List of eminent sociologists
This is a list of prominent sociologists who, as representatives, have represented the subject of sociology and have enriched it with original articles. For contributions in kind on sociology, see the list of groundbreaking sociological publications ; in general, reference is made to the portal: Sociology .
A.
- Theodor W. Adorno (1903–1969), an outstanding representative of critical theory , from 1963 to 1967 chairman of the German Society for Sociology .
- Jens Alber (* 1947), conducts empirical research on social policy and social structures.
- Hans Albert (* 1921), leading exponent of critical rationalism .
- Jutta Allmendinger (* 1956), education and labor market researcher, was the first woman to be chairwoman of the German Society for Sociology from 1999 to 2002 .
- Margaret S. Archer (* 1943), British cultural sociologist with international renown, President of the International Sociological Association from 1986 to 1990 .
- Raymond Aron (1905–1983), the most important French sociologist in the years after the Second World War.
B.
- Dirk Baecker (* 1955), economic, organizational and cultural sociologist in the tradition of Luhmann's system theory with original work on management and cultural theory
- Hans Paul Bahrdt (1918–1994), representative of the first generation of West German post-war sociology with research focus on industrial and urban sociology
- Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007), internationally respected exponent of postmodern thought
- Zygmunt Bauman (1925–2017), award-winning postmodern theorist
- Ulrich Beck (1944–2015), analyst of the risk society and theorist of the Second Modern Age
- Howard S. Becker (* 1928), internationally recognized criminal and art sociologist
- Regina Becker-Schmidt (* 1937), Adorno student with a focus on critical social theory and gender research
- Jens Beckert (* 1967), economic sociologist oriented theorist of the social embedding of markets, economic actions and institutions and recipient of the Leibniz Prize.
- Daniel Bell (1919–2011), leading theorist of post-industrial society
- Reinhard Bendix (1916–1991), German-American sociologist in the tradition of Max Weber
- Johannes Berger , economic sociologist with original contributions to moral and political economy
- Peter L. Berger (1929–2017), leading exponent of social constructivism
- Peter Blau (1918–2002), organizational sociologist and best known proponent of the theory of exchange ( Exchange Theory )
- Herbert Blumer (1900–1987) coined the term symbolic interactionism
- Luc Boltanski (* 1940), French sociologist and social critic, who presented an influential study on the “ new spirit of capitalism ”
- Karl Martin Bolte (1925–2011), influential sociologist of the German post-war generation, analyst of social and labor market structures , from 1974 to 1978 chairman of the German Society for Sociology
- Tom B. Bottomore (1920–1992), class and social theorist in the tradition of Western Marxism , from 1974 to 1978 President of the International Sociological Association
- Raymond Boudon (1934–2013), exponent of methodological individualism
- Célestin Bouglé (1870–1940), French sociologist and close collaborator with Emile Durkheim ; In his classic Les idées égalitaires Georg Simmel linked analyzes of social differentiation with Durkheim's social morphology.
- Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002), outstanding representative of a sociology of practice and social habitus
- Heinz Bude (* 1954), one of the leading representatives of contemporary German sociology with public impact
- Michael Burawoy (* 1947), one of the leading theorists in the Marxist Labor Process Debate , president of the International Sociological Association since 2010
- Nicole Burzan (* 1971) was the chairwoman of the German Society for Sociology from 2017 to 2019
C.
- Roger Caillois (1913–1978), French sociologist, co-founder of the Collège de Sociologie .
- Robert Castel (1933–2013), representative of sociological research on exclusion .
- Aaron Victor Cicourel (* 1928), one of the main representatives of ethnomethodology with a fundamental work ( Method and Measurement in Sociology ) for social science methodology.
- Dieter Claessens (1921–1997), representative of an anthropologically oriented sociology.
- Lars Clausen (1935–2010), pioneer of German disaster sociology , from 1993 to 1994 chairman of the German Society for Sociology .
- Albert K. Cohen (1918–2014), founder of the criminal-sociological subculture theory.
- James Samuel Coleman (1926–1995), outstanding theoretician of North American sociology.
- Auguste Comte (1798–1857), co-founder and eponym of sociology .
- Charles Cooley (1864–1929), pioneer of North American sociology, who developed the concept "The Looking Glass Self" .
- Lewis Coser (1913–2003), conflict sociologist with a structural-functionalist theoretical approach.
- Colin Crouch (* 1944), analyst and critic of neoliberalism and post-democracy .
- Michel Crozier (1922–2013), best known French representative of organizational sociology .
D.
- Ralf Dahrendorf (1929–2009), outstanding representative of the first generation of German post-war sociology , from 1967 to 1970 chairman of the German Society for Sociology .
- Kingsley Davis (1908–1997), a classic in demography , coined the term population explosion .
- Georges Davy (1883–1976), French sociologist, works on archaic forms of contracts
- Christoph Deutschmann (1946), economic sociologist with original contributions to the more recent discussion of capitalism.
- Klaus Dörre (* 1957), precarity researcher critical of capitalism and trade union sociologist .
- Émile Durkheim (1858–1917), first French professor for sociology, founder of empirical sociology and the Durkheim School .
E.
- Shmuel N. Eisenstadt (1923–2010), Israeli sociologist with significant contributions to cultural and modernization theory .
- Norbert Elias (1897–1990) founder of the sociology of figuration .
- Jon Elster (* 1940), one of the most important proponents of the theory of rational choice ( rational choice theory).
- Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), developed together with Karl Marx today as Marxism called social social and economic theory .
- Gøsta Esping-Andersen (* 1947), emerged from international comparative research on the welfare state .
- Hartmut Esser (* 1943), representative of contemporary German sociology with theoretical work in the tradition of critical rationalism .
- Amitai Etzioni (* 1929), American social theorist of German origin with important papers on communitarianism .
F.
- Orlando Fals Borda (1925–2008), Colombian sociologist, co-founder of the first sociological faculty in Latin America.
- Adam Ferguson (1723-1816), co-founder of sociology, who established the class differences from the property relations of civil society .
- Michel Foucault (1926–1984), post-structuralist philosopher and sociologist who received his works around the world.
- Hans Freyer (1887–1969), leading exponent of co-ordinated sociology under National Socialism , from 1933 to 1946 president of the German Society for Sociology .
- Gilberto Freyre (1900–1987), most important sociologist in South America.
- Ludwig von Friedeburg (1924–2010), industrial and educational sociologist, director of the Institute for Social Research , from 1969 to 1975 Hessian minister of education .
- Georges Friedmann (1902–1977), internationally recognized French occupational sociologist , from 1956 to 1959 President of the International Sociological Association .
- Friedrich Fürstenberg (* 1930), mainly with widely received works on industrial and religious sociology .
G
- Harold Garfinkel (1917–2011), founder of ethnomethodology .
- Arnold Gehlen (1904–1976), main exponent of philosophical anthropology .
- Theodor Geiger (1891–1952), founder of the sociologist ( stratification sociology ) in Germany.
- Anthony Giddens (* 1938), as the founder of structuring theory, one of the most renowned contemporary theorists in sociology.
- Erving Goffman (1922–1982), outstanding exponent of the interaction theory.
- John Harry Goldthorpe (1935), British social analyst and class theorist.
- Johan Goudsblom (1932–2020), representative of figurative sociology , succeeding Norbert Elias.
- Alvin W. Gouldner (1920–1980), influential American exponent of a critical sociology in the tradition of C. Wright Mills and the Frankfurt School .
- Mark Granovetter (* 1943) is one of the founders of sociological network theory; his essay on the importance of weak connections in networks is one of the most cited essays in sociology.
- Ludwig Gumplowicz (1838–1909), one of the founding fathers of sociology.
H
- Jürgen Habermas (* 1929), internationally best known contemporary German sociologist and philosopher.
- Maurice Halbwachs (1877–1945), with Marcel Mauss, most famous representative of the Durkheim School .
- Hartmut Häußermann (1943–2011), leading German urban sociologist.
- Michael Hartmann (* 1952), leading German elite sociologist
- Frigga Haug (* 1937), representative of feminist sociology in Germany.
- Arnold Hauser (1892–1978), internationally recognized representative of art sociology in the tradition of Georg Lukács .
- Eduard Heimann (1889–1967), an important representative of economic sociology .
- George C. Homans (1910–1989), founder of the rational choice theory .
- Max Horkheimer (1895–1973), outstanding exponent of critical theory .
- Stefan Hradil (* 1946), well-known representative of social structure research, from 1995 to 1998 chairman of the German Society for Sociology .
- Klaus Hurrelmann (* 1944), leading contemporary representative of socialization research in Germany.
I.
- Ronald Inglehart (* 1934), developed a theory of changing values and founder of the World Values Survey .
- Gunther Ipsen (1899–1984), representative of the sociology that was brought into line during National Socialism .
- Joachim Israel (1920–2001), internationally recognized theorist of a philosophically founded sociology.
J
- Marie Jahoda (1907–2001), actually a social psychologist, co-author of the sociological classic Die Arbeitslosen von Marienthal , who has received numerous honors .
- Hans Joas (* 1948) gained international renown with his work on American pragmatism and the sociology of war .
K
- Dirk Kaesler (* 1944), contemporary German sociologist, emerged with work on the theoretical history of sociology and its classics.
- Erich von Kahler (1885–1970), important cultural sociologist .
- Franz-Xaver Kaufmann (* 1932), leading analyst and empiricist of social policy and the welfare state .
- Jean-Claude Kaufmann (* 1948), an important representative of an understanding sociology of everyday phenomena.
- Clyde Kluckhohn (1905–1960), internationally renowned cultural sociologist .
- René König (1906–1992), outstanding representative of the first generation of German post-war sociology and founder of the Cologne School , from 1962 to 1966 President of the International Sociological Association .
- Siegfried Kracauer (1889–1966), founder of employee and film sociology .
L.
- Siegfried Landshut (1897–1968), emigrated German-Jewish sociologist. Discoverer and editor of the early writings of Karl Marx.
- Bruno Latour (* 1947), one of the founders of the actor-network theory .
- Paul Lazarsfeld (1901–1976), founder of modern empirical social research .
- Emil Lederer (1882–1939), formerly a representative of class structure analysis .
- Wolf Lepenies (* 1941), contemporary German sociologist, has received numerous prizes and honors.
- M. Rainer Lepsius (1928–2014), German sociologist and co-editor of the Max Weber Complete Edition , from 1971 to 1974 chairman of the German Society for Sociology .
- Stephan Lessenich (* 1965), researches the theory of the welfare state , from 2013 to 2016 chairman of the German Society for Sociology .
- Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908–2009), founder of ethnological structuralism and early advocate of ethnosociology .
- Siegwart Lindenberg (* 1941), founder of the RREEMM model and the concept of social production functions .
- Seymour Martin Lipset (1922–2006) internationally important representative of the political sociologist .
- David Lockwood (1929–2014), British class and conflict theorist and empiricist of the social stratification of Great Britain.
- Martina Löw (* 1965), spatial and urban sociologist, from 2011 to 2013 chairwoman of the German Society for Sociology .
- Leo Löwenthal (1900–1993), literary sociologist belonging to the Frankfurt School .
- Thomas Luckmann (1927–2016), representative of social constructivism .
- Niklas Luhmann (1927–1998), next to Talcott Parsons the most outstanding founder of sociological systems theory .
- Georg Lukács (1885–1971), Hegelian-Marxist philosopher and school-educating literary sociologist.
- Burkart Lutz (1925–2013), Nestor of the German industrial sociology with pioneering work on the sociology of the labor market , from 1983 to 1986 chairman of the German Society for Sociology .
- Helen M. Lynd (1886–1982), co-founder of urban sociology .
- Robert S. Lynd (1892–1970), founder of urban sociology .
M.
- Bronisław Malinowski (1884–1942), internationally recognized and educational social and cultural anthropologist .
- Michael Mann (* 1942), historical sociologist who gained international renown with his multi-volume history of power .
- Karl Mannheim (1893–1947), internationally important representative of the sociology of knowledge .
- Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979), outstanding exponent of critical theory , mentor and inspirer of the student movement of the 1960s.
- Thomas H. Marshall (1893–1981), one of the early social science theorists of (civil, political, social and industrial) civil rights , from 1959 to 1962 President of the International Sociological Association .
- Karl Marx (1818–1883), as a philosopher, economist and sociologist, a versatile stimulator of society-related sciences and political-revolutionary practice.
- Joachim Matthes (1930–2009), religious and cultural sociologist, from 1979 to 1982 chairman of the German Society for Sociology .
- Marcel Mauss (1872–1950), outstanding representative of the Durkheim School .
- Renate Mayntz (* 1929), German organizational sociologist and founding director of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Society in Cologne .
- Elton Mayo (1880–1949), as a long-time professor at the Harvard Business School, co-founder and main representative of North American industrial sociology , made famous through the research he conducted in the Hawthorne works .
- George Herbert Mead (1863–1931), founder of symbolic interactionism .
- Margaret Mead (1901–1978), one of the most resolute representatives of cultural relativism .
- Robert K. Merton (1910–2003), an outstanding exponent of the structural-functionalist theoretical trend in North American sociology.
- Robert Michels (1876–1936), founder of political sociology , formulated the iron law of oligarchy .
- Charles Wright Mills (1916–1962), classic of critical North American sociology.
- Jacob L. Moreno (1889–1974), founder of sociometry .
- Gaetano Mosca (1858–1941), Italian elite theorist .
- Hans-Peter Müller (* 1951), internationally recognized sociologist with innovative contributions to social structure and lifestyle research.
- Walther Müller-Jentsch (* 1935), industrial and organizational sociologist, qualified analyst in industrial relations .
- Richard Münch (* 1945), as a theorist of modernity in the tradition of Talcott Parsons, at the same time vehement critic of Luhmann's theory of functional differentiation .
N
- Oliver Nachtwey (* 1975), German economist and social scientist with innovative contributions to socio-structural change.
- Armin Nassehi (* 1960), public social theorist with a system-theoretical foundation.
- Oskar Negt (* 1934), representative of a critical contemporary German sociology.
- Otto Neuloh (1902-1993), representatives of labor , operational and occupational sociology .
O
- Ulrich Oevermann (* 1940), founder of objective hermeneutics .
- Claus Offe (* 1940), unorthodox representative of the next generation of the Frankfurt School .
- William F. Ogburn (1886–1959), early theoretician of social change with the theorem of technology as a pacemaker and the delayed cultural adjustment ( cultural lag ).
- Mancur Olson (1932–1998), theoretician of a worldwide received application of the theory of rational decision-making to collective behavior.
- Karl-Dieter Opp (* 1937), representative of individualistic sociology, who u. a. Developed deviant behavior theories.
- Franz Oppenheimer (1864–1943), first German professor for sociology, co-founder of the German Society for Sociology and creator of an original state theory and liberal socialism.
P
- Vilfredo Pareto (1848–1923), classic of political and economic sociology .
- Robert Ezra Park (1864–1944), founder of the Chicago School of Sociology .
- Talcott Parsons (1902–1979), internationally outstanding sociologist of the post-war decades, founder of the sociological systems theory .
- Charles Perrow (1925–2019), American organizational theorist with innovative contributions to the sociology of disasters .
- Theo Pirker (1922–1995), pioneer of German industrial sociology .
- Helmuth Plessner (1892–1985), main representative of philosophical anthropology , from 1955 to 1959 chairman of the German Society for Sociology .
- Friedrich Pollock (1894–1970), co-founder of the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt am Main and author of the first automation study in post-war Germany.
- Heinrich Popitz (1925–2002), German post-war sociologist, head of the early industrial sociological research projects on work and worker consciousness in the co-determined coal and steel industry .
- Robert Putnam (* 1941), internationally important proponent of social capital theory .
Q
- Adolphe Quetelet (1796–1874), the first well-known social statistician who devoted himself to the study of statistical relationships.
R.
- Alfred Radcliffe-Brown (1881–1955), co-founder of structural functionalism .
- Andreas Reckwitz (* 1970), cultural sociologist with original work on creativity and subjectivity and recipient of the Leibniz Prize.
- Karl-Siegbert Rehberg (* 1943), cultural sociologist and editor of the Arnold Gehlen Complete Edition, from 2003 to 2006 chairman of the German Society for Sociology .
- David Riesman (1909-2002), principal author of The Lonely Crowd ( The Lonely Crowd ), the first sociological world bestseller.
- Jürgen Ritsert (* 1935), a recognized sociologist for social theory and logic in the social sciences, succeeding the Frankfurt School .
- Stein Rokkan (1921–1979), emerged as a Norwegian political sociologist with a macro model of the political development of Europe.
- Hartmut Rosa (* 1965) influenced acceleration with his habilitation thesis . The change in the structures of time in the modern age significantly affects the research fields of time sociology and post-growth societies.
- Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy (1888–1973), forerunner of industrial and business sociology and socio-politically committed redesigner of alienated industrial work ( workshop relocation ).
- Edward Alsworth Ross (1866–1951), introduced the term social control into the sociological discussion.
- Sheila Rowbotham (* 1943), British sociologist and socialist feminist with widely acclaimed publications on sexism in the labor movement.
- WG Runciman (* 1934) influenced the discussion about social justice with his determination of relative (“felt”) deprivation .
- Alexander Rüstow (1885–1963) coined the term neoliberalism .
S.
- Fritz Sack (* 1931) outstanding German criminal sociologist , radical interpreter of the labeling approach .
- Henri de Saint-Simon (1760–1825), formerly a representative of sociology in its incubation period and protagonist of utopian socialism .
- Gottfried Salomon-Delatour (1892–1964), German-American social theorist and Saint-Simon expert, one of Adorno's teachers .
- Saskia Sassen (* 1947), internationally most important globalization researcher.
- Bernhard Schäfers (* 1939), from 1991 to 1992 chairman of the German Society for Sociology .
- Max Scheler (1874–1928), outstanding representative of philosophical anthropology .
- Helmut Schelsky (1912–1984), dominant representative of German post-war sociology.
- Erwin K. Scheuch (1928–2003), representative of the Cologne School of German Post-War Sociology , 1970 chairman of the German Society for Sociology .
- Uwe Schimank (* 1955), contemporary German sociologist, who expanded Luhmann's system theory to include the missing actor perspective.
- Wolfgang Schluchter (* 1938), internationally recognized exegete of Max Weber's works and authoritative co-editor of all of Weber's works.
- Gottlieb Schnapper-Arndt (1846–1904), statistician, social researcher, pioneer of social science field research.
- Gerhard Schulze (* 1944), cultural sociologist, coined the term “ adventure society” .
- Michael Schumann (* 1937), well-known industrial sociologist, co-founder and head of the Sociological Research Institute in Göttingen for many years .
- Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950), as an original capitalism theorist, crossed the border, like Marx , between economics and sociology.
- Alfred Schütz (1899–1959), founder of phenomenological sociology .
- Richard Scott (* 1932), renowned organizational sociologist and pioneer of sociological neo-institutionalism .
- Richard Sennett (* 1943), internationally recognized social theorist and cultural sociologist .
- Edward Shils (1910–1995), linked the empirical tradition of American sociology with the theoretical European tradition; Translator by Max Weber and Karl Mannheim .
- Alphons Silbermann (1909–2000), the antipode of Theodor W. Adornos as a representative of an empirical sociology of art .
- Georg Simmel (1858–1918), outstanding cultural sociologist and one of the German founding fathers of sociology.
- Albion Woodbury Small (1854–1926), co-founder of the Chicago School of Sociology .
- Neil J. Smelser (1930–2017), economic sociologist in the theoretical tradition of structural functionalism , developed a step model of social change .
- Hans-Georg Soeffner (* 1939), founder of the hermeneutic sociology of knowledge , 2007–2011 chairman of the German Society for Sociology .
- Werner Sombart (1863–1941), universally educated but controversial analyst of capitalism in the economic and social field .
- Pitirim Sorokin (1889–1968), developed a theory of social cycles .
- Othmar Spann (1878–1950), as the theoretician of the corporate state, a pioneer of Austrofascism .
- Hans Speier (1905–1990), representative of the sociology of knowledge .
- Herbert Spencer (1820–1903), one of the British founding fathers of sociology, pioneer of social Darwinism .
- Otto Stammer (1900–1978) representative of political sociology , from 1955 to 1959 chairman of the German Society for Sociology .
- Lorenz von Stein (1850–1890), early interpreter of the significance of French socialism and communism for state and social theory.
- Samuel Andrew Stouffer (1900–1960), survey research pioneer and classic of military sociology, originator of the reference group concept.
- Anselm Strauss (1916-1996), theorists a reformulated symbolic Interactionism with the theorem of negotiated orders ( negotiated order ).
- Wolfgang Streeck (* 1946), organizational and economic sociologist, analyst of neoliberal financial market capitalism .
- William Graham Sumner (1840–1910), author of the sociological classic Folkways (Folk Customs), a concept of supra-individual customs and practices.
- Edwin H. Sutherland (1883–1950), internationally recognized pioneer in the sociology of crime .
- Richard Swedberg (* 1948), Swedish economic sociologist with international renown.
T
- Veronika Tacke (* 1961), proven organizational sociologist in the tradition of the Luhmann School.
- Frank Tannenbaum (1893–1969), representative of symbolic interactionism , in whose criminological work the labeling approach was formulated at an early stage.
- Gabriel Tarde (1843–1904), founder of a philosophical sociology in competition with the Durkheim School .
- Ulrich Teichler (* 1942), main representative of international comparative university research in Germany.
- Friedrich Tenbruck (1919–1994), German representative of a historically based cultural sociology.
- Göran Therborn (* 1941), one of the most internationally recognized social theorists and sociologists in Scandinavia with a research focus on comparing entire societies.
- Ferdinand Tönnies (1855–1936), co-founder of German sociology, first and long-standing president (from 1909 to 1933) of the German Society for Sociology .
- Alain Touraine (* 1925), French industrial and social sociologist, coined the term post-industrial society .
V
- Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929), eminent analyst of upper-class behavior.
- Alfred Vierkandt (1867–1953), co-founder of the German Society for Sociology .
- Paula-Irene Villa (* 1968), German-Argentine sociologist
W.
- Immanuel Wallerstein (1930–2019), with his world system theory, representative of a global historical sociology in the tradition of Fernand Braudel , from 1994 to 1998 President of the International Sociological Association .
- Lester Frank Ward (1841–1913), founding father of US sociology.
- Alfred Weber (1868–1958), German cultural sociologist .
- Max Weber (1864–1920), the most important German sociologist in the world with a technically and historically universal horizon of knowledge.
- Johannes Weiß (* 1941), proven German cultural sociologist .
- William F. Whyte (1914–2000), pioneer of participatory observation , methodically used for his sociological classic Street Corner Society .
- Leopold von Wiese (1876–1969), representative of formal sociological relationship theory , from 1946 to 1955 chairman of the German Society for Sociology .
- Raymond Williams (1921–1988), influential British cultural scientist with down-to-earth sociology.
- Helmut Willke (* 1945), one of the most productive Luhmann students
- Joan Woodward (1916–1971), with her classical studies in organizational sociology, made empirical contributions to the theoretical foundation of the contingency theory that were received worldwide .
- Erik Olin Wright (1947–2019), Marxist class theorist with elaborate analysis concepts.
Z
- Wolfgang Zapf (1937–2018), theoretician of social change and social modernization , long-time president of the Berlin Science Center , from 1987 to 1990 chairman of the German Society for Sociology .
- Florian Znaniecki (1882–1958), Polish social researcher and employee of the Chicago School of Sociology .
- Ferdynand Zweig (1896–1988), Polish-British sociologist of work , whose study of workers in the welfare society was widely received.
See also
- List of Latin American sociologists
- List of emigrated German-speaking social scientists
- List of criminal sociologists