Sociological Beginnings: The First Conference of the German Society for Sociology (Liverpool University Press - Studies in European Regional Cultures)

165 Pages·2006·1.66 MB·English

by  Christopher Adair-Toteff

CHAPTER 1
Sociological Beginnings
S S P T 11
TUDIES IN OCIAL AND OLITICAL HOUGHT
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STUDIES IN SOCIAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHT
Editor: Gerard Delanty, University of Liverpool
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Sociological Beginnings
The First Conference of the
German Society for Sociology
CHRISTOPHER ADAIR-TOTEFF
LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY PRESS
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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
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Für mein Schatz
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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
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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
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