THE STATE AND THE DIALECTICS OF EMANCIPATION

This article first attempts to elucidate the concept of emancipation as a sociological phenomenon, analysing it as a universal human urge for liberation, as distinct from the Marxian concept of class struggle. The main question posed by the article is whether the state is to be viewed as an ally of social emancipation or as an adversary. In spite of a widespread opinion to the contrary, the author argues that in Western history, industrial development was due only in part to private entrepreneurship, and that government support was in fact an indispensable precondition. During the twentieth century, the state could be seen functioning as an ally of, and motor for, social emancipation; it was gradually transformed, into a brake upon emancipation. Finally, the author argues that in the Second and Third Worlds, the state still has important stimulating and protective functions to perform.