Werner Sombart

Werner Sombart (January 19, 1863-May 18, 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. Portrait of Werner Sombart, taken from http://www. ... January 19 is the 19th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1863 (MDCCCLXIII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar). ... May 18 is the 138th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (139th in leap years). ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Economics (from the Greek οίκος [oikos], house, and νομος [nomos], rule, hence household management) is a social science that studies the production, distribution, trade and consumption of goods and services. ... Social interactions of people and their consequences are the subject of sociology studies. ... The Historical school of economics was a mainly German school of economic thought which held that a study of history was the key source of knowledge about human actions and economic matters, since economics would be culture-specific and not generalizable over space and time. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...

Life and Work

Early Career, Socialism, and Economics

He was born in Ermsleben, Harz, Germany, as the son of a wealthy liberal politician, industrialist, and estate-owner, Anton Ludwig Sombart, and studied at the universities of Pisa, Berlin, and Rome, both law and economics. In 1888, he received his Ph.D. from Berlin under the direction of Gustav von Schmoller, then the most eminent German economist. Pisa is a city in Tuscany, central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni (Left-Wing Democrats) Area  - City Proper  1290 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,823,807 almost 4,000,000 1... Law (a loanword from Old Norse lagu), in politics and jurisprudence, is a set of rules or norms of conduct which mandate, proscribe or permit specified relationships among people and organizations, intended to provide methods for ensuring the impartial treatment of such people, and provide punishments of/for those who... Economics (from the Greek οίκος [oikos], house, and νομος [nomos], rule, hence household management) is a social science that studies the production, distribution, trade and consumption of goods and services. ... Doctor of Philosophy, or Ph. ... Gustav von Schmoller (June 24, 1838 - June 27, 1917) was the leader of the younger German historical school of economics and probably the most distiguished Continental (European) economist of the time around 1900. ...

As an economist and especially social activist, Sombart was then seen as radically left-wing, and so only received - after some practical work as head lawyer of the Bremen Chamber of Commerce - a junior professorship at the out-of-the-way University of Breslau. Although faculties at such eminent universities as Heidelberg and Freiburg called him on chairs, the respective governments always vetoed this. Sombart, at that time, was an important Marxian, not a Marxist, but someone who used and interpreted Karl Marx - to the point that Friedrich Engels called him the only German professor who understood Das Kapital. The river Weser flows through Bremen to the estuary at Bremerhaven. ... Chambers of commerce are business advocacy groups which are usually not associated with government. ... Wrocław. ... Heidelberg (halfway between Stuttgart and Frankfurt) is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. ... Freiburg city from Schlossberg Freiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, in the Breisgau region, on the western edge of the southern Black Forest (German: Schwarzwald) with about 214,000 inhabitants. ... Marxian economics refers to a body of economic thought stemming from the work of Karl Marx. ... Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883 London) was an influential philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary organizer of the International Workingmens Association. ... Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels (November 28, 1820–August 5, 1895) was a 19th-century German political philosopher. ... Das Kapital (Capital) is a very large treatise of political economy written by Karl Marx in German. ...

In 1902, his magnum opus, Der moderne Kapitalismus, appeared in six volumes. This book coins the word "Capitalism" (which Marx had actually not used!); it is a systematic history of economics and economic development through the centuries and very much a work of the Historical School. Although later much disparaged by neo-classical economists, and much criticized in specific points, it is still today a standard work with important ramifications for, e.g., the Annales school (Fernand Braudel). The book has been translated into many languages, but not into English, as Princeton University Press obtained and holds the English copyright but did and does not publish the work. In common usage, the word capitalism means an economic system in which the means of production are primarily privately owned and operated for profit, with private investment of capital, and where production, distribution, and the prices of goods, services, and labor are affected by the forces of supply and demand... Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883 London) was an influential philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary organizer of the International Workingmens Association. ... The Historical school of economics was a mainly German school of economic thought which held that a study of history was the key source of knowledge about human actions and economic matters, since economics would be culture-specific and not generalizable over space and time. ... Neoclassical economics refers to a general approach (a metatheory) to economics based on supply and demand which depends on individuals (or any economic agent) operating rationally, each seeking to maximize their individual utility or profit by making choices based on available information. ... The Annales School is a school of historical writing named after the French scholarly journal Annales dhistoire économique et sociale (later called Annales. ... Fernand Braudel Fernand Braudel (August 24, 1902–November 27, 1985) was a French historian. ... Princeton University, located in Princeton, New Jersey, is the fifth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. ...

In 1906, Sombart accepted a call to a full professorship at the Berlin School of Commerce, an inferior institution to Breslau but closer to political "action" than Breslau. Here, i.a., companion volumes to Modern Capitalism dealing with luxury, fashion, and war as economic paradigms appeared; especially the former two are the key works on the subject until today. In 1906 also appeared his Why is there no Socialism in the United States?, which, while naturally having been questioned since then, is the classical work on American exceptionalism in this respect. Exceptionalism is a claim, a pattern of claiming, or an assertion that the subject under discussion is claiming, special exemption to commonly-held relationships or principles. ...

Middle Career and Sociology

Finally, in 1917, Sombart became professor at the University of Berlin, then the preeminent university in Europe if not in the world. He remained on the chair until 1931 but continued teaching until 1940. During that period, he was also one of the leading sociologists around, much more prominent than his friend Max Weber, who later of course eclipsed him to the point that Sombart is virtually forgotten in that field by now. Sombart's insistence on Sociology as a part of the Humanities (Geisteswissenschaften), necessarily so because it dealt with human beings and therefore required inside, empathic "Verstehen" rather than the outside, objectivizing "Begreifen" (both German words translate as "understanding" into English), became extremely unpopular already during his lifetime, because it was the opposite of the "scientification" of the social sciences (jocularly referred to as "physics envy"), in the tradition of Auguste Comte, Émile Durkheim and Weber (although this is a misunderstanding; Weber largely shared Sombart's views in these matters), which became fashionable during this time and has more or less remained so until today. However, because Sombart's approach has much in common with Hans-Georg Gadamer's Hermeneutics, which likewise is a Verstehen-based approach to understanding the world, he is coming back in some sociological and even philosophical circles that are sympathetic to that approach and critical towards the scientification of the world. Sombart's key sociological essays are collected in his posthumous 1956 work, Noo-Soziologie. Alternative meaning: Humboldt State University, located in Arcata, California Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (German Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) is the successor to Berlins oldest university, the Friedrich Wilhelm University (Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität), founded in 1810 by the liberal Prussian educational reformer... Maximilian Weber (April 21, 1864 – June 14, 1920) was a German political economist and sociologist who is considered one of the founders of the modern, antipositivistic study of sociology and public administration. ... The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view. ... Auguste Comte Auguste Comte (full name Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte) (January 17 (recorded January 19), 1798 - September 5, 1857) was a positivist thinker and came up with the term of sociology to name the new science made by Saint-Simon. ... Emile Durkheim David Émile Durkheim (April 15, 1858 - November 15, 1917) is known as one of the originators of modern sociology. ... Maximilian Weber (April 21, 1864 – June 14, 1920) was a German political economist and sociologist who is considered one of the founders of the modern, antipositivistic study of sociology and public administration. ... Hans-Georg Gadamer Hans-Georg Gadamer (February 11, 1900 – March 13, 2002) was a German philosopher best known for his 1960 magnum opus, Truth and Method (Wahrheit und Methode). ... Hermeneutics may be described as the theory of interpretation and understanding of a text through empirical means. ...

Late Career and National Socialism

During the Weimar Republic, Sombart moved to the political right; his relation to the Nazis is heavily debated until today. His 1938 anthropology book, Vom Menschen, is clearly anti-Nazi, and was indeed hindered in publication and distribution by the Nazis. His earlier book, Die Juden und das Wirtschaftsleben (1911), is a pendant to Max Weber's study on the connection between Protestantism (especially Calvinism) and Capitalism, only that Sombart puts the Jews at the core of the development. This book was seen as philosemitic when it appeared, but several contemporary Jewish scholars describe it as antisemitic, at least in effect. In his attitude towards the Nazis, he is often likened to Martin Heidegger and his friend and colleague Carl Schmitt, but it is clear that, while the latter two tried to be the vanguard thinkers for the Third Reich in their field and only became critical when they were too individualistic and elbowed out from their power positions, Sombart was always much more ambivalent. Sombart had many, indeed more than proportional, Jewish students, most of which felt after the war moderately positive about him, although he clearly was no hero nor resistance fighter. The period of German history from 1919 to 1933 is known as the Weimar Republic (German Weimarer Republik, IPA: []). It is named after the city of Weimar where a national assembly convened to produce a new constitution after the German Monarchy and German Empire were abolished following the nations... The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ... Anthropology (from the Greek word άνθρωπος, humane) consists of the study of humankind (see genus Homo). ... Maximilian Weber (April 21, 1864 – June 14, 1920) was a German political economist and sociologist who is considered one of the founders of the modern, antipositivistic study of sociology and public administration. ... Protestantism is a movement within Christianity, representing a split from within the Roman Catholic Church during the mid-to-late Renaissance in Europe —a period known as the Protestant Reformation. ... Calvinism is a general approach to Christian theology advanced by a group of sixteenth-century reformers, the most famous of whom was John Calvin. ... In common usage, the word capitalism means an economic system in which the means of production are primarily privately owned and operated for profit, with private investment of capital, and where production, distribution, and the prices of goods, services, and labor are affected by the forces of supply and demand... The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ... Martin Heidegger (September 26, 1889 – May 26, 1976) was a German philosopher. ... Carl Schmitt Carl Schmitt (July 11, 1888 - April 7, 1985) was a German legal theoretician and political scientist. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ...

Sombart Today

Sombart's legacy today is difficut to ascertain, because the alleged Nazi affiliations have made an objective reevaluation difficult (while his earlier Socialist ones harmed him with the more bourgeois circles), especially in Germany. As has been stated, in economic history, his "Modern Capitalism" is regarded as a milestone and inspiration, although many details have been questioned. Key insights from his economic work concern the - recently again validated - discovery of the emergence of double-entry accounting as a key precondition for Capitalism and the interdisciplinary study of the City in the sense of urban studies. He also coined the term and concept of creative destruction which is a key ingredient of Joseph Schumpeter's theory of innovation (Schumpeter actually borrowed much from Sombart, not always with proper reference). In Sociology, mainstream proponents still regard him as a 'minor figure' and his sociological theory an oddity, which is clearly contradicted by the 'Journal of Classical Sociology'; today it is more philosophical sociologists and culturologists who, together with heterodox economists, use his work. Sombart has always been very popular in Japan; 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. Economic history is the application of economic theories to historical study. ... Accountancy (British English) or accounting (American English) is the process of maintaining, auditing, and processing financial information for business purposes. ... In common usage, the word capitalism means an economic system in which the means of production are primarily privately owned and operated for profit, with private investment of capital, and where production, distribution, and the prices of goods, services, and labor are affected by the forces of supply and demand... Sydney, Australia at Night. ... This article needs cleanup. ... Creative destruction is the colourful expression introduced by the economist Joseph Schumpeter to describe his view of the process of industrial transformation that accompanies radical innovation. ... Joseph Schumpeter Joseph Alois Schumpeter (February 8, 1883 – January 8, 1950) was an Austrian economist (though not an Austrian economist in the sense of being a member of the Austrian School of economics) and a giant in the history of economic thought. ...

Bibliography

Works by Sombart

• 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 & Humblot. Several English translations, incl. (1951): The Jews and Modern Capitalism. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
• Sombart, Werner: Der moderne Kapitalismus. Historisch-systematische Darstellung des gesamteuropäischen Wirtschaftslebens von seinen Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart. Final edn. 1916, repr. 1969, paperback edn. (3 vols. in 6): 1987 Munich: dtv. (Also in Spanish; no English translation yet.)
• Sombart, Werner (1921): Luxus und Kapitalismus. München: Duncker & Humblot, 1922. English translation: Luxury and capitalism. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
• 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 and 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))

Works about Sombart

• 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
• Lenger, Friedrich (1994): Werner Sombart, 1863-1941. Eine Biographie. München: Beck.
• 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.
• 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.

• The 'Journal of Classical Sociology' brings an interesting article with the question 'Why Is Werner Sombart Not Part of the Core of Classical Sociology?'.