Sociology in Germany: Institutional Development and Paradigmatic Structure

Abstract

The German Sociological Association (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie/DGS) was established in 1909. Its first meeting was held in Frankfurt in 1910. Both dates indicate a longish history of German sociology. That history also signals a typically German problem: this chapter is in fact not about sociology in all Germany nor about all sociology in German. First, sociology in the German Democratic Republic is excluded. After a late start and a time of troubled recovery in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which included conflicts with the official doctrine of Marxism-Leninism (Weymann, 1972), it may now be experiencing an interesting development. Second, sociology in Austria (and German-speaking Switzerland) is also excluded, although separate national sociological associations were only founded very recently and mutual memberships as well as common annual meetings continue — for example, 5th meeting Vienna, 1926; 6th meeting Zurich, 1928; 24th meeting Zurich, 1988 (see Lepsius, 1981a; Knoll et al., 1981; Käsler, 1981). Third, this article will not deal with the impact of Nazism, which forced about 80 per cent of sociologists to emigrate or to retire and caused some other scholars to collaborate with the regime (Lepenies, 1981; Lepsius, 1981b; Mertens, 1987). Thus it is basically my aim to describe sociology in the Federal Republic of Germany, with the history of sociology in Germany as the broader frame of reference (König, 1987; Lepsius, 1981a; Lüschen, 1979a).