Sebald Rudolf Steinmetz

Sebald Rudolf Steinmetz (1919)

Sebald (us) Rudolph Steinmetz (born December 6, 1862 in Breda , † December 5, 1940 in Amsterdam ) was a Dutch ethnologist and sociologist .

Live and act

Steinmetz was the son of a military man who taught Dutch and history at the Military Academy in Breda . His father was later transferred to The Hague , where Steinmetz graduated from high school and then studied law at the University of Leiden from 1880 to 1886 . After completing his first degree, Steinmetz moved to Leipzig , where he continued his studies with Wilhelm Wundt and Friedrich Ratzel , and returned to the Netherlands in 1888, where he received his doctorate in 1892. In 1895 he became a private lecturer in ethnology and sociology at the University of Utrecht , followed in 1900 by a temporary position as a lecturer in sociology at the University of Leiden. In 1908 he was appointed professor at the University of Amsterdam , succeeding Cornelius Marius Kan (1837-1919), the first geography professor in the Netherlands. In the following years Steinmetz lived alternately in Amsterdam and Hilversum . He retired in 1933, but remained active in research until his death in 1940.

Steinmetz became the forefather of the sociology of his country, as he also - like Émile Durkheim the French - had a strong influence on the Dutch education system and teacher training. B. was enforced in Germany. His strong emphasis on the collection of concrete data (he coined the term “ sociography ” for this ), which is obvious to an ethnologist, shaped the sociology of his country (“ Amsterdam School ”) for a long time. He was also a pioneer of war sociology .

He also founded the country's first sociological journal, Mens en Maatschappij . In 1935 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Steinmetz was married twice. His first marriage was in Leipzig and divorced in 1893. He lived with his second wife Willy Beekhuis, whom he married in 1894, until her death in 1921.

Selected publications

• Ethnological studies on the first development of punishment. Part II, Phil. Diss., Leiden University, 1892
• Ethnological studies on the first development of punishment together with a psychological treatise on cruelty and vindictiveness . Part I, Leiden / Leipzig 1894
• Ethnographic collection of questions to research the social life of peoples outside the modern European-American culture. Published by the International Association for Comparative Law and Economics in Berlin and designed by Dr. SR Steinmetz. Edited and expanded by R. Thurnwald . Berlin: R. v. Decker 1906.
• The philosophy of war , Leipzig: Barth, 1907
• Essai d'une bibliographie systématique de l'Ethnologie jusqu'à l'année 1911 , Bruxelles: Instituts Solvay, Institut de sociologie , 1911
• The position of sociography in the series of the humanities. In: Archive for Legal and Economic Philosophy , 1913
• What is sociography ? In: Mens en Maatschappij , 1925
• Collected smaller writings on ethnology and sociology , three volumes. Groningen: Noordhoff 1928, 1930 and 1935
• The sociology of war , Leipzig: Barth 1929
• The Netherlands , Berlin: Zentral-Verlag. Weltpolitische Bücherei Vol. 15, 1930
• Inleiding tot de sociologie . Haarlem: Erven F. Bohn. Volksuniversiteitsbibliotheek, 1931
• (Editor) De rassen der mensheid. Wording, strijd en toekomst . Amsterdam: Elsevier 1938

Secondary literature

Bio bibliography

• Herman van der Wusten: Biobibliography Sebald Rudolph Steinmetz , in: P. H. Armstrong / G. J. Martin, Geographers. Biobibliographical Studies , Vol. 24, 2005, pp. 109-123

Individual contributions

• F. van Heek: Omzien naar het sociografisch intermezzo (1925-1953) , in: F. Bovenkerk u. a., Toen & Thans. De sociale wetenschappen in de jaren derig en nu , Ambo, Baarn, pp. 15–27
• Ben de Pater: Steinmetz: architect van de sociografie , in: Geografie 2001, p. 44

Web links

• Literature by and about Sebald Rudolf Steinmetz in the catalog of the German National Library