Politics and the Sciences of Culture in Germany, 1840-1920 By Woodruff D. Smith
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- Pages
- 309
- File size
- 9.09 MB
- Format
- Digital PDF
- Course
- Political Science
- Category
- eBook[PDF]
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About this ebook
Woodruff D. Smith’s book, Politics and the Sciences of Culture in Germany, 1840-1920, examines how German academic disciplines focusing on "culture" evolved in tandem with the country's shifting political landscape, particularly the fragmentation of 19th-century liberalism. The book traces how seemingly neutral academic fields provided the ideological building blocks for German expansionism, imperialism, and radical nationalism. [1, 2]
The primary topics and academic disciplines covered in the book include:
1. The Crisis and Fragmentation of German Liberalism
- The Classical Liberal Paradigm: How mid-19th-century social science was deeply tied to political liberalism.
- Intellectual Reconstruction: How academics turned to the concept of "culture" to either repair failing liberal structures or replace them with conservative frameworks.
- Imperial Politics: The ideological adaptation of academics reacting to the political realities of the German Empire. [1, 2]
2. Specific Academic Disciplines (The "Cultural Sciences")
- German Anthropology and Diffusionism: The development of cultural diffusion theories over evolutionary ones to explain how human traits spread. [1]
- Human Geography and Lebensraum: The pivotal evolution of geography under figures like Friedrich Ratzel. It details how the study of migration morphed into a pseudo-scientific justification for territorial expansion. [1, 2, 3]
- Folk Psychology (Völkerpsychologie): The study of collective psychology, language, and the "mind of the nation". [1, 2, 3]
- Historical Economics: The shift in German economic thought toward historically specific, state-centered models rather than universal capitalist laws. [1, 2]
- Cultural History: The emergence of history focused on societal frameworks and artifacts rather than just elite political figures. [1, 2]
3. Political Ideology and Imperialism
- Ideological Roots of Expansionism: How academic concepts inadvertently or intentionally rationalized German imperialism.
- Rise of Radical Nationalism: The radicalization of cultural sciences at the turn of the century as international tensions grew.
- Precursors to National Socialism: The close structural relationship between 19th-century cultural theories and eventual Nazi ideology, regardless of the personal politics of the original scientists. [1, 2]
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