The German Sociological Association (''Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie'', DGS) is a professional organization of social scientists in Germany. Established 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 ...

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 Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in 1933; his successor,

Hans Freyer Hans Freyer (31 July 1887 – 18 January 1969) was a German conservative revolutionary sociologist and philosopher. Life Freyer began studying theology, national economics, history and philosophy at the University of Greifswald in 1907, with the ...

, 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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

under the chairmanship of

Leopold von Wiese Leopold Max Walther von Wiese und Kaiserswaldau (2 December 1876, Glatz, German Empire – 11 January 1969, Cologne, West Germany) was a German sociologist and economist, as well as professor and chairman of the German Sociological Association ...

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:

as president () *''1933:''

Werner Sombart Werner Sombart (; ; 19 January 1863 – 18 May 1941) was a German economist and sociologist, the head of the "Youngest Historical School" and one of the leading Continental European social scientists during the first quarter of the 20th century. ...

, and

unconstitutionally as joint chairs () *1933–1934:

as chair; suspended the DGS in 1934 *1946–1955: Leopold von Wiese; office titled president *1955–1959:

Helmuth Plessner Helmuth Plessner (4 September 1892, Wiesbaden – 12 June 1985, Göttingen) was a German philosopher and sociologist, and a primary advocate of "philosophical anthropology". Life & career Plessner had an itinerant education in Germany betwee ...

*1959–1963:

Otto Stammer Otto is a masculine German given name and a Otto (surname), 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 ...

*1963–1967:

Theodor W. Adorno Theodor W. Adorno ( , ; born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund; 11 September 1903 – 6 August 1969) was a German philosopher, sociologist, psychologist, musicologist, and composer. He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of criti ...

*1967–1970:

Ralf Dahrendorf Ralf Gustav Dahrendorf, Baron Dahrendorf, (1 May 1929 – 17 June 2009) was a German-British sociologist, philosopher, political scientist and liberal politician. A class conflict theorist, Dahrendorf was a leading expert on explaining and a ...

; office titled chair *1970: Erwin K. Scheuch (interim chair) *1971–1974: M. Rainer Lepsius *1974–1978: Karl Martin Bolte *1979–1982:

Joachim Matthes Joachim (; ''Yəhōyāqīm'', "he whom Yahweh has set up"; ; ) was, according to Christian tradition, the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the Biblical apocrypha ...

*1983–1986: Burkart Lutz *1987–1990:

Wolfgang Zapf Wolfgang Zapf (* Frankfurt am Main 25 April 1937; † Berlin 26 April 2018) was a German sociologist. Education Zapf visited basic school and secondary school emphasizing modern languages in Frankfurt am Main. He obtained his final examinatio ...

*1991–1992: Bernhard Schäfers *1993–1994:

Lars Clausen Lars Michael Clausen (8 April 1935, Berlin – 20 May 2010, Hamburg) was a German sociologist and professor at the University of Kiel. Life and work During World War II, the family lived on the Darß (in Pomerania). 1944 his father Jürgen Cla ...

*1995–1998: Stefan Hradil *1999–2002:

Jutta Allmendinger Jutta Allmendinger (born September 26, 1956, in Mannheim) is a German sociologist who has been serving as the president of the WZB Berlin Social Science Center and a professor of educational sociology and labor market research at Humboldt Univers ...

*2003–2007: Karl-Siegbert Rehberg *2007–2011:

Hans-Georg Soeffner Hans-Georg is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Hans-Georg Anscheidt (born 1935), Grand Prix motorcycle road racing World Champion * Hans Georg von Arnim-Boitzenburg (1583–1641), Field Marshal of Holy Roman Empire and the Elect ...

*2011–2013:

Martina Löw Martina Löw (born 9 January 1965 in Würzburg, West Germany) is a German sociologist. Vita Martina Löw, former president of the German Sociological Association; Professor of sociology/sociology of architecture and planning at Technical Univer ...

*2013–2017: Stephan Lessenich *2017–2019:

Nicole Burzan Nicole may refer to: People * Nicole (name) * Nicole (American singer) (born 1958), a contestant in season 3 of the American ''The X Factor'' * Nicole (Chilean singer) (born 1977) * Nicole (German singer) (born 1964), winner of the 1982 Eurovi ...

*2019–2021:

Birgit Blättel-Mink Birgit is a female given name, a short form of Birgitta and ultimately a Germanic form of the Gaelic name Bridget. Notable people with the name include: * Birgit Brüel, Danish singer and actress * Birgit Collin-Langen, German politician * ...

*2021–present:

Paula-Irene Villa Braslavsky Paula-Irene Villa Braslavsky (born 1968) is a German-Argentine sociologist. She is a professor of general sociology and gender studies at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) and president of the German Sociological Association. Care ...

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