German "public sociology" from 1945 until 1989

• Applicant: Privatdozent Dr. Oliver Neun
• Subject Area: Sociological Theory
• Term: from 2014 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 254563026

With his call for public sociology, that is a sociology directed at the general public, Michael Burawoy initiated an intense debate in American sociology in 2004, which received great attention in international sociology. Moreover, in other social sciences i.e. political science or in economics, similar aims have been expressed. In American sociology this discussion led to the (re)discovery of authors who had almost been forgotten, Burawoy describes this as recovering of the Public Face of U.S. Sociology. In Germany no attention was paid to the debate on public sociology for a number of years, but it can help to (re)discover previously overlooked traditions in sociology. After 1945, for example, the sociologists in Germany agreed that sociology should try to reach a wider public. But after 1968 this type of sociology were constantly losing influence. The German history of sociology has, however, neglected the attitude of the early sociologists because it concentrated on the different sociological schools after 1945. Furthermore, the history of the discipline since 1968 has not been examined so far. The aim of the project is therefore to describe the history of German public sociology from 1945 to 1989 and the reasons for its loss of influence after 1968. Especially the thesis shall be examined that it was a ironic, non-intended effect of the 1968 generation, using new sources like the Audiovisuellen Quellenfundus zur deutschen Soziologie nach 1945 and the Helmut Schelsky respectively Ralf Dahrendorf Papers. This new look on the history of the discipline is supposed to legitimate and strengthen the often stigmatized public sociology that has been officially supported by the initiative DGS goes public since 2012.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants