Heinrich Herkner (27 June 1863 – 27 May 1932) was a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
economist
An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics.
The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...
as well as a social reformer.
Biography
Herkner was born in
Liberec
Liberec (; german: Reichenberg ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants and it is the fifth-largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preser ...
(german: Reichenberg),
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
and died in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
.
Herkner studied with
Lujo Brentano
Lujo Brentano (; ; 18 December 1844 – 9 September 1931) was an eminent German economist and social reformer.
Biography
Lujo Brentano, born in Aschaffenburg into a distinguished German Catholic intellectual family (originally of Italian desce ...
in
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
. Later he taught as a
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
at the universities of
Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...
(1890–1892),
Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...
(1892–1898), and
Zürich
Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...
(1898–1907), as well as the
Technical University
An institute of technology (also referred to as: technological university, technical university, university of technology, technological educational institute, technical college, polytechnic university or just polytechnic) is an institution of te ...
(1907–1913) and
Frederick William University Friedrich Wilhelm University (German: ''Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität'') may refer to:
* Humboldt University of Berlin, called ''Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität'' from 1828 to 1949, and sometimes known in English as Frederick William University
* ...
(1913–1932) of Berlin.
Herkner was originally a
Marxist
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
who later evolved towards realist views.
Alexandra Kollontai
Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai (russian: Алекса́ндра Миха́йловна Коллонта́й, née Domontovich, Домонто́вич; – 9 March 1952) was a Russian revolutionary, politician, diplomat and Theoretician ...
went to Zürich to study under him, but found he had become a “
revisionist” and spent much of her time at the university contesting his views.
His major work was ''Die Arbeiterfrage'', first published in 1894.
Herkner, Heinrich (1894) ''Die Arbeiterfrage: Eine Einführung''. Berlin: J. Guttentag.
He was a founding member of the German Society for Sociology 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, Ferdina ...
and along with 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 ...
, 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 ...
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 ...
on its first board. In 1917 he succeeded the deceased Gustav Schmoller
Gustav Friedrich (after 1908: von) Schmoller (; 24 June 1838 – 27 June 1917) was the leader of the "younger" German historical school of economics.
He was a leading '' Sozialpolitiker'' (more derisively, '' Kathedersozialist'', "Socialist of t ...
as the President of the Verein für Socialpolitik
The Verein für Socialpolitik (), or the German Economic Association, is an important society of economists in the German-speaking area.
History
The Verein was founded in Eisenach in 1872 as a response to the "social question". Among its founder ...
, a position he held until 1929.
Works
* ''Die oberelsässische Baumwollenindustrie und ihre Arbeiter. Auf Grund der Thatsachen dargestellt'', 1887
* ''Die soziale Reform als Gebot des wirtschaftlichen Fortschritts'', 1891
* ''Die Arbeiterfrage'', 1894
* ''Der Kampf um das sittliche Werturteil in der Nationalökonomie'', in: Schmollers Jb. f. Gesetzgebung, Verw. u. Volkswirtschaft im Dt. Reiche 36 (1912), 515-555
* ''Krieg und Volkswirtschaft'', 1915
* ''Deutschland und Deutsch-Österreich'', 1919
* ''Liberalismus und Nationalismus 1848-1890'', 1930
References
Further reading
* Jürgen Backhaus and Johannes Hanel (1994). "Die Nachfolge: Ein Versuch über Heinrich Herkner, den Volkswirt : mit einer Bibliographie und einem porträt Herkners". Marburg: Metropolis.
* Eckhard Hansen, Florian Tennstedt (Hrsg.) u. a.: '' Biographisches Lexikon zur Geschichte der deutschen Sozialpolitik 1871 bis 1945.'' Band 1: ''Sozialpolitiker im Deutschen Kaiserreich 1871 bis 1918.'' Kassel University Press, Kassel 2010, , S. 69 f.
Online
PDF; 2,2 MB).
*
*
External links
ÖSTERREICHISCHES BIOGRAPHISCHES LEXIKON 1815–1950
*
Writers from Liberec
German economists
1863 births
1932 deaths
Sudeten German people
Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to Germany
{{Germany-academic-bio-stub