Between acculturation and self-assertion: individualisation in the German-Jewish context of the German Empire and the Weimar Republic and its contribution to the development of modern sociology

Abstract

Using the example of four German-Jewish scholars of the 19th and 20th centuries – Moritz Lazarus (1824–1903), Hermann Cohen (1842–1918), Georg Simmel (1858–1918) and Alfred Schütz (1899–1959), who all maintained intense connections to their Jewish backgrounds – this article aims to illustrate that Jewish traditions held favourable conditions for processes of religious and social individualisation. The focus of the analysis is placed on the figure of the stranger, a theme all four authors dealt with in their work. On the one hand they investigated the stranger as a biblical figure with social-ethical implications (Lazarus and Cohen); on the other, they developed a sociological approach by analysing the role of the stranger in the construction of society (Schütz and Simmel). This article strives to illustrate how a particular religious ideal – the commandment of love for one's neighbour and the recognition of the stranger as a fellowman – has been transformed into a sociological concept for the promotion of individuality. Reconstructing this context also means exploring the history of sociology as a scientific discipline in Germany and to look into the attempts of sociologists to understand otherness in the multicultural societies of the 21st century.