Lundberg, George A.

(1895-1966)

An influential American sociologist, vigorous proponent of a neo-positivist approach to the study of social behaviour, most notably in his books Foundations of Sociology (1939) and Can Science Save Us? (1947). Lundberg argued that, for sociology to be a science, it must model its theories and methods on those of the natural sciences. His work is therefore characterized by behaviourism and an emphasis on quantification. He was opposed to introspection , although he accepted the study of values and ideals as a task for sociology, providing these could be defined operationally in an explicit and quantifiable way. (He was, for example, an enthusiast of attitude scales.) Arguing for science over tradition and religious beliefs, he claimed that in science lay the hope for the future, since humanity must become more rational or else fail to survive.