On the Social Context of the Sociological Calling

If we are not prepared for carrying out our calling well (professionally), it will be difficult to contribute anything to the prosperity of society and mankind. If we are only professional trained, we shall cease to be human. Professional education is adapted to human weakness (to man\u27s aspiration to be sovereign in the realm of his profession) in order to make solely and exclusively an expert out of a mediocre man (an incomplete personality). This report starts off from this paraphrase of one of Marx’s thoughts which is a stimulus for discussion on profiles of any calling, but especially with regard to sociologists. In a broader social context, the sociologist should possess knowledge which has at least three functions: (a) technical-technological which consists of mastering knowledge necessary for professional qualification, (b) socio-integrative which consists of a rational and human foundation of value directness and (c) self-consciousness at the top of which as a critical-creative consciousness there is an overall sense of the educational process. It is difficult to establish the thesis that general education was previously more socially relevant and functional than that in contemporary society. Namely, with the development of science, general education has appeared more decisively as the irreplaceable base and filter for professional qualification. The essential results of philosophy and all sciences as the condensed bases on which the fabric of general education is formed and on which it grows appears in essence as the protection of each form of professional education closed in and for itself. In truth, it is this education which momentarily prepares us for operating within our profession but which not infrequently incapacitates us for adopting innovations in our profession and practically in society as a whole. In this contribution, a proposal is made for considering the study of sociology with regard to two aspects: organizational and programmatic. It is based on the principle of permanent needs for multidimensional education and upbringing in which man is approached as a being who constantly solves problems. From there theoretical culture and methodical skepticism should be a function of the formation of an open, inquiring, questioning and critically-creative consciousness. It is here that the foundation is laid for self-education and self-upbringing. This paper is an attempt at shaping the socio-spiritual physiognomy and intellectual profile of sociologists which will create an even greater opportunity for their necessary presence in all areas of social life and their role, let’s say, as mental hygienists which will be an irredeemable support in the resolution of questions which appear at both the levels of the social micro- and macro-structure