Werner Sombart
Werner Sombart | |
---|---|
Ermsleben, Kingdom of Prussia | |
Died | 18 May 1941 | (aged 78)
Nationality | German |
Known for | Coining the term "late capitalism" |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Economics, sociology, history |
Institutions | University of Breslau, Handelshochschule Berlin, Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität |
Doctoral advisor | Gustav von Schmoller Adolph Wagner |
Doctoral students | Wassily Leontief Richard Löwenthal |
Werner Sombart (/ˈvɜːrnər ˈzɒmbɑːrt/; German: [ˈzɔmbaʁt]; 19 January 1863 – 18 May 1941) was a German economist, historian and sociologist. Head of the "Youngest Historical School," he was one of the leading Continental European social scientists during the first quarter of the 20th century. The term late capitalism is accredited to him. The concept of creative destruction associated with capitalism is also of his coinage. His magnum opus was Der moderne Kapitalismus. It was published in 3 volumes from 1902 through 1927. In Kapitalismus he described four stages in the development of capitalism from its earliest iteration as it evolved out of feudalism, which he called proto-capitalism to early, high and, finally, late capitalism —Spätkapitalismus— in the post World War I period.[1]
Life and work
Early career, socialism and economics
Werner Sombart was born in
As an economist and especially as a social activist, Sombart was then seen as radically left-wing, and so only received — after some practical work as head lawyer of the
As one of the German academics concerned with contemporary social policy, Sombart also joined the Verein für Socialpolitik (Social Policy Association) around 1888, together with his friend and colleague Max Weber. This was then a new professional association of German economists affiliated with the historical school, who saw the role of economics primarily as finding solutions to the social problems of the age and who pioneered large scale statistical studies of economic issues.
Sombart was not the first
Sombart's magnum opus, Der moderne Kapitalismus (Historisch-systematische Darstellung des gesamteuropäischen Wirtschaftslebens von seinen Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart)
Although later much disparaged by neo-classical economists,[citation needed] and much criticized in specific points, Der moderne Kapitalismus is still today a standard work with important ramifications for, e.g., the Annales school (Fernand Braudel). His work was criticised by Rosa Luxemburg, who attributed to it "the express intention of driving a wedge between the trade unions and the social democracy in Germany, and of enticing the trade unions over to the bourgeois position."[9]
In 1903 Sombart accepted a position as associate editor of the Archives for Social Science and Social Welfare, where he worked with his colleagues Edgar Jaffé and Max Weber.[citation needed]
In 1906, Sombart accepted a call to a full professorship at the Berlin School of Commerce, an inferior institution to
Sombart's 1911 book, Die Juden und das Wirtschaftsleben (The Jews and Modern Capitalism), is an addition to Max Weber's historic study of the connection between Protestantism (especially Calvinism) and Capitalism, with Sombart documenting Jewish involvement in historic capitalist development. He argued that Jewish traders and manufacturers, excluded from the guilds, developed a distinctive antipathy to the fundamentals of medieval commerce, which they saw as primitive and unprogressive: the desire for 'just' (and fixed) wages and prices; for an equitable system in which shares of the market were agreed and unchanging; profits and livelihoods modest but guaranteed; and limits placed on production. Excluded from the system, Sombart argued, the Jews broke it up and replaced it with modern capitalism, in which competition was unlimited and the only law was pleasing the customer.[11] Paul Johnson, who considers the work "a remarkable book", notes that Sombart left out some inconvenient truths, and ignored the powerful mystical elements of Judaism. Sombart refused to recognize, as Weber did, that wherever these religious systems, including Judaism, were at their most powerful and authoritarian, commerce did not flourish. Jewish businessmen, like Calvinist ones, tended to operate most successfully when they had left their traditional religious environment and moved on to fresher pastures.[12]
In his somewhat eclectic 1913 book Der Bourgeois (translated as The quintessence of capitalism), Sombart endeavoured to provide a psychological and sociological portrait of the modern businessman, and to explain the origins of the capitalist spirit. The book begins with "the greed for gold", the roots of private enterprise, and the types of entrepreneurs. Subsequent chapters discuss "the middle class outlook" and various factors shaping the capitalist spirit - national psychology, racial factors, biological factors, religion, migrations, technology, and "the influence of capitalism itself."[13]
In a work published in 1915, a "war book" with the title Händler und Helden Sombart welcomed the "German War" as the "inevitable conflict between the English commercial civilisation and the heroic culture of Germany". In this book, according to
Middle career and sociology
At last, in 1917, Sombart became professor at the
Late career and Nazism
During the Weimar Republic, Sombart moved toward nationalism.
In 1934 he published Deutscher Sozialismus where he claimed a "new spirit" was beginning to "rule mankind". The age of capitalism and proletarian socialism was over, with "German socialism" (
One of Sombart's daughters, Clara, was married to Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt, who first described the Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease.
Legacy
Sombart's legacy today is difficult to ascertain, because the alleged
One of the reasons of a lack of reception in the United States is that most of his works were for a long time not translated into English - in spite of, and excluding, as far as the reception is concerned, the classic study on Why there is no Socialism in America.
However, in recent years sociologists have shown renewed interest in Sombart's work.[23]
Bibliography
- Sombart, Werner (1905) [1896]: Sozialismus und soziale Bewegung. Jena: Verlag von Gustav Fischer. English translation: Socialism and the Social Movement in the 19th Century, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1898.
- Sombart, Werner (1909) [1903]: Die deutsche Volkswirtschaft im neunzehnten Jahrhundert. Berlin: G. Bondi.
- Sombart, Werner (1906): Das Proletariat. Bilder und Studien. Die Gesellschaft, vol. 1. Berlin: Rütten & Loening.
- Sombart, Werner (1906): Warum gibt es in den Vereinigten Staaten keinen Sozialismus? Tübingen: Mohr. Several English translations, incl. (1976): Why is there No Socialism in the United States? New York: Sharpe.
- Sombart, Werner (1911): Die Juden und das Wirtschaftsleben. Leipzig: Duncker. Translated into English: The Jews and Modern Capitalism., Batoche Books, Kitchener, 2001.
- Sombart, Werner: Der moderne Kapitalismus. Historisch-systematische Darstellung des gesamteuropäischen Wirtschaftslebens von seinen Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart. Final edn. 1928, repr. 1969, paperback edn. (3 vols. in 6): 1987 Munich: dtv. (Also in Spanish; no English translation yet.)
- Sombart, Werner (1913): Krieg und Kapitalismus. München: Duncker & Humblot, 1913.
- Sombart, Werner (1913): Der Bourgeois. München und Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1913.
- Sombart, Werner (1913): Luxus und Kapitalismus. München: Duncker & Humblot, 1922. English translation: Luxury and capitalism. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
- Sombart, Werner (1915): Händler und Helden. München: Duncker & Humblot. 1915.
- Sombart, Werner (1934): Deutscher Sozialismus. Charlottenburg: Buchholz & Weisswange. English translation (1937, 1969): A New Social Philosophy. New York: Greenwood.
- Sombart, Werner (1938): Vom Menschen. Versuch einer geisteswissenschaftlichen Anthropologie. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
- Sombart, Werner (1956): Noo-Soziologie. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
- Sombart, Werner (2001): Economic Life in the Modern Age. Nico Stehr & Reiner Grundmann, eds. New Brunswick: Transaction. (New English translations of key articles and chapters by Sombart, including (1906) in full and the segment defining Capitalism from (1916))
See also
Notes
- ^ a b Sombart, Werner (1927). Spätkapitalismus Late capitalism. Der moderne Kapitalismus. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
- S2CID 154171970..
- ^ Werner Sombart (1896), Socialism and the Social System NY: Dutton and Sons, translated by M. Epstein, p. 87
- OCLC 221289916. eventually 3 volumes
- ^ Sombart, Werner Archived 2016-07-02 at the Wayback Machine. International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 1968. Encyclopedia.com.
- ^ Lehmann, Hartmut (1993). "The Rise of Capitalism: Weber versus Sombart". In Roth, Gunther (ed.). Weber's Protestant Ethic: Origins, Evidence, Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 195–208.
- ^ Sombart, Werner (1902). Frühkapitalismus - Early capitalism. Der moderne Kapitalismus. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
- ^ Sombart, Werner (1902). Hochkapitalismus - High capitalism. Der moderne Kapitalismus. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
- ISBN 978-1931859-36-3.
- Reason
- ^ Werner Sombart, The Jews and Modern Capitalism, English trans., London 1913. Cited in Johnson, p.284
- ^ Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews, p.284
- ^ Werner Sombart, The quintessence of capitalism: a study of the history and psychology of the modern businessman. New York: Howard Fertig, 1967.
- ^ a b Hayek, Friedrich: The Road to Serfdom. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979, p. 126.
- ^ Harris, pp. 808-9.
- ^ Harris, pp. 810-11.
- ^ Harris, p. 811.
- ^ Harris, pp. 812-13.
- ^ a b Harris, p. 813.
- ^ Lane, Frederic C; Riemersma, Jelle, eds. (1953). Enterprise and Secular Change: Readings in Economic History. R. D. Irwin. p. 38. (quoted in "Accounting and rationality" Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine)
- ^ Reinert, Erik. Creative Destruction in Economics: Nietzsche, Sombart, Schumpeter. In Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900).
- ^ "Creative Destruction in Economics: Nietzsche, Sombart, Schumpeter" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-05-07. Retrieved 2023-11-05.
- ^
Joas, Hans (2003). War and modernity. ISBN 978-0-7456-2645-1.
Further reading
- Appel, Michael (1992): Werner Sombart: Historiker und Theoretiker des modernen Kapitalismus. Marburg: Metropolis.
- Backhaus, Jürgen G. (1996), ed. Werner Sombart (1863–1941): Social Scientist. 3 vols. Marburg: Metropolis. (The standard, all-encompassing work on Sombart in English.)
- Backhaus, Jürgen G. (2000), ed. Werner Sombart (1863–1941): Klassiker der Sozialwissenschaft. Eine kritische Bestandsaufnahme. Marburg: Metropolis.
- Brocke, Bernhard vom (1987), ed.: Sombarts Moderner Kapitalismus. Materialien zur Kritik und Rezeption. München: dtv
- Drechsler, W. "Zu Werner Sombarts Theorie der Soziologie und zu seiner Biographie", in Werner Sombart: Klassiker der Sozialwissenschaft. Eine kritische Bestandsaufnahme, Marburg: Metropolis, 2000, pp. 83–100.
- Iannone, Roberta (2013), Umano, ancora umano. Per un'analisi dell'opera Vom Menschen di Werner Sombart, Roma-Acireale, Bonanno.
- Lenger, Friedrich (1994): Werner Sombart, 1863–1941. Eine Biographie. München: Beck.
- Mitzman, Arthur (1973) Sociology and Estrangement: Three sociologists of Imperial Germany, New York, Alfred A. Knopf.
- Most, Kenneth S. "Sombart, Werner (1863-1941." In History of Accounting: An International Encyclopedia, edited by Michael Chatfield and Richard Vangermeersch. New York: garland Publishing, 1996. pp. 541–542.
- Muller, Jerry Z., 2002. The Mind and the Market: Capitalism in Western Thought. Anchor Books.
- Nussbaum, Frederick Louis (1933): A History of the Economic Institutions of Modern Europe: An Introduction of 'Der Moderne Kapitalismus' of Werner Sombart. New York: Crofts.
- Kevin Repp (2000). Reformers, Critics, and the Paths of German Modernity: Anti-Politics and the Search for Alternatives, 1890-1914. Boston, MA.: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-00057-9.
- Sombart, Nicolaus (1991): Jugend in Berlin, 1933–1943. Ein Bericht. Frankfurt/Main: Fischer.
- Sombart, Nicolaus (1991): Die deutschen Männer und ihre Feinde. Carl Schmitt – ein deutsches Schicksal zwischen Männerbund und Matriachatsmythos. Munich: Hanser.