Sociological Beginnings: The First Conference of the German Society for Sociology PDF
Preview Sociological Beginnings: The First Conference of the German Society for Sociology
CHAPTER 1 Sociological Beginnings S S P T 11 TUDIES IN OCIAL AND OLITICAL HOUGHT LUP_Adair-Toteff_00_Prelims 1 21/11/05, 11:01 am STUDIES IN SOCIAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHT Editor: Gerard Delanty, University of Liverpool This series publishes peer-reviewed scholarly books on all aspects of social and political thought. It will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in the areas of social theory and sociology, the history of ideas, philosophy, political and legal theory, anthropo- logical and cultural theory. Works of individual scholarship will have preference for inclusion in the series, but appropriate co- or multi- authored works and edited volumes of outstanding quality or exceptional merit will also be included. The series will also consider English translations of major works in other languages. Challenging and intellectually innovative books are particularly welcome on the history of social and political theory; modernity and the social and human sciences; major historical or contemporary thinkers; the philosophy of the social sciences; theoretical issues on the trans- formation of contemporary society; social change and European societies. It is not series policy to publish textbooks, research reports, empirical case studies, conference proceedings or books of an essayist or polemical nature. Discourse and Knowledge: The Making of Enlightenment Sociology Piet Strydom Social Theory after the Holocaust edited by Robert Fine and Charles Turner The Moment: Time and Rupture in Modern Thought edited by Heidrun Friese Essaying Montaigne John O’Neill The Protestant Ethic Debate: Max Weber’s Replies to his Critics, 1907–1910 edited by David Chalcraft and Austin Harrington Breeding Superman: Nietzsche, Race and Eugenics in Edwardian and Interwar Britain Dan Stone Unhastening Science: Autonomy and Reflexivity in the Social Theory of Knowledge Dick Pels Global America? The Cultural Consequences of Globalization edited by Ulrich Beck, Natan Sznaider and Rainer Winter Social Theory and Later Modernities: The Turkish Experience Ibrahim Kaya LUP_Adair-Toteff_00_Prelims 2 21/11/05, 11:01 am Sociological Beginnings The First Conference of the German Society for Sociology CHRISTOPHER ADAIR-TOTEFF LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY PRESS LUP_Adair-Toteff_00_Prelims 3 21/11/05, 11:01 am First published 2005 by Liverpool University Press 4 Cambridge Street Liverpool L69 7ZU Copyright © 2005 Christopher Adair-Toteff The right of Christopher Adair-Toteff to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publishers. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A British Library CIP Record is available ISBN 0–85323–799-9 cased ISBN 0–85323–809-X limp ISBN Typeset in Plantin by Koinonia, Bury Printed and bound in the European Union by Bell & Bain Ltd, Glasgow Printer details required Bell and Bain, Glasgow Bell and Bain Ltd, Glasgow LUP_Adair-Toteff_00_Prelims 4 21/11/05, 11:01 am Für mein Schatz LUP_Adair-Toteff_00_Prelims 5 21/11/05, 11:01 am LUP_Adair-Toteff_00_Prelims 6 21/11/05, 11:01 am Contents Preface ix A Note on Translation xii Chronology xiv Short Biographies of the Main Participants xvi Introduction 1 Georg Simmel – Sociology of Society 45 Ferdinand Tönnies – Ways and Goals of Sociology 57 Max Weber – Business Report followed by The Comparative Sociology of Newspapers and Associations 74 Werner Sombart – Technology and Culture 94 Ernst Troeltsch – Stoic-Christian Natural Law and Modern Profane Natural Law 110 Select Bibliography 132 Index 140 LUP_Adair-Toteff_00_Prelims 7 21/11/05, 11:01 am LUP_Adair-Toteff_00_Prelims 8 21/11/05, 11:01 am Preface Sociology has been a part of academic programmes for so long that it is difficult to imagine a time when not only was it not recognized as a discipline but it did not really even exist. Today, the names Max Weber, Ferdinand Tönnies, Georg Simmel and Ernst Troeltsch are familiar to most sociologists. However, none of these was an academic or professional sociologist, because neither of those classifications existed during their formative years, before 1890. The first sociology professorship in Germany began in 1918, the year that Simmel died. Weber’s death occurred two years later; and Troeltsch died in 1923. Only Tönnies lived long enough to see sociology become an academic and professional discipline. Simmel and Tönnies read philosophy, Weber was educated as a lawyer and Troeltsch was trained as a theologian. Yet these four thinkers were instrumental in fostering sociology in Germany. Specifically, Tönnies, Simmel, and Weber helped form the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie (D.G.S.) (German Society for Sociology) in 1909. A year later, they, along with Troeltsch, Sombart and a few others took part in the first sociology conference in Germany. They arranged to have their papers published with the discussions that followed some of the lectures, and their publication appeared in 1911. Five of the nine papers are translated here in their entirety; and I present synopses of the others with some of the discussions that followed. The five major papers cover a wide range of issues, including natural law, journalism and technology, but all treat the topics from a sociological standpoint. Three can be considered to focus mostly on substantial issues, whereas two are primarily methodological in scope. None of the five thinkers (Weber, Simmel, Tönnies, Troeltsch, or Sombart) founded any ‘school’ and all five fell out of favour. However, there has been a iixx LUP_Adair-Toteff_00_Prelims 9 21/11/05, 11:01 am
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