Gerhard Lenski

This article deals with the American sociologist - on the CDU member of the state parliament see Gerhard Lenski (politician) .

Gerhard Emmanuel Lenski, Jr. (born August 13, 1924 in Washington, DC ; † December 7, 2015 ) was an American sociologist , who through his contributions to the sociology of religion , social inequality and his ecological- evolutionary social theory (related of cultural evolution ) became known. He was a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . In 1976 he was accepted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Sociology of Religion

In 1958, Lenski and his team found in a large-scale empirical study in the Detroit area (US state Michigan ) that religious beliefs and denominational behavior patterns have a strong influence on large areas of the state and society. In addition to other findings, the study revealed significant differences between Catholics on the one hand and Protestants and Jews on the other with regard to attitudes towards economic life and the natural sciences . Lenski found the core points of Max Weber's theses confirmed, except that he could not prove any ascetic traits in the economic behavior of Protestants. Before Weber did John Wesley , one of the founders of the Methodist Church , already observed in 1790 that "industry and frugality" (diligence and frugality) , two standards of conduct, which shared the Methodists with members of other Protestant denominations, as "unintended side effects" (unintended by-product) would have brought prosperity to these people. The study showed that (white) Protestants and the small minority of Jews a great deal of "intellectual autonomy" possessed (intellectual autonomy) , which is a favorable condition for a scientific career. In contrast, Catholics have an intellectual orientation that "obedience" (obedience) and agreeing to the "revealed truths" of church doctrine higher evaluated as intellectual autonomy, which was detrimental to a career in the sciences. Studies by Catholic sociologists have come to the same research results.

Lensky attributed these differences to the Reformation and the Catholic response to it. The Reformation promoted the growth of intellectual autonomy, especially among Anabaptists , Puritans , Pietists , Methodists and English Presbyterians . It is true that there was also intellectual autonomy in medieval Catholicism, for example with men like Erasmus of Rotterdam . After the Reformation, however, the Catholic church leaders increasingly equated this quality with Protestantism and heresy (compare the execution of Giordano Bruno in 1600 and the forced revocation of Galileo Galileo in 1633). Instead, the Catholic Church would have demanded obedience to church doctrine from its members. These differences between Protestants and Catholics have remained effective to the present day. That is why none of the Catholic states like France , Italy , Brazil , Argentina or Chile , which are all industrialized to a fairly high degree, can be counted among the leading countries in the technological and scientific field. When comparing their country with the United States recently, Brazilian Catholic sociologists [1963] cited the religious heritage of Brazil as the main reason for the different stages of development of the two countries.

Sociological theory

In his works Power and Privilege (1966) and Human Societies: An Introduction to Macrosociology (1974) he continues the work of Leslie White and Lewis Henry Morgan . He regards technological progress as a fundamental factor in the evolution of societies and cultures. In contrast to White, who defined technology as the ability to generate and use energy, Lenski focused on information, its amount and use. The more information and knowledge (especially regarding the formation of the natural environment) a certain society possesses, the more progressive it is. He distinguishes four stages of human development according to their progress in the history of communication :

1. Information is passed on through genes
2. when people become conscious, they can learn and pass on information through experience
3. People begin to use signs and develop logic
4. People create symbols , develop language and writing

Advances in communication technology lead to advances in the economic and political system, the distribution of goods , social inequality and other areas of life. Lenski also distinguishes societies according to their level of technology, communication and economy:

1. Hunters and collectors
2. simple farming
3. advanced agriculture
4. Industry
5. special forms like fishing

See also

• Status inconsistency

Works (selection)

• The Religious Factor. A Sociological Study of Religion's Impact on Politics, Economics, and Family Life. Revised edition. Garden City 1963

Web links

Wikibooks: Sociological classics: Gerhard Lenski  - learning and teaching materials

• Literature by and about Gerhard Lenski in the catalog of the German National Library
• Frank Elwell: Gerhard Lenski's Ecological-Evolutionary Theory. In: faculty.rsu.edu. 2007, accessed on October 15, 2014

Individual evidence

1. ↑ A Life Well Lived. ( Memento of the original from December 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: telliamedrevisited.wordpress.com. December 7, 2015, accessed December 7, 2015.  
2. ↑ Max Weber : The Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism . 1904-1905.
3. ^ Gerhard Lenski: The Religious Factor. A Sociological Study of Religion's Impact on Politics, Economics, and Family Life. Revised edition. Garden City 1963, pp. 350-351 and 356-358.
4. ↑ Compare the so-called Merton thesis from 1938.
5. ↑ Thomas F. O'Dea: American Catholic Dilemma: An Inquiry into the Intellectual Life. Sheed & Ward, New York 1958, pp. ??.
6. ↑ Frank L. Christ, Gerard Sherry (Ed.): American Catholicism and the Intellectual Ideal. Appleton-Century-Croft, New York 1961, pp. ??.
7. ^ Gerhard Lenski: The Religious Factor. 1963, pp. 283-284.
8. ^ Gerhard Lenski: The Religious Factor. 1963, pp. 347-349.