Ernest Manheim

Ernest Manheim (until 1920 Ernő , then to 1934 Ernst , in the US then Ernest ) (* 27. January 1900 in Budapest ; † 28. July 2002 in Kansas City ) was a from Hungary originating American sociologist , anthropologist and composer .

Life

Manheim was born in Budapest as the younger of two children of the merchant József (Joseph) Manheim (1863-1925) and Hermine, née Wengraf (1870-1953; later married Déri). He grew up bilingual (Hungarian, German). From 1909 he attended an upper secondary school in Budapest, where he passed the Matura in 1917 . He then attended the Honvéd Military Academy in Budapest and began studying chemistry at the Royal Joseph University of Technology in Budapest. In 1918 he became a corporal soldier in the Austro-Hungarian army . After the end of the First World War, he continued his studies of chemistry and mathematics at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, but also attended lectures on philosophy and music and literary studies .

In 1919, Manheim volunteered in the army of the Hungarian Soviet Republic (March to July 1919) from Béla Kun and became a prisoner of war. He fled the Romanian camp, but could not stay long in Budapest because, as a supporter of the Soviet Republic, he was threatened with arrest. In 1920 he moved to Austria , where he continued his studies at the University of Vienna (initially chemistry and physics , then philosophy and history from 1921 ).

In 1923 he moved to Kiel , where he continued his studies of philosophy at the Christian Albrechts University there until 1925 and also attended sociological courses with Ferdinand Tönnies . In Kiel, Manheim made friends with Hans Freyer , who was professor of philosophy there. When Freyer was appointed to a chair for sociology in Leipzig, Manheim followed him. There he continued his philosophy studies, but also attended courses in economics and sociology. In 1928 he received his doctorate from Theodor Litt and Hans Freyer, the title of his dissertation was: On the logic of the concrete concept .

From 1926 to 1933 Manheim worked as an assistant without a budget at Freyer at the University of Leipzig , where he also offered courses himself. He was also a lecturer at the adult education center in Leipzig from 1926 to 1933 . In 1932 Manheim put his habilitation thesis on The Bearers of Public Opinion. Studies on the sociology of the public . This had already been accepted by the faculty when Manheim voluntarily withdrew his habilitation application in 1933. After the Nazi takeover of power, as a Jew and foreigner, he would have had no chance of obtaining a habilitation. He traveled to Budapest with his family, where he spent the second half of 1933. In December 1933 he moved to London with his wife .

In London he studied sociology and social anthropology from 1934 at the University of London and the London School of Economics and Political Science , where he received his Ph.D. ( Anthropology ) doctorate . Here he also wrote an extensive manuscript for the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research , which was lost. In 1936, however, a summary appeared under the title: Contributions to a History of the Authoritarian Family .

In 1937 Manheim finally emigrated to the USA , where he became an American citizen in 1943 . He initially worked as an assistant professor at the University of Chicago ( Illinois ), which at the time was a stronghold of empirical social research. Since then, the combination of philosophically based theoretical competence with methods of empirical social research has been what makes Manheim's scientific work special. From 1940 he was professor of sociology at the University of Missouri in Kansas City . In 1955/56 he was visiting professor for one year in Graz and Vienna, in 1960/61 at the University of Tehran . In 1970, he had reasons of age in Kansas City emeritus must be, however, taught on a privately funded Institute ( Henry Haskell Chair of Sociology ) until 1991. 1928 married Anna Sophie Manheim Witters (1900-1988) from Osnabrück . Her son Frank Tibor Manheim was born in Leipzig in 1930. In 1991 Manheim married the Canadian-born American psychologist Sheelagh Graham Bull (* 1943). Ernest Manheim died in Kansas City, Missouri in 2002 at the age of 102.

The scientist

The years in Germany form the time of the theorist Manheim. With a natural, philosophical and social science education, he switched from philosophy to sociology under the influence of Hans Freyer. His dissertation is still in a strong philosophical tradition, but can already be read as a contribution to the sociology of knowledge . With the ineffective habilitation thesis The Bearers of Public Opinion. Studies in the sociology of the public was a pioneer in communication theory . Historical argumentation is typical of Manheim and the Leipzig School of Sociology .

The years in London form the phase of the anthropologist Manheim. He expanded his work to include cultural anthropological studies and social psychological approaches.

The years in Chicago and Kansas City are those of the empiricist Ernest Manheim. He worked and published on the connections between the urban lifestyle and mental illness, on youth problems, crime prevention, minorities and prejudice .

In practice, Manheim was committed to improving study opportunities for African American students at the University of Missouri – Kansas City , Missouri.

The composer

Manheim was also a composer . In addition to his academic studies, he attended conservatories in Budapest and Vienna. Around 1922 he composed his quintet for flute, violin, viola, cello and lute . In Leipzig he created choral works, also based on texts by Martin Luther . In London he created choral and song works based on texts by Irish and English poets. His compositional work reached its climax in Kansas City. The most important works are the introductory music to the Chinese drama Der Kreidekreis (based on an arrangement by Klabund ), the Symphony in B minor , the Rhapsody for four strings and his arrangements of Hungarian folk songs Ritkabúza, ritkaárpa, ritkarózs .

Honors

• 1973: Thomas Jefferson Award from the University of Missouri
• 1997: Awarded the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art
• 1998: Renaming of a building at the University of Kansas City, Missouri to "Ernest Mannheim Hall"
• 2002: Award of an honorary doctorate from the University of Leipzig on the occasion of the 100th birthday

Fonts (selection)

• On the logic of the concrete term . Munich: CH Beck'sche Verlagshandlung 1930, XI, 156 pp.
• The bearers of public opinion . Studies in the sociology of the public, Verlag Rudolf M. Rohrer, Brno / Prague / Leipzig / Vienna 1933.
• Education and public opinion . Studies on the Sociology of the Public in the 18th Century. Edited and introduced by Norbert Schindler, frommann / holzboog, Stuttgart / Bad Cannstatt 1979 (= culture and society, new historical research. 4.), new edition.
• Contributions to a History of the Authoritarian Family , in: “Studies on Authority and Family. Research reports from the Institute for Social Research ”, zu Klampen, Lüneburg 1987 (= Institute for Social Research. Writings. 5.), pp. 523-574

literature

• J. Maier: Manheim, Ernst , in: Wilhelm Bernsdorf / Horst Knospe (eds.): Internationales Soziologenlexikon , Vol. 2, Enke, Stuttgart ² 1984, p. 536. ISBN 3-432-90702-8
• Charles Reitz, Frank Baron, David N Smith (eds.): Authority, Culture and Communication: the Sociology of Ernest Manheim , Heidelberg 2005 ISBN 3-935025-57-2 (collection of articles, partly in German, partly in English)
• Elisabeth Welzig: Coping with the Middle. Ernest Manheim: Sociologist and Anthropologist , Vienna Cologne 1997 ISBN 3-205-98471-4 .

Web links

• Website of the University of Graz about an exhibition on the 100th birthday (with a short video interview)
• Literature by and about Ernest Manheim in the catalog of the German National Library
• Ernst Manheim sociologist, anthropologist and composer , University of Graz (PDF), accessed on August 20, 2016.
• Manheim selection bibliography by Reinhard Müller (PDF file; 80 kB), accessed on August 20, 2016.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Complete list of Manheim's compositions compiled by Manheim's son Frank T. Manheim in the collection of essays by Reitz / Baron / Smith pp. 145–148
2. ↑ Table of contents online here (PDF file; 41 kB)