The German Sociological Association (''Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie'', DGS) is a professional organization of social scientists in Germany. Established in
Berlin on January 3, 1909, its founding members included
Rudolf Goldscheid
Rudolf Goldscheid (12 August 1870 – 6 October 1931) was an Austrian writer and sociologist, co-founder of the German Sociological Association, known for his theory of human economy (german: Menschenökonomie, link=no) and for developing the topic ...
,
Ferdinand Tönnies
Ferdinand Tönnies (; 26 July 1855 – 9 April 1936) was a German sociologist, economist, and philosopher. He was a significant contributor to sociological theory and field studies, best known for distinguishing between two types of social gro ...
,
Max Weber
Maximilian Karl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German sociologist, historian, jurist and political economist, who is regarded as among the most important theorists of the development of modern Western society. His ideas profo ...
, and
Georg Simmel
Georg Simmel (; ; 1 March 1858 – 26 September 1918) was a German sociologist, philosopher, and critic.
Simmel was influential in the field of sociology. Simmel was one of the first generation of German sociologists: his neo-Kantian approach l ...
. Its first president was Tönnies, who was forced out of office by the
Nazi regime in 1933; his successor,
Hans Freyer, attempted to reform the DGS on Nazi lines but ultimately decided to suspend its activities the following year.
The DGS was revived after
World War II under the chairmanship of
Leopold von Wiese in 1946, and has remained active since then, with about 3,200 members .
Presidents and chairpersons
The following members have served as heads of the organization:
*1909–1933:
Ferdinand Tönnies
Ferdinand Tönnies (; 26 July 1855 – 9 April 1936) was a German sociologist, economist, and philosopher. He was a significant contributor to sociological theory and field studies, best known for distinguishing between two types of social gro ...
as president ()
*''1933:''
Werner Sombart,
Leopold von Wiese, and
Hans Freyer unconstitutionally as joint chairs ()
*1933–1934:
Hans Freyer as chair; suspended the DGS in 1934
*1946–1955: Leopold von Wiese; office titled president
*1955–1959:
Helmuth Plessner
*1959–1963:
Otto Stammer
Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity".
The name is recorded fr ...
*1963–1967:
Theodor W. Adorno
*1967–1970:
Ralf Dahrendorf; office titled chair
*1970:
Erwin K. Scheuch (interim chair)
*1971–1974:
M. Rainer Lepsius
M. Rainer Lepsius (8 May 1928 – 2 October 2014) was a German sociologist. A particular interest was in the work of Max Weber: he was prominent among the co-compilers of the (eventually) 47 volume edition of the Complete Works of Weber.
Life ...
*1974–1978:
Karl Martin Bolte
*1979–1982:
Joachim Matthes
*1983–1986:
Burkart Lutz
*1987–1990:
Wolfgang Zapf
*1991–1992:
Bernhard Schäfers
Bernhard is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include:
Given name
*Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar (1604–1639), Duke of Saxe-Weimar
*Bernhard, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen (1901–1984), head of the House of Saxe-Meiningen 1946 ...
*1993–1994:
Lars Clausen
*1995–1998:
Stefan Hradil
Stefan may refer to:
* Stefan (given name)
* Stefan (surname)
* Ștefan, a Romanian given name and a surname
* Štefan, a Slavic given name and surname
* Stefan (footballer) (born 1988), Brazilian footballer
* Stefan Heym, pseudonym of German writ ...
*1999–2002:
Jutta Allmendinger
*2003–2007:
Karl-Siegbert Rehberg
*2007–2011:
Hans-Georg Soeffner
*2011–2013:
Martina Löw
*2013–2017:
Stephan Lessenich
Stephan may refer to:
* Stephan, South Dakota, United States
* Stephan (given name), a masculine given name
* Stephan (surname), a Breton-language surname
See also
* Sankt-Stephan
* Stefan (disambiguation)
* Stephan-Oterma
* Stephani
* Stephe ...
*2017–2019:
Nicole Burzan
*2019–2021:
Birgit Blättel-Mink
*2021–present:
Paula-Irene Villa Braslavsky
References
External links
DGS - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie(in German; cf. the history in
Geschichte
33rd Congress of the DGS, ''The Nature of Society'', “Die Natur der Gesellschaft“), 2006
{{Authority control
Sociological organizations
1909 establishments in Germany