The German Sociological Association (''Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie'', DGS) is a professional organization of social scientists in Germany. Established in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

on January 3, 1909, its founding members included

Rudolf Goldscheid Rudolf Goldscheid (12 August 1870 – 6 October 1931) was an Austrian writer and sociologist, co-founder of the German Sociological Association, known for his theory of human economy () and for developing the topic of fiscal sociology. He has b ...

Ferdinand Tönnies Ferdinand Tönnies (; 26 July 1855 – 8 April 1936) was a German sociologist, economist, and philosopher. He was a significant contributor to sociological theory and field studies, best known for distinguishing between two types of social gro ...

Max Weber Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German Sociology, sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economy, political economist who was one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sc ...

, and

Georg Simmel Georg Simmel (; ; 1 March 1858 – 26 September 1918) was a German sociologist, philosopher, and critic. Simmel was influential in the field of sociology. Simmel was one of the first generation of German sociologists: his neo-Kantian approach ...

. Its first president was Tönnies, who was forced out of office by the

Nazi regime Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

in 1933; his successor,

Hans Freyer Johannes "Hans" Freyer (31 July 1887 – 18 January 1969) was a German sociologist and philosopher of the conservative revolutionary movement. Life Freyer began studying theology, national economics, history and philosophy at the University of ...

, attempted to reform the DGS on Nazi lines but ultimately decided to suspend its activities the following year. The DGS was revived after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

under the chairmanship of Leopold von Wiese in 1946, and has remained active since then, with about 3,200 members .

Presidents and chairpersons

The following members have served as heads of the organization: *1909–1933:

as president () *''1933:''

Werner Sombart Werner may refer to: People * Werner (name), origin of the name and people with this name as surname and given name Fictional characters * Werner (comics), a German comic book character * Werner Von Croy, a fictional character in the ''Tomb Rai ...

, Leopold von Wiese, and

unconstitutionally as joint chairs () *1933–1934:

as chair; suspended the DGS in 1934 *1946–1955: Leopold von Wiese; office titled president *1955–1959: Helmuth Plessner *1959–1963: Otto Stammer *1963–1967:

Theodor W. Adorno Theodor W. Adorno ( ; ; born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund; 11 September 1903 – 6 August 1969) was a German philosopher, musicologist, and social theorist. He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of critical theory, whose work has com ...

*1967–1970:

Ralf Dahrendorf Ralf Gustav Dahrendorf, Baron Dahrendorf, (; 1 May 1929 – 17 June 2009) was a German-British sociologist, philosopher, political scientist and liberal politician. A class conflict theorist, Dahrendorf was a leading expert on explaining an ...

; office titled chair *1970: Erwin K. Scheuch (interim chair) *1971–1974: M. Rainer Lepsius *1974–1978: Karl Martin Bolte *1979–1982: Joachim Matthes *1983–1986: Burkart Lutz *1987–1990: Wolfgang Zapf *1991–1992: Bernhard Schäfers *1993–1994: Lars Clausen *1995–1998: Stefan Hradil *1999–2002: Jutta Allmendinger *2003–2007: Karl-Siegbert Rehberg *2007–2011: Hans-Georg Soeffner *2011–2013: Martina Löw *2013–2017: Stephan Lessenich *2017–2019: Nicole Burzan *2019–2021: Birgit Blättel-Mink *2021–present: Paula-Irene Villa Braslavsky

References

External links

DGS - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie
(in German; cf. the history in
Geschichte

33rd Congress of the DGS, ''The Nature of Society'', “Die Natur der Gesellschaft“), 2006
{{Authority control Sociological organizations 1909 establishments in Germany