Guenther Roth (

German spelling German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Günther Roth; 12 January 1931 – 18 May 2019) was a German-American sociologist. He was recognized as the leading scholar, translator and editor of the work of Max Weber in the English-speaking world; together with Claus Wittich, he translated and edited the first complete version of Weber's classic ''

Economy and Society ''Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology'' (1921; ; or simply ''Economy and Society'') is a book by political economist and sociologist Max Weber, published posthumously in Germany by his wife Marianne. Alongside ''The Prote ...

'' in English. He was

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. Later, his research interest extended to the biographical aspects of the sociological classics, in particular the genealogy of Weber's family. Roth studied at Goethe University Frankfurt under

Theodor W. Adorno Theodor W. Adorno ( , ; born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund; 11 September 1903 – 6 August 1969) was a German philosopher, sociologist, psychologist, musicologist, and composer. He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of criti ...

Max Horkheimer Max Horkheimer (; ; 14 February 1895 – 7 July 1973) was a German philosopher and sociologist who was famous for his work in critical theory as a member of the Frankfurt School of social research. Horkheimer addressed authoritarianism, militari ...

and

Friedrich Pollock Friedrich Pollock (; ; 22 May 1894 – 16 December 1970) was a German social scientist and philosopher. He was one of the founders of the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt am Main, and a member of the Frankfurt School of neo-Marxist th ...

and worked at the

Institute for Social Research The Institute for Social Research (german: Institut für Sozialforschung, IfS) is a research organization for sociology and continental philosophy, best known as the institutional home of the Frankfurt School and critical theory. Currently a pa ...

in Frankfurt. He arrived in the United States in 1953 and completed his graduate studies at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. In 1960, he obtained a PhD under

Reinhard Bendix Reinhard Bendix (February 25, 1916 – February 28, 1991) was a German-American sociologist. Life and career Born in Berlin, Germany, in 1916, he briefly belonged to Neu Beginnen and Hashomer Hatzair, groups that resisted the Nazis. In 1938 ...

with a dissertation on the development of

social democracy Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote s ...

Imperial Germany The German Empire (), Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditar ...

(1871–1918). Roth became a U.S. citizen in 1963. He taught at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

from 1970 until 1988 and then at Columbia University until his retirement in 1997. He was married to Columbia historian

Caroline Bynum Caroline Walker Bynum, FBA (born May 10, 1941, in Atlanta, Georgia)Caroline Walker Bynum short CV
at < ...

. He died on May 18, 2019.

Selected works in English

*''The Social Democrats in Imperial Germany. A Study in Working-Class Isolation and National Integration.'' Totowa: Bedminster Press, 1963; re-issue New York: Arno Press, 1979. *''Scholarship and Partisanship. Essays on Max Weber.'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971 (with

) *''Max Weber’s Vision of History. Ethics and Methods'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979 (with Wolfgang Schluchter) *''Weber’s ‘Protestant Ethic’: Origins, Evidence, Contexts.'' New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993 (edited with Hartmut Lehmann)

References

Sources

* * *

External links

guentherroth.com
- personal homepage, redirects t
columbia.edu
retrieved 16 October 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Roth, Guenther 1931 births 2019 deaths People from Groß-Gerau (district) People from the People's State of Hesse Max Weber German sociologists American sociologists German emigrants to the United States University of California, Berkeley alumni Goethe University Frankfurt alumni Columbia University faculty University of Washington faculty