Innocenc Arnost Bláha, the founder of the 'Brno School of Sociology,' finished writing his Sociologie in 1958; it was posthumously published by the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, in 1968. Bláha sees the origin of social phenomena in the social situations: under a shared need (assimilation) people get associated & coordinate their activities. Groups can be identified by their functions, ie the needs of their members which are taken care of collectively (of the association of chess-players, a trade union, etc). Sociology cannot be seen as a science of society since mankind does not form a cultural system, as yet. It is actually the local community or a national group where culture is being perpetuated. These 2 categories thus form the basis of the social pluriform order. The pluriformity is borne out by the variety of social institutions that coexist, in accordance with the principle of "federative functionalism." A nation can be seen as a federation of functions. While a group 'survives' by actively fulfilling its members' needs, the individual acts in a 'moral way' by functioning within the cultural order. 'Freedom' in Blaha's view means to act in harmony with the cultural order (ethical, aesthetic, scientific, linguistic, etc). The central role which is ascribed to 'nation' in this system of sociology can be traced back to Bláha's existential background: a Czech, born in German dominated state (Habsburg dynasty of Austria). AA.
