Alfred Weber

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Alfred Weber, around 1925

Carl David Alfred Weber (born July 30, 1868 in Erfurt , † May 2, 1958 in Heidelberg ) was a German economist and sociologist . He was the younger brother of the sociologist and economist Max Weber .

Life

Weber grew up in Charlottenburg near Berlin (today Berlin-Charlottenburg ), where he also passed his Abitur. His father was the national liberal politician Max Weber senior . In 1888 Weber began to study archeology and art history at the University of Bonn , went to Tübingen in 1889 and switched to law. There he became a member of the student union AV Igel Tübingen in 1889 , from which he later left. He finished his studies in Berlin in 1892 with the first state examination after he had completed his military service. At the same time as the second state examination (1897), he began work on his dissertation on the subject of domestic industry with the economist Gustav Schmoller . After his habilitation on the same subject (1900), he taught at the University of Berlin until he was appointed to the German Karl Ferdinand University in Prague in 1904 and supervised students such as Max Brod and Felix Weltsch . Alfred Weber headed the oral examination for Franz Kafka's doctorate .

Weber, who had already been involved in Friedrich Naumann's National Social Association , worked there politically in a German-national sense. Among other things, in 1907 he called for the division of Bohemia into a German and a Czech part. In the same year he followed the call to a chair in economics in Heidelberg .

In Heidelberg he was in close contact with numerous scholars and representatives of scientific, cultural and intellectual life, including a number of women such as Marie Luise Gothein and Marianne Weber, among others, with the economists Eberhard Gothein and Emil Lederer , the historian Karl Ludwig Hampe and the Archaeologist Ludwig Curtius and the philosopher Karl Jaspers . He was also part of the discussion group around his brother Max and his wife Marianne Weber. Here he met Else von Richthofen , the wife of the economist Edgar Jaffé , with whom he began a love affair, which after her separation from her husband resulted in a lifelong, albeit longer, stay in Munich in 1919/1920 due to her relationship with Max Weber broken partnership developed.

In Heidelberg he did his doctorate, among others Erich Fromm, and promoted the habilitation of Norbert Elias . The sociologist, philosopher and politician Panagiotis Kanellopoulos was one of his students .

Here Weber completed a work on the theory of industrial location that had already begun in Prague in 1909 and published it; his essential analytical instrument is the location triangle, an abstraction that is too simplified from today's perspective. Nevertheless, he is still considered to be one of the founders of industrial location theory. In society and the economy, he criticized the increasing bureaucratization as well as cartelization.

As a “ Kathedersozialist ” he campaigned for the humanization of the world of work and believed, especially after the Second World War, that he could contribute to a “liberal” or “free socialism” through education within a liberal economy. As early as 1909 he and his brother Max Weber organized a survey on the situation of industrial workers, which is considered the beginning of modern industrial sociology . Since then he has concentrated on sociological, life-philosophical and political science issues. He shared many of his brother's scientific views, but criticized his freedom of values ​​postulate for science as too one-sided.

At the beginning of the First World War he volunteered for military service. In 1915 he organized an intergroup war target conference in Berlin and spoke out in favor of a German conception of Central Europe and the expansion of power into the eastern region. After the armistice, he and others founded the German Democratic Party (DDP) and was elected chairman. When he had to resign after a month, he resumed teaching in Heidelberg. With little success he tried to work politically in associations of dignitaries such as the Verein für Socialpolitik . In 1925 Weber became chairman of the Academic Exchange Service . V. (AAD).

After Hitler came to power in 1933, Weber voluntarily resigned from the teaching post, thus anticipating a dismissal because of his public protest against National Socialist policies. In 1943/44 he was in contact with the Kreisau Circle through his students Carlo Mierendorff and Theodor Haubach . Weber is considered a representative of internal emigration . After the Second World War he founded the monthly magazine Die Wandlung with Karl Jaspers , joined the SPD and helped rebuild Heidelberg University politically and scientifically. At his request, Erich Preiser was appointed as his successor in 1947 .

As a staunch opponent of National Socialism, Alfred Weber was nominated for the office of Federal President by the KPD in the election of the German Federal President in 1954 without his knowledge and consent . He received twelve votes, and Theodor Heuss was elected . Weber himself rejected the KPD and then declared this publicly.

Since 1948 he was a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences . In 1955 Weber was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In 1957 he received the Hansian Goethe Prize .

The Alfred Weber Institute for Economics at Heidelberg University is named after Alfred Weber .

Cultural sociology

Weber's cultural sociology can be seen as the scientific result of his political criticism of society and the state. According to Weber, the human “existence as a whole” is divided into three different sectors. The “civilization” and “social spheres” contrast with the largely autonomous “cultural sphere”. While the first two encompass technology and science, state building and economic organization, the third includes art, philosophy, religion and myths. Tensions could arise in the course of the story because these areas do not develop evenly. In addition, the cultural sphere is generally only possible for the individual and in a non-transferable manner. The increasing dissolution of traditional ties between the cultural and the other spheres tends to make modern people homeless.

In his extensive work Weber tried to achieve a synthesis of philosophy of life, economic analysis, cultural history and politics, which was not possible without contradictions. His effect was based not only on his scientific works, but at least as much on his personal advocacy for scientific openness, freedom and human dignity.

Economic location theory

In his location model, Weber deductively reduces the location factors to transport costs , labor costs and the agglomeration effect and differentiates them with regard to:

  • their scope in:
    • general location factors (e.g. wage level)
    • special location factors (for example the occurrence of certain mineral resources)
  • their spatial effect
    • Agglomerative factors (lead to a concentration of companies)
    • Deglomerative factors (lead to a diversification of companies)
    • Regional factors (limit companies to a specific geographic area)
  • the nature of their nature
    • natural-technical factors (for example the nature of the soil)
    • societal-structural factors (for example the possibilities for leisure activities)

Weber then determines the optimal location by successively including the three starting factors:

  • The transport costs are calculated from the material index (quotient of the weight of the raw materials and the finished product, see weight loss material ), the distance from the location to the place of production and the place of consumption. This means that the cheapest place of production is not only an optimal distance from the raw materials, but also from the place of consumption.
  • Labor costs become a factor when the wage level differs in the region in such a way that the advantages of the optimal transport cost point are offset by the savings at the optimal labor cost point. Then the longer transport costs are worthwhile due to the lower labor costs.
  • Companies are not only dependent on work and raw materials, but can also be influenced positively or negatively by other companies in the area. If the advantages of being close to other companies outweigh the negative effects on transport and wage costs, it is worth settling in the agglomeration area. However, if there are disadvantages (competition and other things) in the vicinity, this can lead to a relocation of the company.

Due to the exclusively cost-oriented approach, the reduced basic assumptions and the non-overlapping categorization, Weber's location factor model is often criticized, but as a basic model of economic geography it is still used today as an explanatory approach for the spatial distribution of the locations of industrial companies.

Fonts

Complete edition

  • Alfred Weber: Complete edition in 10 volumes. Metropolis-Verlag, Marburg 1997-2003, ISBN 3-89518-100-5 .
    • Volume 1: Cultural history as cultural sociology (1935/1950). Edited by Eberhard Demm . Metropolis-Verlag, Marburg 1997, ISBN 3-89518-101-3 .
    • Volume 2: The tragic and the story (1943). Edited by Richard Bräu . Metropolis-Verlag, Marburg 1998, ISBN 3-89518-102-1 .
    • Volume 3: Farewell to previous history (1946) / The third or the fourth person (1953). Edited by Richard Bräu. Metropolis-Verlag, Marburg 1997, ISBN 3-89518-103-X .
    • Volume 4: Introduction to Sociology. (1955), ed. by Hans G. Nutzinger . Metropolis-Verlag, Marburg 1997, ISBN 3-89518-104-8 .
    • Volume 5: Writings on economic and social policy (1897–1932). Edited by Hans G. Nutzinger. Metropolis-Verlag, Marburg 2000, ISBN 3-89518-105-6 .
    • Volume 6: Writings on industrial location theory. Edited by Hans G. Nutzinger. Metropolis-Verlag, Marburg 1998, ISBN 3-89518-106-4 .
    • Volume 7: Political Theory and Daily Politics (1903–1933). Edited by Eberhard Demm. Metropolis-Verlag, Marburg 1997, ISBN 3-89518-107-2 .
    • Volume 8: Writings on the sociology of culture and history (1906–1958). Edited by Richard Bräu. Metropolis-Verlag, Marburg 2000, ISBN 3-89518-108-0 .
    • Volume 9: Politics in Post-War Germany. Edited by Eberhard Demm. Metropolis-Verlag, Marburg 2001, ISBN 3-89518-109-9 .
    • Volume 10: Selected correspondence. Edited by Eberhard Demm and Hartmut Soell . Metropolis-Verlag, Marburg 2003, ISBN 3-89518-110-2 (two half-volumes).

Single publications (selection)

  • Pure theory of the location. Mohr, Tübingen 1909.
  • Religion and culture. Diederichs, Jena 1912.
  • The crisis of the modern state idea in Europe. German Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart a. a. 1925.
  • Cultural history as cultural sociology. Sijthoff, Leiden 1935.
  • The tragic and the story. [1943], Piper, Munich 1959.
  • Farewell to the previous story. Overcoming Nihilism? Francke, Bern 1946.
  • (together with Alexander Mitscherlich ): Free socialism. Lambert Schneider, Heidelberg 1946.
  • The third or fourth person. On the meaning of historical existence. Piper, Munich 1953.
  • Introduction to Sociology. Piper, Munich 1955.
  • Writings and essays 1897–1955. Edited by Josef Kepeszczuk, Piper, Munich 1956.
  • Did we Germans fail after 1945? Political Writings. Edited by Christa Dericum, Piper, Munich 1979.

literature

  • Reinhard Blomert : Intellectuals on the move. Karl Mannheim, Alfred Weber, Norbert Elias and the Heidelberg social sciences of the interwar period. Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich 1999.
  • Eberhard Demm (ed.): Alfred Weber as a politician and scholar. The presentations of the first Alfred Weber Congress in Heidelberg. Franz Steiner-Verlag, Stuttgart 1986.
  • Eberhard Demm: A Liberal in the Empire and Republic. Alfred Weber's political path until 1920 (= writings of the Federal Archives , vol. 38), Boldt-Verlag, Boppard am Rhein 1990.
  • Eberhard Demm: From the Weimar Republic to the Federal Republic. Alfred Weber's political path 1920–1958. (= Writings of the Federal Archives , Vol. 51), Droste-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1999.
  • Eberhard Demm: Spirit and Politics in the 20th Century. Collected essays on Alfred Weber. Peter Lang-Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 2000.
  • Eberhard Demm (ed.): Alfred Weber to the memory. Testimonies and memories of contemporaries. Peter Lang-Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 2000.
  • Eberhard Demm (Ed.): Sociology, Politics and Culture. From Alfred Weber to the Frankfurt School. Peter Lang-Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 2003.
  • Eberhard Demm: Else Jaffé-von Richthofen. A fulfilled life between Max and Alfred Weber. Droste, Düsseldorf 2014.
  • Mind and politics. The Heidelberg scholarly politician Alfred Weber 1868–1958. Catalog for the exhibition at Heidelberg University Museum, edited by Eberhard Demm, regional culture publisher, Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 3-89735-254-0 .
  • Colin Loader: Alfred Weber and the Crisis of Culture, 1890-1933. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke 2012, ISBN 978-1-349-44074-0 , ISBN 978-1-137-03115-0 .
  • Hans G. Nutzinger (Ed.): Between political economy and universal history. Alfred Weber's draft of a comprehensive social science from today's perspective. Metropolis Verlag, Marburg 1995.
  • Hans G. Nutzinger: Ideas of a non-paternalistic social policy: Lujo Brentano and Alfred Weber. In: Institute for Economic Research Halle (IWH / Academy for Political Education Tutzing) (Ed.): 60 years of social market economy in a globalized world. Third Forum on a Decent Economic Order. IWH, special issue 1/2008, pp. 115-140.
  • Erich Preiser : Alfred Weber. Speech for his eightieth birthday. In: From the life and research of the university 1947/48. (= Publications of the University of Heidelberg , no. 4), Berlin / Göttingen / Heidelberg 1950, pp. 1–15.
  • Nicolaus Sombart : Rendezvous with the world spirit. Heidelberg reminiscences 1945–51. Frankfurt am Main 2000.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. Marie Baum: The old and the new Marianne Weber circle. In: Klaus Mugdan (ed.): The Marianne Weber circle. Festgabe for Georg Poensgen on his 60th birthday on December 7, 1958. Kerle, Heidelberg 1958, pp. 7-14; on the “Heidelberg Spirit” and its representatives, to whom Alfred Weber was one of the central figures, cf. Ludwig Curtius: German and ancient world. Life memories. Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart 1950, pp. 337–361.
  2. ^ Eberhard Demm: Else Jaffé-von Richthofen. A fulfilled life between Max and Alfred Weber. Droste, Düsseldorf 2014.
  3. ↑ cf. Reinhard Blomert: Intellectuals on the move. Karl Mannheim, Alfred Weber, Norbert Elias and the Heidelberg social sciences of the interwar period. Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich 1999, pp. 222-279 and 351-364.
  4. ↑ See Wolfgang Schluchter : Max and Alfred Weber - two dissimilar brothers . In: Ruperto Carola 3, 1994 .
  5. ^ Carl Joachim Friedrich: Commuters between Heidelberg and Harvard , access date: December 26, 2015.
  6. ^ Alfred Weber obituary by Friedrich Lütge in the 1959 yearbook of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (PDF file).
personal data
SURNAME Weber, Alfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sociologist, economist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH July 30, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Erfurt
DATE OF DEATH May 2, 1958
Place of death Heidelberg