Herbert Sultan

Herbert Sultan (born June 22, 1894 in Thorn ; died October 26, 1954 in Heidelberg ) was a German economist and social scientist.

Life

Sultan was the older half-brother of the pianist Grete Sultan . He studied at the universities in Freiburg, Kiel and Berlin and was awarded a doctorate in Freiburg in 1921. rer. pole. PhD . Sultan completed his habilitation in 1931 at the University of Heidelberg , where he was first a research assistant and then an associate professor . In 1933 he was given leave of absence because of his Jewish descent, but this was suspended after he was able to show a military passport. In 1936 his license to teach was finally revoked. He emigrated to England in 1939 and initially worked as a factory worker. He was then commissioned by a scientific society for a larger work on population statistics.

Sultan returned to Germany in 1946 and was the only remigrated sociologist to take part in the 8th German Sociologists' Day. From 1947 until his death he was an associate professor for finance at the University of Heidelberg.

Sultan was married to the mathematician Charlotte Römling, with whom he had a daughter.

Significance for sociology

In the Weimar Republic , Sultan presented a study (influenced by Max Weber ) on the sociology of the modern party system . He developed four ideal types : the “group of non-voters” (as a specific advertising object for all parties); those of the “fellow travelers” (traditional voters loyal to the party as well as unstable alternating voters); those of "passive supporters" (only contributing party members) and those of "active members". Among the party leaders, he distinguished between “real” ( charismatic ) and “fake” (functionaries): In his view, the real party leaders only play a role as founders, innovators or divisors, but never in everyday party life.

In the Federal Republic of Germany, Sultan examined the position and function of the bureaucracy in modern society. He differentiates between economic bureaucracy and state bureaucracy and considers bureaucratization (regardless of the social formation) to be inevitable.

Fonts (selection)

• Society and State in Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels , Jena: G. Fischer, 1922.
• On the sociology of the modern party system. In: "Archive for Social Science and Social Policy", vol. 55, 1926
• Type and extent of the prognosis of the tax effects , Mohr, Tübingen 1931
• State revenue , Mohr, Tübingen 1932
• Bureaucratic administrative state and social democracy (1955, with Wolfgang Abendroth ).

literature

• R. Gruner: Sultan, Herbert. In: Wilhelm Bernsdorf , Horst Knospe (ed.): Internationales Soziologenlexikon , Volume 1. 2nd edition, Enke, Stuttgart 1980, p. 420.
• Klemens Wittebur: The German Sociology in Exile 1933–1945. Lit, Münster 1991, ISBN 978-3-88660-737-2 , p. 54 f.
• Moritz von Bredow: rebellious pianist. The life of Grete Sultan between Berlin and New York. Schott Music , Mainz 2012, ISBN 978-3-7957-0800-9 . (Biography about his half-sister Grete Sultan with many details about family, parental home and childhood)
• Reinhard Blomert : Sultan, Herbert Siegfried. In: Harald Hagemann , Claus-Dieter Krohn (ed.): Biographical handbook of German-speaking economic emigration after 1933. Volume 2: Leichter branch. Saur, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-598-11284-X , pp. 706-708.

Web links

• Literature by and about Herbert Sultan in the catalog of the German National Library