Alphons Silbermann (August 11, 1909 – March 4, 2000) was a German

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

sociologist,

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

and

publicist A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a company, a brand, or public figure – especially a celebrity – or for a work such as a book, film, or album. Publicists are public relations specialists w ...

. Born in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, he studied musicology, sociology and law at the Universities of Cologne,

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

i. Br. and

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

. After he gained his doctorate (Dr. jur.), the rise of

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

led Silbermann to emigrate to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and 1938 from

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

via

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, where he worked as a waiter, to Sydney. In Australia he started as a dishwasher but went soon from

rags to riches Rags to riches refers to any situation in which a person rises from poverty to wealth, and in some cases from absolute obscurity to heights of fame, fortune and celebrity—sometimes instantly. This is a common archetype in literature and popula ...

with his own fast food restaurant ''Silver's Food Bars''. He initiated the first fastfood chain of Australia, becoming a successful entrepreneur. His academic career started in 1944 in Sydney at the

New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

. As an empirical culture-sociologist, he went back to Europe (especially Paris) in 1951. In 1958

René König René König (5 July 1906 – 21 March 1992) was a German sociologist. He was very influential on West German sociology after 1949. Born in Magdeburg, he 1925 took up Philosophy, Psychology, Ethnology, and Islamic Studies at the Universities o ...

brought him back to Cologne, where he taught at the University. In 1964 he was called to the University of Lausanne as a successor of

Vilfredo Pareto Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto ( , , , ; born Wilfried Fritz Pareto; 15 July 1848 – 19 August 1923) was an Italian polymath (civil engineer, sociologist, economist, political scientist, and philosopher). He made several important contrib ...

and later at the University of

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture ...

(1974–1979). Alphons Silbermann was a member of the "Cologne School" (''Kölner Schule'') along with René König and others. He was one of the editors of the

Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie The ''Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie (Cologne Journal for Sociology and Social Psychology)'' is a German academic journal for sociology. It has an empirical focus on social research, both qualitatively and quantitativel ...

(KZfSS) and founded the ''Institut für Massenkommunikation'' (Institute of

Mass Communication Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large segments of the population. It is usually understood for relating to various forms of media, as its technologies are used for the dissemination o ...

). He was an important German pioneer of empirical methods, as against the ideological biases of many contemporary colleagues like his favorite opponent

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 critical ...

.Aufrecht flanieren. Willi Jasper. DIE ZEIT, 32/1999
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Bibliography

* 1949: ''...Of musical things.'' Sydney * 1963: ''The Sociology of Music.'' London. * 1969: ''Morale chez Vilfredo Pareto.'' In: ''Cahiers Vilfredo Pareto, 18;'' Lausanne. * 1973: ''Soziologie der Massenkommunikation''. Stuttgart. * 1981: ''Communication de Masse. Eléments de Sociologie empirique''; Paris. * 1986: ''Comics and Visual Culture : Research Studies from Ten Countries''. Editor with: H.D. Dryoff. Munich. * 1989: ''Verwandlungen. Eine Autobiographie''. (Autobiography). Berlin. * 2000: ''Grovelling and Other Vices: The Sociology of Sycophancy''. (Folklore). Translated by Ladislaus Lob. London.

References

External links

* ttps://archive.today/20040616075227/http://www.netzturbulenzen.de/silbermann.html Portrait netzturbulenzen {{DEFAULTSORT:Silbermann, Alphons German music critics German sociologists German emigrants to Australia Jewish sociologists Academic staff of the University of Cologne Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 2000 deaths 1909 births German male non-fiction writers Sociomusicologists 20th-century German musicologists Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the Netherlands