Marxist sociology

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The Marxist sociology is a form of sociology , which differ in their theoretical orientation to the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels committed. In the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic ( sociology in the GDR ) sociology was officially practiced as a Marxist or Marxist-Leninist sociology and was committed to the programs of the communist parties ruling there. In the West, on the other hand, the term “Marxist sociology” does not designate a clearly delimitable school, but rather refers to the academic and political self-image of its representatives.

Origins

With his materialist dialectic, Marx already worked out the methodological and epistemological foundations of Marxist sociology in the early 1840s. He later developed these foundations together with Friedrich Engels into historical materialism . At the beginning of the 20th century, various thinkers developed new ideas about historical materialism, which should do justice to the changed political questions. For the training of Marxist-Leninist sociology in Eastern Europe, Lenin and Josef Stalin are particularly relevant in this regard , while some Marxist sociologists in Western Europe felt obliged to authors such as Leon Trotsky or Rosa Luxemburg despite criticism from the communist parties (for example in France or the USA ). The confrontation with the official line of the communist parties had a considerable influence on conflicts within the Marxist sociology.

Marxist sociology in the Federal Republic of Germany

Particularly prominent representatives of Marxism in West Germany were the members of the Frankfurt School . However, the best-known representatives of this school, Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno , have called their analyzes critical theory and not simply a pure Marxism. Although they refer essentially to Karl Marx and attach particular importance to ideology criticism , the demarcation from dogmatic Marxism-Leninism was important for them. They are part of Western Marxism . Correspondingly, sociologists in West Germany who have identified themselves as Marxists outside the Frankfurt School have included essential aspects of Karl Marx's work in their work.

literature

  • Albrecht, Richard , Tertiary Exploitation; Future perspective (s): historical-materialistic real analyzes of the 21st century (in: Kultursoziologie, 16 [2007] II, pp. 133–150)
  • Balla, Bálint (Ed.), Sociology and Society in Hungary. From the proceeds of the first decade of modern Hungarian sociology , Enke, Stuttgart 1974
  • Cunow, Heinrich , Marx's theory of history, society and the state. Basics of Marxian sociology , Vorwärts, Berlin 1920
  • Eichhorn, Wolfgang u. a. (Ed.), Dictionary of Marxist-Leninist Sociology , Westdeutscher Verlag, Cologne 1971
  • Erich Hahn : Historical Materialism and Marxist Sociology. Studies on the methodological and epistemological foundations of sociological research , Dietz, Berlin 1968
  • von Heiseler, Johannes Henrich , The “Frankfurt School” in the Light of Marxism. On the criticism of philosophy and sociology by Horkheimer, Adorno, Marcuse, Habermas , Verlag Marxistische Blätter, Frankfurt am Main 1970
  • Kiss, Gabor , is there a “Marxist” sociology? , Westdeutscher Verlag, Cologne 1966, ISBN 978-3-663-00591-9 (print) ISBN 978-3-663-02504-7 (online)
  • Maus, Heinz , "Introduction to Sociology", in: Yearbook for the History of Sociology 1992 . Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen 1994, pp. 199–240 (with an introduction by Georg Ahrweiler: “Comments on the fragment by Heinz Maus: 'Introduction to Sociology'”, pp. 195–197)
  • Alfred Meusel , Karl Marx; in: Fritz Karl Mann (ed.), founder of sociology. A series of lectures. Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1932: 96–108 [= Social Science Building Blocks, Vol. IV]
  • Ossipow, GW and a. (Ed.) Marxist sociology and concrete sociological research , translated by M. Börner, Verlag Kultur und Progress, Berlin 1963
  • Tschesnokow, DI , Historical Materialism as the Sociology of Marxism-Leninism , Dietz, Berlin 1975

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