ohne Mandat, Cologne and Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1958, pp. ix-xxxiv. In this article, a reprint will be cited from Seidel and Jenkner, Wege der Totalitarismusforschung, pp. 310-358.
23. Cf. Drath, "Totalitarismus," p. 319.
24. Drath's German term is "Wertungssystem." Such an approach to totalitarianism also offers an approach to the study of political culture and can be easily connected with the analysis of totalitarianism as a form of "political religion." Cf. Hans Maier (Ed.), Totalitarismus und politische Religionen. Konzepte des Diktaturvergleichs, Paderborn etc.: Schoningh, 1996.
25. Drath, "Totalitarismus," p. 337. Obviously, this approach to explaining totalitarianism is quite close to the central ideas in Hannah Arendt's analysis of the characteristic features of totalitarianism.
26. Cf. Klaus-Dietmar Henke, "Menschliche Spontaneitat und die Sicherheit des Staates. Zur Rolle der weltanschaulichen Exekutivorgane in beiden deutschen Diktaturen und in den Reflexionen Hannah Arendts," in Siegfried Suckut and Walter SiiB (Eds.), Staatspartei und Staatssicherheit. Zum Verhaltnis von SED und MfS, Berlin: Ch. Links, 1997, pp. 293-305.
27. See Drath, Totalitarismus," pp. 345, 347, 357. In this way, Drath's theory of totalitarianism is directly related to Max Weber's definition of power.
28. Cf. Friedrich and Brzezinski, Totalitarian Dictatorship, pp. 15-27.
29. For more details on the shape and role of such a party see Drath, Totalitarismus," pp. 349-352;
30. cf. Aryeh L. Unger, The Totalitarian Party: Party and People in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, London and New York: Cambridge UP, 1974.
31. Drath, "Totalitarismus," pp. 344f.
32. Cf. the typology of political regimes in Karl Loewenstein, Verfassungslehre, Tubingen: Mohr, 1975, pp. 11-124.
33. Like other analysts, Drath emphazises that totalitarian regimes tend to develop out of preexisting democratic systems or at least base their ideology on democratic ideals (Drath, "Totalitarismus," pp. 325ff, 346ff). In this way, totalitarian regimes usually differ from authoritarian dictatorships that mostly rely on non-democratic or elitist ideas. Democratic claims are in fact typical of most totalitarian regimes of the 20th century, but they seem not to be necessary preconditions for totalitarian rule as it is conceptualized in this article. Cf., however, Jacob L. Talmon, The Origins of Totalitarian Democracy, Boulder: Westview Press, 1985.
34. Drath, "Totalitarismus," p. 334.
35. Cf. Jaroslaw Piekalkiewicz and Alfred W. Penn, Politics of Ideocracy, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995;
36. Friedrich Pohlmann, Marxismus, Leninismus, Kommunismus, Faschismus. Aufsatze zur Ideologic und Herrschaftsstruktur der totalitaren Diktaturen, Pfaffenweiler: Centaurus, 1995;
37. J. Lucien Radel, Roots of Totalitarianism: The Ideological Sources of Fascism, National Socialism and Communism, New York: Crane, Russak, 1975.
38. Cf. Hans Maier, Politische Religionen. Die totalitaren Regime und das Christentum, Freiburg etc.: Herder, 1995.
39. Drath, "Totalitarismus," pp. 340f.
40. See Drath, "Totalitarismus," p. 347.
41. Cf. Hayo Uthoff, Rollenkonforme Verbrechen unter einem totalitaren System, mit einer Einfiihrung von Ferdinand A. Hermens, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1975.
42. Drath, "Totalitarismus," p. 344.
43. Cf. the critique of early theories of totalitarianism in Peter C. Ludz, "Entwurf einer soziologischen Theorie totalitar verfaBter Herrschaft," in Seidel and Jenkner, Wege der Totalitarismus-Forschung, pp. 532-599.
44. Cf. Drath, "Totalitarismus," p. 357. This part of his conceptualization of totalitarianism appeared, albeit in a rather implicit way, as an addendum in the 1967 edition of Richert's book.
45. Drath, "Totalitarismus," p. 346.
46. The concept of everyday life is a central concern of phenomenological sociology, especially as originally conceived by Alfred Schiitz; see Alfred Schiitz, Der sinnhafte Aufbau der sozialen Welt. Eine Einleitung in die verstehende Soziologie [1932], Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp, 1981;
47. idem, Gesammelte Aufsatze, 3 vols., Den Haag: Nijhoff, 1971; Walter M. Sprondel and Richard Grathoff (Eds.), Alfred Schiitz und die Idee des Alltags in den Sozialwissenschaften, Stuttgart: Enke, 1979.
48. For this approach see, e.g., Jack D. Douglas (Ed.), Introduction to the Sociologies of Everyday Life, Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1980
49. Kurt Hammerich and Michael Klein, Materialien zu einer Soziologie des Alltags (=Sonderheft 20 der Kolner Zeitschrift fur Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie), Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1978;
50. Adalbert Saurma, "Der Alltag als soziolo-gisches Thema," Sckweizerische Zeitschrift fur Soziologie 10 (1984), pp. 7-36.
51. Cf. Maurice Natanson (Ed.), Phenomenology and the Social Sciences, 2 vols., Evanston (111.): Northwestern UP, 1973; George Psathas, Phenomenology and Sociology: Theory and Research, Washington D.C.: University Press of America, 1989; Heinrich Rombach, Phanomenologie des sozialen Lebens: Grundzuge einer phanomenologischen Soziologie, Freiburg: Alber, 1994.
52. Cf. Philip Pettit, "The Life World and Role Theory," in Edo Pivcevic (Ed.), Phenomenology and Philosophical Understanding, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1975.
53. Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality. A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge, New York: Doubleday, 1966;
54. see also Burkart Holzner, Reality Construction in Society, Cambridge (Mass.): Schenkman, 1972.
55. Cf. Randall Collins, "Micro-translation as a Theory-building Strategy," in Karin D. Knorr-Cetina and Aaron V. Cicourel (Eds.), Advances in Social Theory and Methodology: Toward an Integration of Micro- and Macro-Sociologies, Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981, pp. 81-108;
56. Randall Collins, "On the Micro-Foundations of Macro-Sociology," American Journal of Sociology 86 (1980/81), pp. 984-1014.
57. Cf. the use of role analysis for the purpose of bridging micro and macro-level analysis in the field of legislative research, e.g. in John C. Wahlke, Heinz Eulau, and LeRoy C. Ferguson, The Legislative System. Explorations in Legislative Behavior, New York and London: Wiley, 1962.
58. This argument implies that the government can be run by a (revolutionary) party that exercizes its powers by means of governmental institutions.
59. See the following two classic texts on totalitarian education: Thomas Woddy, "Principles of Totalitarian Education," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 82 (1940), pp. 39-55,
60. and Max G. Lange, Totalitdre Erziehung. Schriften des Instituts fur politische Wissenschaft, vol. 3, Frankfurt/M.: Verlag der Frankfurter Hefte, 1954.
61. This is why we speak of "ethno-methods," i.e. of methods used to create or to maintain a specific (version of) reality. Cf. George Psathas, "Ethnomethods and Phenomenology," Social Research 25 (1969), pp. 500-520.
62. For a detailed exposition of ethnomethodology, see Patzelt, Grundlagen, pp. 9-14 and 101-115.
63. For a definition of the so far intuitive term "reality work" see section III/2.
64. 5 Accordingly, specialized studies have developed within ethnomethodology in recent years; see Harold Garfmkel (Ed.), Ethnomethodological Studies of Work, London and New York: Routledge & K. Paul, 1986;
65. or Michael Lynch, Scientific Practice and Ordinary Action: Ethnomethodology and Social Studies of Science, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge UP, 1993.
66. This position, not generally accepted among ethnomethodologists, is elaborated in Werner J. Patzelt, "Grundrifl einer allgemeinen ethnomethodologischen Theorie," Archives Europeennes de Sociologie 27, 1 (1986), pp. 162-194, and in idem, Grundlagen.
67. Detailed elaborations of the following concepts and references to the pertinent ethnomethodological texts can be found in Patzelt, Grundlagen.
68. See Patzelt, Grundlagen, pp. 83-89.
69. Cf. See Patzelt, Grundlagen, pp. 101-144 for precise definitions and more far-reaching analyses of such processes of constructing reality.
70. Cf. Schiitz, Der sinnhafte Aufbau\ and Melvin Pollner, Mundane Reason: Reality in Everyday and Sociological Discourse, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge UP, 1987.
71. "Political" reality is a narrower concept than, and a part of, social reality. "Social reality" refers to any result of situative or local reality construction. "Political reality," by contrast, comprises all stocks of knowledge, interpretations and activities upon which the making and the enforcement of generally binding rules and decisions (in and between groups of people) is based.
72. For further elaboration on both concepts see Patzelt, Grundlagen, pp. 53-59, 86-89.
73. See the ethnomethodological definition of "ethnic" group at the beginning of section III/1, and Patzelt, Grundlagen, pp. 59-61.
74. Garfinkel, Studies in Ethnomethodology, p. vii.
75. Leiter, Primer on Ethnomethodology, p. vii.
76. Mehan and Wood, Reality of Ethnomethodology, p. 179.
77. Cf. Johann G. Juchem, Kommunikation und Vertrauen. Ein Beitrag zum Problem der Reflexivitdt in der Ethnomethodologie, Aachen: Rader, 1988.
78. Cf. Berger and Luckmann, Social Construction of Reality.
79. See Alfred Schiitz, "Uber die mannigfaltigen Wirklichkeiten," in idem, Gesammelte Aufsatze, vol. 1, pp. 237-298.
80. For a detailed elaboration of ethnomethodology's research perspective, see Patzelt, Grundlagen, pp. 35-41.
81. For respective empirical studies and their theoretically relevant findings see Patzelt, Grundlagen, pp. 180-194.
82. For the concepts of "reality transition" and "passing," see Patzelt, Grundlagen, pp. 106-110.
83. This term was coined by Melvin Pollner; see idem, "Mundane Reasoning," Philosophy of the Social Sciences 4 (1974), pp. 35-54, and idem, "The very Coinage of your Brain': The Anatomy of Reality Disjunctures," Philosophy of the Social Sciences 5 (1975), pp. 411-430. A systematic explication of the concept, and practices of, "politics of reality" going beyond Pollner's theorems can be found in Patzelt, Grundlagen, pp. 115-124, and 200-229.
84. See the review of Garfinkel's famous "breaching experiments" in Patzelt, Grundlagen, pp. 168-194.
85. Cf. Waiter Kogon, Der SS-Staat. Das System der deutschen Konzentrationslager, Munich: Kindler, 1975, especially pp. 23-40: "Der Terror als Herrschaftssystem."
86. See, as one example among others, the case study, combined with a systematic account of internal "know how," by Jurgen Fuchs, Unter Nutzung der Angst. Die "leise" Form des Terrors - Zersetzungsmafinahmen des MfS, Berlin: Der Bundesbauftragte fiir die Unterlagen des Staatssicherheitsdienstes der ehemaligen DDR, Abteilung Bildung und Forschung, 1994.
87. In ethnomethodological terms: the "reality accent" was (and is continuously being) shifted.
88. An overview of the empirical ethnomethodological research supporting the following statements may be found in Patzelt, Grundlagen.
89. The person of reference is here termed alter.
90. For just one example see Kogon, SS-Staat, pp. 91-97.
91. See Arendt, Origins; cf. Luciana Galasso and Marco Canzanella, Struttura e persona: la fenomenologia del totalitarismo nel pensiero sociologico di Hannah Arendt, Florence: Firenze Libri, 1989;
92. and Stephen J. Whitfield, Into the Dark: Hannah Arendt and Totalitarianism, Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1980.
93. Pollner, "Very Coinage of your Brain," p. 316.
94. See also Patzelt, Grundlagen, pp. 251-254, ("Ethnomethodologische Politikanalyse als Machtanalyse").
95. Mehan and Wood, Reality of Ethnomethodology, pp. 8-11,
96. were probably among the first ethnomethodologists to mention these methods detected earlier by the anthropologist Edward E. Evans-Pritchard: Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1937. A detailed ethnomethodological analysis can be found in Patzelt, Grundlagen, pp. 204-211.
97. There are numerous well-known examples of this method. Whereas Marx and Engels had argued that after a socialist revolution the state would fade away, Stalin postulated in 1939 that, quite on the contrary, socialism's victory required the strenghening of the state's repressive capacities - since the socialist Soviet Union was still surrounded by a majority of capitalist, and hence hostile, countries. Additionally it may be referred to theories explaining the non-impoverishment, and the even improving living standard, of the working class in capitalist societies by imperialist exploitation of foreign economies (as formulated, e.g., by Rosa Luxemburg and Lenin).
98. Cf. Jean Pierre Faye, Theorie du recit. Introduction aux langages totalitaires. Critique de la raison, Veconomie narrative, Paris: Hermann, 1972.
99. Cf. Jean Francois Revel, La nouvelle censure: exemple de mise en place d'une mentalite totalitaire, Paris: R. Laffont, 1977.
100. Cf. Edward C. Cuff, Problems of Versions in Everyday Situations, Washington D.C.: International Institute for Ethnomethodology/Lanham (Md.): University Press of America, 1993.
101. The methods of isolating troublemakers are described below.
102. All of them, as "normal instruments" of a governmental agency, were routinely used by the GDR's Ministery of State Security; see Fuchs, Unter Nutzung der Angst.
103. Cf. Michel Maffesoli, La violence totalitaire: essai d'anthropologic politique, Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1979;
104. Daniel Suter, Rechtsaufldsung durch Angst und Schrecken: Zur Dynamik des Terrors im totalitaren System, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1983;
105. Robert W. Thurston, Life and Terror in Stalin's Russia 1934-1941, New Haven: Yale UP, 1996.
106. Cf. Patzelt, Grundlagen, pp. 259-268 ("Ethnomethodologische Politikanalyse als Ideologieanalyse," "Ethnomethodologische Politikanalyse als Normenanalyse").
107. The most tragic examples of such consequences include the genocide of the German and European jews, which was central for the Nazi program of reality construction, Lenin's "war communism" which made millions of people die from starvation, and Stalin's attempt to build up an efficient industrial economy by means of administrative repression.
108. For the subsequent effects cf. Patzelt, Grundlagen, pp. 277-281, ("Ethnomethodologische Analyse politischer Alltagskultur").