Gustaf Fredrik Steffen

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Gustaf Frederik Steffen (1928)

Gustaf Fredrick Steffen (born May 4, 1864 in Stockholm , † April 15, 1929 in Gothenburg ) was a Swedish economist and sociologist. He was a representative of the extreme psychological direction of sociology and postulated: "The social in itself is entirely psyche, only psyche."

Career

Steffen studied at the Technical University of Aachen and at the Bergakademie Berlin , where he was a technical assistant from 1885 to 1887. During this time he heard lectures from Gustav Schmoller at the University of Berlin . From 1887 to 1897 he was a correspondent for Swedish newspapers in London, where he had connections with the Fabian Society and was friends with Peter Kropotkin . From 1897 to 1902 Steffen was a correspondent in Florence. It was in 1903 by the University of Rostock Dr. phil. obtained his doctorate and soon took over the first professorship for economics and sociology at the Gothenburg School of Commerce. Steffen was a member of the Royal Science and Literature Society in Gothenburg and a corresponding member of the German Society for Sociology . Politically, he was active in the Swedish social democracy .

Psychological sociology

For Steffen, sociology is a psychological science, its subject is the interactions or the one-sided influences between human consciousnesses. Its aim is the psychological explanation of social life, its origin and development, it has to grasp the mentality and not the materiality of society. All basic social facts are to be sought in the consciousness of the individual. So social development is a story of the soul . According to Knospe, in this way Steffen "completely dissolves sociology into psychology, even into individual psychology."

German-language fonts (selection)

  • Democracy in England: Some Observations in the New Century and a Renaissance Epilogue . Diederichs, Jena 1911.
  • The way to social knowledge . Diederichs, Jena 1911.
  • The problem of democracy . Diederichs, Jena 1912 ( online  - Internet Archive ).
  • The wrong ways of social knowledge . Diederichs, Jena 1913.
  • World War and Imperialism . Diederichs, Jena 1915 ( online  - Internet Archive ).
  • Democracy and World War . Diederichs, Jena 1916 ( online  - Internet Archive ).
  • World peace and its obstacles . Diederichs, Jena 1918 ( online  - Internet Archive ).
  • The Foundation of Sociology: A Program on the Method of Social Science . Diederichs, Jena 1928.

literature

  • Horst Bud: Steffen, Gustaf Frederik. In: Wilhelm Bernsdorf , H. Knospe (Ed.): Internationales Soziologenlexikon. Volume 1: Articles on sociologists who died by the end of 1969. 2nd revised edition. Enke, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-432-82652-4 , p. 411 f.
  • Gustaf Fredrik Steffen . In: Herman Hofberg, Frithiof Heurlin, Viktor Millqvist, Olof Rubenson (eds.): Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon . 2nd Edition. tape 2 : L – Z, including supplement . Albert Bonniers Verlag, Stockholm 1906, p. 517 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Quoted from Knospe: Steffen, Gustaf Frederik. In: Wilhelm Bernsdorf, H. Knospe (Ed.): Internationales Soziologenlexikon. Volume 1: Articles on sociologists who died by the end of 1969. 2nd revised edition. Enke, Stuttgart 1980, p. 411.
  2. ↑ See also the entry of Gustaf Fredrik Steffen's matriculation in the Rostock matriculation portal
personal data
SURNAME Steffen, Gustaf Fredrik
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Steffen, Gustaf Fredrick
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish economist and sociologist
DATE OF BIRTH May 4, 1864
PLACE OF BIRTH Stockholm
DATE OF DEATH April 15, 1929
Place of death Gothenburg