Wolf Lepenies (born 11 January 1941) is a German sociologist, political scientist, and author.

Biography

Lepenies was born near Allenstein, East Prussia (now Olsztyn,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

), in 1945 his family fled from the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

's assault on East Prussia to

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...

and from there to North Rhine-Westfalia. He eventually grew up in Koblenz. He studied sociology and philosophy at the

University of Münster The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of stud ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

and graduated with a

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

in 1967. In 1970 he habilitated at the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...

. He traveled abroad, first to the Maison des sciences de l’homme in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, then to the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent schola ...

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

. In 1984 he joined the faculty of the Wissenschaftskolleg in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

before becoming a professor of sociology at the Free University of Berlin. He frequently returned to Princeton to conduct research. In 1986 he succeeded Peter Wapnewski as president of the Wissenschaftskolleg. In 2001 he was succeeded by Dieter Grimm. In 2006 he became a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

. Lepenies is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Since 2004 he has been a member of the

supervisory board In corporate governance, a governance board also known as council of delegates are chosen by the stockholders of a company to promote their interests through the governance of the company and to hire and fire the board of directors. In civil s ...

Axel Springer AG Axel Springer SE () is a German digital and popular periodical publishing house which is the largest in Europe, with numerous multimedia news brands, such as ''Bild'', ''Die Welt'', and '' Fakt'' and more than 15,000 employees. It generated tot ...

Selected Awards and honors

*1984 - Gay-Lussac-Humboldt-Prize *1986 - Kulturpreis der Stadt Koblenz *1988 - Karl-Vossler-Preis *1998 - Leibniz Ring Hannover *1999 -

Joseph Breitbach Prize Joseph-Breitbach-Preis (Joseph Breitbach Prize) is a literary prize awarded by the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz (Academy of Sciences and Literature of Mainz), in Germany and the Joseph Breitbach Foundation. Established in ...

*2000 -

Theodor Heuss Prize Theodor is a masculine given name. It is a German form of Theodore. It is also a variant of Teodor. List of people with the given name Theodor * Theodor Adorno, (1903–1969), German philosopher * Theodor Aman, Romanian painter * Theodor Blueger ...

*2003 - Leibniz Medal from the

Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften), abbreviated BBAW, is the official academic society for the natural sciences and humanities for the German states of Berlin a ...

*2003 - Prix Chartier, for ''Sainte-Beuve, au seuil de la modernité'' *2004 -

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

*2006 -

Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels is an international peace prize awarded annually by the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (English: ''German Publishers and Booksellers Association''), which runs the Frankfurt Book Fair. The award ceremony is held in the Paulskirche i ...

(awarded by Andrei Plesu) *2007 - Staatspreis des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen *2010 -

Schader Award The Schader Award is a German award bestowed annually on a social scientist. It is awarded by the Schader foundation of Darmstadt. The foundation and its award are founded by and named for Alois M. Schader, and comes with a 15,000 Euro prize. Past ...

*2015 - Adam-Mickiewicz-Preis *2016 - Kythera Prize *2017 -

Order of the Star of Romania The Order of the Star of Romania (Romanian: ''Ordinul Steaua României'') is Romania's highest civil Order and second highest State decoration after the defunct Order of Michael the Brave. It is awarded by the President of Romania. It has five r ...

, Commander

Works

* ''Melancholie und Gesellschaft'', 1969 (his 1967 doctoral dissertation) * ''Orte des wilden Denkens. Zur Anthropologie von Claude Levi-Strauss'' (with Hans Henning Ritter), 1970 * ''Soziologische Anthropologie. Materialien'', 1971 * ''Das Ende der Naturgeschichte. Wandel kultureller Selbstverständlichkeiten'', 1976 * ''Geschichte der Soziologie'' (a history of

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

in four volumes), 1981 * ''Die drei Kulturen. Soziologie zwischen Literatur und Wissenschaft'', 1985 * ''Autoren und Wissenschaftler im 18. Jahrhundert. Linné - Buffon - Winckelmann - Georg Forster - Erasmus Darwin'', 1988 * ''Gefährliche Wahlverwandtschaften. Essays zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte'', 1989 * ''Folgen einer unerhörten Begebenheit. Die Deutschen nach der Vereinigung'', 1992 * ''Aufstieg und Fall der Intellektuellen in Europa'', 1992 * ''Sainte-Beuve. Auf der Schwelle zur Moderne'', 1997 * ''Benimm und Erkenntnis'', 1997 * ''Sozialwissenschaft und sozialer Wandel. Ein Erfahrungsbericht'', 1999 * ''Kultur und Politik. Deutsche Geschichten'', 2006 * ''The Seduction of Culture in German History'', 2006

References

External links

*
Zur Begründung für die Verleihung des FriedenspreisesKuratoriumsmitglied
des Digitalen Wörterbuchs der deutschen Sprache des 20. Jahrhunderts DWDS * Thomas Meaney
''Fancies and Fears of a Latin Europe''
''New Left Review, 107, September–October 2017'' * Luca Corchia
''Sull'opera Melanconia e società di Wolf Lepenies''
in ''The Lab's Quarterly/Il Trimestrale del Laboratorio'', 2, 2007, ss. 36 - {{DEFAULTSORT:Lepenies, Wolf 1941 births Living people German sociologists People from Olsztyn Writers from Koblenz People from East Prussia Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin German male writers Commanders of the Order of the Star of Romania