George Douglas Howard Cole

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George Douglas Howard Cole (born September 25, 1889 in Cambridge , † January 14, 1959 in London ) was a British economist , historian , political publicist and author of detective stories . As an influential political theorist, he is described as a bridge builder between the old and the new left .

Life

Cole refused military service in World War I , joined the movement against conscription and became a member of the Fabian Society . From 1924 he wrote as a journalist for the Manchester Guardian and soon began his studies at Balliol College of Oxford University , where he eventually 1944-1957 as Chichele professor of social and political theory taught and researched. This made him the first professor of a subject related to sociology at Oxford University. According to Ralf Dahrendorf and Colin Crouch , however, Cole cannot be considered a sociologist in the strict sense, but his work is interspersed with sociological analyzes.

Early on, he began to publish influential books on the history and perspective of socialist politics and the cooperative system. From 1923 detective stories were added. With eight works he was the most printed author in the Left Book Club .

Throughout his life, Cole was looking for a left-wing socialist path between social democracy and communism , such as guild socialism . In 1956 he initiated the founding of the International Society for Socialist Studies , the declared aim of which was to revitalize socialist thinking and to overcome the "general opportunist flattening".

family

In 1918 he married Margaret Cole , another member of the Fabian Society, with whom he had a son and two daughters.

Fonts in German translation (selection)

  • Self-government in the industry . Hans Robert Engelmann, Berlin 1921
  • Guild Socialism . Rheinland-Verlag, 1921
  • A century of English cooperative movement . Auerdruck, Hamburg 1950
  • The British Cooperative Movement. A contribution to the discussion on some questions relating to the redesign of retail . Bund-Verlag, Cologne-Deutz 1954
  • A new commitment to world socialism . International Society for Socialist Studies V., Dortmund 1957.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christoph Jünke : Forays through the red 20th century. Hamburg 2014, p. 111.
  2. ↑ a b Ralf Dahrendorf , Colin Crouch : Cole, George Douglas Howard . In: Wilhelm Bernsdorf , Horst Knospe (Ed.): Internationales Soziologenlexikon. Vol. 1, 2nd edition, Enke, Stuttgart 1980, p. 80 f.
  3. ↑ Christoph Jünke : Forays through the red 20th century. Hamburg 2014, p. 111.
personal data
SURNAME Cole, George Douglas Howard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cole, GDH; Cole GDH
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British economist. Historian and author
DATE OF BIRTH September 25, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Cambridge
DATE OF DEATH January 14, 1959
Place of death London