Search results

Alfred Weber (1868–1958) was one of the early German formulators of cultural sociology. The address that he gave before the Second Congress of German Sociologists in 1912 was his first formal presentation of the discipline. He wrote that the task of cultural sociology was to examine the relationship of the unilinear, rational, utilitarian process of civilization and organic, vital configurations of culture. The latter attempted to establish meaning for the changes generated by the former. It is translated in its entirety.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- 1. The Educational Mission of Sociology -- Introduction -- Mannheim as Educator -- The Primacy of Cultivation (Bildung) -- 2. Cultivation -- Wilhelm von Humboldt: Cultivation -- Cultivation and Science -- Cultivation and the State -- 3. The Weimar Republic -- The Weimar Republic and Cultural Crisis -- Sociology and University Reform -- 4. The Legacy of Max Weber -- Political Education in the Applied Sociology of Albert Salomon -- Competition: Karl Mannheim and Leopold von Wiese -- 5. The Challenge of Fascist Social Thought -- 6. Marxism and Sociology -- 7. Karl Mannheim as Professor: The Introduction to Sociology -- Bibliography -- Index

Abstract Veblen's critique of German intellectuals during World War I ran parallel to his overall critique of Imperial Germany. Elements from the modern West (liberal ideas or technology) were seen as grafted onto the German authoritarian structure in such a way as to temporarily strengthen that structure. Analysis of wartime writings by German academics verifies Veblen's assertions. Those writings presented the authoritarian state as a better protector of the interests of all the German people than was the type of constitutional state found in Britain. The shrill wartime writings of Werner Sombart wete of a different tone than those of the moderates, verifying Veblen's concerns over the explosiveness of the mixture of the modern and authoritarian, as well as its fascistic potential. Veblen's institutional forecastting can, with reservations, be rewarding in analyzing similar atavistic continuities today.

1. The challenging context -- 2. Time and place -- 3. The social structure of advancement : education for life in the economy -- 4. The "intensive study group" around Karl Mannheim -- 5. Norbert Elias and the sociology of external forms -- 6. Hans Gerth and Hans Weil : the genealogy of the liberal bildungselite -- 7. Kathe Truhel and the idea of a social bureaucracy -- 8. Natalie Halperin and Margarete Freudenthal : the genealogy of women's movements -- 9. Jacob Katz : the sociology of the stranger I -- 10. Nina Rubinstein : sociology of the stranger II -- 11. Individual projects and orphans -- 12. The unfinished business between Karl Mannheim and Max Weber.