Götz Briefs

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Götz (Anton) Briefs , also Götz A (ntony) Briefs (born January 1, 1889 in Eschweiler ; † May 16, 1974 in Rome ) was a Roman Catholic social theorist , social ethicist , social philosopher and economist .

Life

Götz Briefs studied history and philosophy in Munich from 1908 , moved to Bonn in 1909 and later to Freiburg . In 1911 he received his doctorate summa cum laude with an economic policy study on the alcohol cartel . In 1913 he completed his habilitation in Freiburg with a thesis on classical economics with special attention to the average profit rate.

In 1919 he received a reputation as a professor of economic and social policy at the University of Freiburg. In the same year he was involved in the drafting of the Works Council Act. In 1921 he became a full professor at the University of Würzburg , and in 1923 he moved back to Freiburg. In 1926 Briefs accepted a position at the Technical University in Berlin . In 1928 he founded the Institute for Industrial Sociology and Social Management in Berlin together with Paul Riebensahm . Due to the influence of the National Socialists, he emigrated to the USA in 1934 . Götz Briefs was initially visiting professor at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC , and in 1937 he was appointed full professor at Georgetown University in Washington.

In addition to Theodor Brauer , Gustav Gundlach , Paul Jostock , Franz Hermann Mueller , Heinrich Rommen and Oswald von Nell-Breuning , Briefs was a member of the “Königswinterer Kreis” at the Königswinter Institute for Social and Economic Order.

He published over 350 scientific articles. Götz Briefs has received numerous scholarships and six honorary doctorates. In 1959 he was honored with the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and in 1968 with the Great Cross of Merit with a Star . He was an honorary member of the KDStV Borusso-Saxonia Berlin , the KDStV Hercynia Freiburg im Breisgau and the KDStV Wildenstein Freiburg im Breisgau im CV .

Götz Briefs was buried in the German cemetery in the Vatican Campo Santo Teutonico .

The Götz-Briefs-Weg on the Inde in his home town of Eschweiler has been named after him since 1989 .

plant

The starting point of his academic work is the emergence and development of the proletariat , which - in contrast to Karl Marx - he does not see as the engine of the revolution , since the wage workers are fundamentally less interested in cementing their class than in social advancement . For him, this idea - in addition to a social-Christian superstructure - is essential for the emergence of the social market economy , which allows such social mobility (as opposed to a corporate or class society ). While Briefs was still an advocate of the union in the 1920s , he later criticized the German unions in particular for being rigid. He coined the term “fixed trade unions”, which are increasingly distancing themselves from their core task, the negotiation of collective wages, and are losing sight of the reality of everyday life for workers. Perhaps one reason for his change of heart is his new environment in the United States. Here he also met Josef Schumpeter personally, who placed entrepreneurship at the center of his work.

From a philosophical and ethical point of view, Goetz Briefs campaigned for a reconciliation of (ordo) liberalism with Catholic social teaching . His emigration is an example of the brain drain that set in among German intellectuals after the so-called “ Röhmputsch ” in 1934. Despite his anti-Marxist stance, Briefs was hated by the National Socialists because of his Catholic faith.

literature

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Web links

personal data
SURNAME Briefs, Götz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Briefs, Götz Antony
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German economist
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Eschweiler
DATE OF DEATH May 16, 1974
Place of death Rome