When the Institute for the Study of Contemporary<br > Social Problems announcedfor November 1978the<br > conVenng of an international scholarssymposium on<br > Weste r n Society After the Holocaustit was doing<br > at 1east two di sti nct things It was returning to<br > lt s own root s and origi nsandsimultaneouslyit<br > was proclalmlng a commitment for its own future<br > There ls a d1 rect connectionas P rofe s sor<br > L 1 t te 1 i emphas i z es i n h i s p ref ace be twee n the<br > oundat lon of the Institute and several scholars<br > conrences held at WaYne State Universit~r in the<br > earlY 1 9 7 0 s on Church Struggle and Holocaust under<br > the Third ReichThose early meetingsrecogni zing<br > tIIat sch01ariY attention needed to be focused on an<br > epl sode of oVerriding moral implication in recent<br > w e s t e r n hs t o r y g a v e e n or mo u s imPe t us to a<br > cont1 nul ng Process of concerned inquiry and social<br > cr 1 t 1 c i s mThe es ta b1 i s hment of the Institute in<br > 1 9 7 2 inte rsected with the real i zation that the<br > P r o c e s s d e m a n d e d an or gan i z at i ona 1 f ramewo r k<br > aedlcated to a continuous critical inquirinto those<br > even ts and tendencies in modern SOCleties that signal<br > the i r dissolution into caricatures and perversions of<br > wha t we are wont to regard as civili zing achievements<br > omankind in history<br > The I ns t i t ute ha s Proceeded to unde r ta ke a<br > V a r 1 e t Y o f i n V e s t i g a t i o n s MOS t Of t hem not<br > exPl icitlY related to the phenomenon of Nazismbut<br > a1 1 of them un i ted by two pertinent considerations<br > The I ns t i t utes topics--racismlaw and Justicethe<br > quality of urban 1ifeand critical theories of<br > societyһhave had in common thei r iife-anddeath<br > manner of chal 1enge to contemporary civility and<br > t n e 1 r g e n e ral neg 1 ectat 1 ea s t i n the i r mos t<br > threatening dimensionswithin the fashiongoverned<br > research thrusts of the scholarly disciplines a8<br > th08e 8ubBist within the academy<br >