TWISTS OF FATE OF GEORGE FISCHER, A SOVIET KOMSOMOL MEMBER AND AN AMERICAN SOCIOLOGIST

Abstract

The article focuses on the biography and creative path of one of the leading American sociologists and political scientists George Fischer (1923–2005). The first part of the paper is devoted to G. Fischer’s biography, his difficult way of life, including his childhood and youth in Berlin and Moscow, his participation in World War II as an officer in the United States Army, his scientific and social activities in Germany and the USA after the end of the war. Particular attention is paid to the reminiscences of his mother – Markoosha Fischer, who very vividly described the Soviet society of the 1920s and the 1930s. The second part of the article reveals the main stages of G. Fischer’s scientific activities. His main scientific works, views and concepts are analyzed here. The notion of social integration and the Soviet people’s “inertia” is considered. The issues of conformism in the Western society are likewise scrutinized. The article also discusses G. Fischer’s works dedicated to the pioneers of Soviet sociology – the Soviet sociologists of the 1960s. Besides, the research considers the concept of the Soviet society as an alternative model of a social structure. Special attention is paid to the notion of a self-governing society put forward by G. Fischer.