Imogen Seger

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Imogen Seger (born December 25, 1915 in Frankfurt am Main ; † March 7, 1995 ) was a German-American sociologist and journalist . During the Second World War she was an editor for a German occupation newspaper; She then worked at the Allensbach Institute for Demoscopy and freelance for various media. In the 1950s she went to the United States to study sociology and stayed there for 15 years. After her return she worked as a writer and journalist; a popular science introduction to her subject she wrote was a great success.

Life

Seger's parents were the editor Fritz Seger and the pianist Marianne Heinemann. Nothing is known about her early life, except that she and Elisabeth Noelle , as the latter wrote in her private correspondence and which is supported by later statements of both, made friends during the women's labor service in 1935, a relationship that lasted throughout their lives . In May 1941 she went to the occupation organ Brussels newspaper , for which she was mainly responsible for cultural news from Brussels , Antwerp and Ghent until it was closed in 1944 and occasionally wrote for the local section.

After the war Seger published in the cultural-political journal Der Ruf and worked for the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation and for a time at Noelle-Neumann's Institute for Demoskopie Allensbach, for the latter later also part-time. She was also one of the first to work for the Spiegel .

In 1953 Seger went to the United States to take up a degree in sociology at New York's Columbia University . Her thesis Durkheim and his Critics on the Sociology of Religion from 1957 was followed by her dissertation Responsibility for the community in 1963 . A new norm confronts tradition in Lutheran city churches , with which she did her doctorate under Robert K. Merton and presented an empirical study on metropolitan church congregations. Seger got to know Paul Felix Lazarsfeld , the co-author of the study Die Arbeitslosen von Marienthal , at the University , and made contact with Noelle-Neumann and her husband Erich Peter Neumann when they were planning to re-publish the study. During this time she was married to the historian Rushton Coulborn (1901–1968), who came from England, and since then has had the double name Seger-Coulborn, but published her later works under her maiden name.

Presumably after Coulborn's death, Seger returned to Germany after 15 years in the United States and from then on lived in Mainz . In addition to her work as a book author, Seger continued to work as a journalist and campaigned for equal rights for women in various texts.

Working as an author

Seger's introduction to sociology Knaur's book of modern sociology , for which her doctoral supervisor Robert Merton wrote a preface and which was illustrated by Klaus Bürgle , was the first attempt in the Federal Republic of Germany to familiarize a broad audience with this science. It has been translated into five languages ​​and, according to the publisher, has sold more than 100,000 copies. In terms of content, there was clear criticism in reviews, but it was also emphasized that it took someone outside the German academic framework to bring sociology closer to society in a generally understandable manner with such a work.

The interpretation of religious consciousness in “primitive” cultures, published under the title When the Spirits Return , was inspired by the studies of Seger's late husband. Seger also wrote an epilogue to the German translation of Margaret Mead's Male and Female , in the first part of which Mead had summarized the results of gender studies in cultures considered to be underdeveloped.

Fonts

  • Responsibility for the community. A new norm confronts tradition in Lutheran city churches. The Bedminster Press, Totowa (New Jersey) 1963. Dissertation 1963
  • Knaur's book of modern sociology. Droemer / Knaur, Munich / Zurich 1970 (translated into English, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Greek)
  • Sociology for social educators and social workers. Bardtenschlager, Munich 1974. ISBN 3-7623-0025-9 (second edition under the title Sociology and Social Practice )
  • When the ghosts return. World Interpretation and Religious Consciousness in Primitive Cultures. Pieper, Munich / Zurich 1982, ISBN 3-492-02624-9 (later also as a licensed edition by Ullstein-Verlag)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ LCCN Permalink u. Blurb to Knaur's book of modern sociology . Droemer / Knaur, Munich / Zurich 1974 (edited paperback edition of the original edition from 1970).
  2. ^ Review of Knaur's book of modern sociology in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of July 28, 1970, p. 19 ( PDF ), reviewer: Wolf Lepenies .
  3. ↑ See both Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann: The memories. Herbig, Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-7766-2485-4 , p. 44 and Imogen Seger's thanks to her "old friend" Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann in her thesis Durkheim and his Critics on the Sociology of Religion from 1957.
  4. ↑ Rolf Falter: De Bruxelles Zeitung (1940-1944) in: Historica Lovaniensia 137, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Faculty of History), Löwen 1982, p. 71. Falter gives 1914 as the year of birth, which is wrong according to the other information available .
  5. ^ German Literature Archive (ed.): German literary journals 1945–1970. A repertory. Saur, Munich / London / New York / Paris 1992, ISBN 3-598-22000-6 , Volume 3, pp. 647-650.
  6. ↑ Imprint of the first edition of January 4, 1947.
  7. ^ Princeton University Library: Coulborn, Rushton, 1901–1968 .
  8. ^ The Political Opinion , 1995 (vol. 40), p. 296.
  9. ↑ Cf. u. a. the article " Sexism women holding down " in the time of 3 March 1972nd
  10. ↑ Review by Peter Pappert in Soziale Welt , 1970/71 (21/22 year), issue 1, p. 123.
  11. ↑ Translations:
    English: Sociology for the modern mind , Macmillan, New York 1972 (translation by Seger himself)
    Spanish: El libro de la Sociología moderna , Omega, Barcelona 1972
    Italian: La sociologia moderna illustrata , Rizzoli, Milan 1970
    Dutch: Sociologie , W. Gaade, The Hague 1971, ISBN 90-6017-103-9
    Greek: Εισαγωγή στην Κοινωνιολογία , Boukoumanis, Athens 1977
    Edition based on the blurb of Knaur's book of modern sociology . Droemer / Knaur, Munich / Zurich 1974 (edited paperback edition of the original edition from 1970).
  12. ↑ Review of Knaur's book of modern sociology in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of July 28, 1970, p. 19 ( PDF ), reviewer: Wolf Lepenie's
    review of Peter Pappert in Soziale Welt , 1970/71 (21/22 vol.) , Issue 1, pp. 123-126.
  13. ↑ Margaret Mead: Man and Woman. The relationship of the sexes in a changing world. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1985, ISBN 3-499-17883-4 .
personal data
SURNAME Seger, Imogen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Seger-Coulborn, Imogen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American sociologist and journalist
DATE OF BIRTH December 25, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH March 7, 1995