Peter René Heintz (November 6, 1920 – March 15, 1983) was a Swiss professor of sociology and doctor of political science that notably impacted on the extensive academic development within Latin America and greater Europe.

Life

Heintz was born on November 6, 1920, as the son of a merchant in Davos, Switzerland. After many years of adolescence in Spain and scientific studies in Paris, Cologne and Zurich, Heintz obtained his doctorate of Political Science in 1943 from the

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

. While on campus, a chance encounter with German-born sociologist

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

was particularly important for his interest in sociology, leading him to assist König in Cologne and later habilitate renowned theses such as ''The Problem of Authority with P.J. Proudhon (1956)''. Alongside Erwin Scheuch and Dietrich Rüschemeyer, Heintz was one of König’s major students. Beginning in 1956 he participated as an expert for the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

, within the field of academic development of sociology in Latin America. During 1957, Peter collaborated for the first time with his wife Suzanne Heintz to release the paper ''Sociology of Juvenile Delinquency''. From 1960 to 1965 under a Latin America UNESCO initiative, Heintz headed the Escuela Latinoamericana de Sociología at

FLACSO The Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (, or FLACSO) is a graduate school, graduate-only university and inter-governmental autonomous organization for Latin America dedicated to research, teaching and spreading of social sciences. Headquar ...

(Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales) in

Santiago de Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital city, capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's Chilean Central Valley, central valley and is the center ...

while collaborating with such internationally known sociologists by the likes of

Alain Touraine Alain Touraine (; 3 August 1925 – 9 June 2023) was a French sociologist. He was research director at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, where he founded the Centre d'étude des mouvements sociaux. Touraine was an important ...

Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt (‎; 10 September 1923 – 2 September 2010) was an Israeli sociologist and writer. In 1959 he was appointed to a teaching post in the sociology department of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. From 1990 until his ...

and

Johan Galtung Johan Vincent Galtung (24 October 1930 – 17 February 2024) was a Norwegian sociologist and the principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies. He was the main founder of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) in 1959 an ...

. Subsequently, Heintz founded the Department of Sociology at the newly constructed Fundación Bariloche''(Bariloche Foundation)'', Argentina. In 1966 Heintz was appointed Professor of Sociology and associated accolade of ordinarius at the University of Zurich. Upon his arrival to the position of professor, together with

Erich Häuselmann The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, Eirik, or Eiríkur is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Nor ...

, he founded the Sociological Institute on the campus. From 1969 until 1972, he presided the Swiss Sociological Association, and furthermore contributed greatly to the institutionalization of theoretically informed and empirically based sociology in Switzerland. Heintz remained as an ordinarius professor at the

until his death during 1983 while living in Zurich.

Work

Early focuses of Heintz' work were contributions to the theories of

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

authority Authority is commonly understood as the legitimate power of a person or group of other people. In a civil state, ''authority'' may be practiced by legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government,''The New Fontana Dictionary of M ...

protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...

and also the sociological analysis of the rise of

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

in Europe. Heintz' primary life work aimed at developing an alternative to modernization theory, one that was oriented towards social-structural and power analysis within the framework of a general theory of societal systems. This involved him conceptualizing "modernization" or "development" as countries' attempted upward mobility in the international stratification system around development. From a model analysis, he concluded as early as 1974 that the planned enlargements of the then unified Europe would increase its structural heterogeneity; beyond the point of emergence of fundamental sociopolitical tensions. Heintz acted as a forerunner in other aspects of worldwide change, ranging from his analysis of the theory of the world system through to analysing the rise of a power contest between the international system of nation-states, the network of multinational corporations and the cultural codes used to apprehend these changes. As a final act of contribution to worldwide academia, Heintz established the World Society Foundation, headquartered in Zurich, in 1982 with the aim of supporting research on world society. Heintz' professional bequest is currently archived inside of the

Swiss Social Archives The Swiss Social Archives (, ) in Zurich is a historical archive, an academic library, a collection of documentation and a research facility specialising in social issues and social movements. The Swiss Confederation recognizes the archives as the ...

in Zurich, Switzerland.

Publications

Peter Heintz' principal published monographs throughout his career consist of the following: * Anarchism and the present ''(Anarchismus und Gegenwart)'' 1951, 1985 *The problem of authority with Proudhon ''(Die Autoritätsproblematik bei Proudhon)'' 1956 *Sociology course ''(Curso de sociología)'' 1956, 1960, 1965 *Social prejudices: a problem of personality, culture and society ''(Soziale Vorurteile : ein Problem der Persönlichkeit, der Kultur und der Gesellschaft)'' 1957 *Methodology of teaching and research in social sciences ''(Metodologia de la ensenanza y de la investigacion en las sciencias sociales)'' 1960 *Sociology of Developing Countries ''(Soziologie der Entwicklungsländer)'' 1962 *Introduction to sociological theory ''(Einführung in die soziologische Theorie)'' 1962 *A sociological paradigm of development with special consideration of Latin America ''(Ein soziologisches Paradigma der Entwicklung mit besonderer Berücksichtigung Lateinamerikas)'' 1969 *A Macrosociological Theory of Societal Systems ''(A Macrosociological Theory of Societal Systems)'' 1972 *The Future of Development ''(Die Zukunft der Entwicklung)'' 1973 *The world society in the mirror of events ''(Die Weltgesellschaft im Spiegel von Ereignissen)'' 1982 *Unequal distribution, power and legitimacy ''(Ungleiche Verteilung, Macht und Legitimität)'' 1982

Books in his honour

* Guido Hischier, René Levy, Werner Obrecht (Hrsg.): Weltgesellschaft und Sozialstruktur. Festschrift zum 60. Geburtstag von Peter Heintz. Verlag Rüegger, Diessenhofen 1980,

References

External links

* Literature from and about Peter Heintz: th
Library of Congress
* Obituary and bibliography on the Website of the ttps://www.worldsociety.ch/doku.php World Society Foundation* ttp://www.findmittel.ch/archive/archNeu/Ar163.html Deposit Heintz, Peter (1920–1983)in the resources of the Swiss Social Archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Heintz, Peter 1920 births 1983 deaths University of Zurich alumni Academic staff of the University of Zurich Swiss sociologists