Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• McClellan, Steven Leon

Titel

German Economists and the Intersection of Science and Politics: A History of the Verein für Sozialpolitik, 1872-1972

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Erscheinungsjahr

2022

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• This dissertation examines the intersection of politics and scholarly activism in Germany through the prism of one organization, the Verein für Sozialpolitik. The history of the Verein highlights the deep connections between the state, science, and politics from the founding of the Kaiserreich to the establishment of the Bundesrepublik. Created in a moment of intense debate over the social question, particularly within German liberalism, the Verein pursued two aims at the same time: to educate middle-class opinion on the plight of workers in an age of rapid industrialization, and to influence government policy through detailed investigations of socio-economic phenomena. The Verein’s key contribution in its early years was propelling the notion of Sozialpolitik onto the national stage. However, the Verein increasingly evolved into a society of professional economists, although the tensions between science and politics remained. The Verein served as a space where the major issues related to Germany’s social, political, and economic development took place among middle-class elites, particularly academics. Throughout its existence, the Verein played a crucial role in defining the boundaries between liberalism, conservatism, and socialism in German intellectual life. But its early emphasis on the social question gradually grave way to increasing focus on economic problems, particularly as Sozialpolitik came to be viewed as a politically divisive force. The history of the Verein expresses the evolving nature of economic liberalism in German economic thought, particularly by showcasing the transformation of liberal conservatism from the Kaiserreich to the West German Bundesrepublik. Based on research in archives in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and the United Kingdom, this dissertation traces the origins of the liberal democratic consensus among German economists that became firmly established after 1945. It details the fate of the Verein’s left wing and explains why left-leaning economics failed to take hold in the economic mainstream in Germany. By taking a longer view of the history of social and economic thought in Germany and by also focusing on the most important and consequential association for economists in German-speaking Europe, it highlights the continuities and discontinuities that defined German liberalism between 1872 and 1972.