social philosopher
Social philosophy is the study and interpretation of society and social institutions in terms of ethical values rather than empirical relations. Social philosophers emphasize understanding the social contexts for political, legal, moral and cultur ...
academic
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
of
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
origin. Between 1995 and 2013 he worked in
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
where he occupied at the end the position of a senior
research fellow
A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...
at
University College Cork
University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork.
The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...
, School of Applied Social Studies. 2013 he moved to
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
,
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, where he worked independently, but in close connection with the Italian research institute EURISPES. From 2015 to 2017 he worked as Professor for Economics at Bangor College of Central South University of Forestry & Technology, Changsha, PRC, and as Senior Foreign Expert. School of Public Affairs, Dept. of Social Security and Risk Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, P.R.China. In September 2017 he commenced a one-year research position at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy in
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
,
Bavaria
Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
, from where he changed in October 2018 to the Faculty of Economics and Sociology at the University of Lodz in Poland. Since October 2019 he is research fellow at the Human Rights Centre. Law School at Central South University, Changsha, PRC.
Additionally, he is associate professor at the Department of Social Sciences of the
University of Eastern Finland
The University of Eastern Finland () is a university in Finland, which was founded in 2010 and has campuses in Joensuu and Kuopio.
History
The Finnish Parliament passed the Universities Act on June 16, 2009, which, among other things, extende ...
ww.uef.fi and he holds a permanent visiting professorship as honorary associate professor at the Corvinus Universitybr> (Faculty of Social Sciences and International Relations, Institute of World Economy) in
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
,
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
. Since November 2013 he is also visiting scholar at the Department of Chinese Studies at
NUI Maynooth
Maynooth University (MU) (), is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. Maynooth University was formerly known as National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM; ). It was Ireland ...
br> Ireland.
Until 2013 he had been director of the independent research institute ESOSC (European Social, Organisational and Science Consultancy) with its headquarters in
Aghabullogue
Aghabullogue or Aghabulloge () is a village and parish in the barony of Muskerry East in County Cork, Ireland. It lies around west of Cork City, south of the Boggeragh Mountains and north of the River Lee.
The parish of Aghabullogue include ...
, Ireland. After Herrmann moved to Italy, the work of the institute was discontinued.
Personal life
Herrmann was born into a
bourgeois
The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...
family and had been brought up in a
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
milieu
The social environment, social context, sociocultural context or milieu refers to the immediate physical and social setting in which people live or in which something happens or develops. It includes the culture that the individual was educated ...
, though without being embedded in a strictly religious environment. During his youth he had been politically engaged in different ways, distancing himself increasingly from his family background. At the end of his studies he married. He has one daughter who lives in Germany. He later divorced.
Academic career
Herrmann studied sociology (
Bielefeld
Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region () of Detmold (region), Detmold and the L ...
), political science (
Leipzig
Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
) and economics (
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
). 1981 he obtained the diploma in sociology from the university in Bielefel and his doctorate in philosophy in 1992 from the university in Breme .
At the institute for local social policy and non-profit organisations in Bremen, Herrmann analysed in close cooperation with Rudolph Bauer and Jürgen Blandow the politics and policies of non-governmental organisations.
He focused on the meaning of the process of European integration for national social policy and the impact on the third sector.
Research
While studying
sociology
Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
, Herrmann concentrated on
sociology of organisations
Organizational behavior or organisational behaviour (see spelling differences) is the "study of human behavior in organizational settings, the interface between human behavior and the organization, and the organization itself".Moorhead, G., & ...
– this had been also the subject of his PhD-dissertation, titled “Society and organisation. An analysis of modern society” (Rheinfelden/Berlin: Schäuble, 1994). This work integrated topics of
social policy
Some professionals and universities consider social policy a subset of public policy, while other practitioners characterize social policy and public policy to be two separate, competing approaches for the same public interest (similar to MD a ...
,
civil society
Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.theory of modernisation and general philosophy. His methodological thinking had been and still is influenced by
historical
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...
and
dialectical materialism
Dialectical materialism is a materialist theory based upon the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that has found widespread applications in a variety of philosophical disciplines ranging from philosophy of history to philosophy of scien ...
,
systems theory
Systems theory is the Transdisciplinarity, transdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be natural or artificial. Every system has causal boundaries, is influenced by its context, de ...
and the theory of
civilisation
A civilization (also spelled civilisation in British English) is any complex society characterized by the development of the state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond signed or spoken languag ...
. Against this background he undertook several studies, especially in the area of
European integration
European integration is the process of political, legal, social, regional and economic integration of states wholly or partially in Europe, or nearby. European integration has primarily but not exclusively come about through the European Union ...
.
Based on Herrmann’s experience gained from the work at the Platform of Social NGO and the European Social Action Network (ESAN), he took an increasingly critical position towards the subtle mechanisms of the process of European integration.
At a very early stage Herrmann discussed and theorised processes he saw as “politics bypassing the nation state” (see European Integration between Institution Building and Social Process. Contributions to a Theory of Modernisation and NGOs in the Context of the Development of the EU; New York: Nova Science, 199 and which became later known under the term “
multilevel governance
Multi-level (or multilevel) governance is a term used to describe the way power is spread vertically between levels of government and horizontally across multiple quasi-government and non-governmental organizations and actors. This situation dev ...
”.
The close cooperation with the European Foundation on Social Quality and later International Association for Social Quality, namely with Laurent van der Maesen, pushed his analytical interest towards the search for alternatives. His thorough research, geared against political voluntarism and based in a systematic analysis of forms of government and the respective social policy gave important impulses for the debates on
social quality
Social quality is a way of understanding society which is also relevant for social and public policy. Social quality looks at elements that should constitute a good or decent society. It contributes to the body of work concerned with understanding ...
thinking.
Research visits in – amongst others –
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
(at the Cairns Institut ,
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
,
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
(there at the ELTE - Eötvös Loránd universit in connection with Zsuzsa Ferge),
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
,
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
(on invitation of the Institute of Humanities and Social Science) and Turkey (at ODTÜ - Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversites supported by TÜBİTAK - Türkiye bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma) strengthened his critical attitude towards traditional approaches of social policy. Increasingly important had been his orientation on a critique of
political economy
Political or comparative economy is a branch of political science and economics studying economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and national economies) and their governance by political systems (e.g. law, institutions, and government). Wi ...
.
Beyond the contacts mentioned before, further cooperation is important and three references are crucial. Together with the Austrian political scientist and one of the founders of quantitative world systems research,
Arno Tausch
The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the most important river of central Italy after the Tiber.
Source and route
The river originates on Monte Falterona in the Casentino area of the Apennines, and initially takes a ...
, Herrmann elaborated some publications. This acquainted Herrmann more with
world-systems theory
World-systems theory (also known as world-systems analysis or the world-systems perspective)Immanuel Wallerstein, (2004), "World-systems Analysis." In ''World System History'', ed. George Modelski, in ''Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems'' (E ...
. It also meant strengthening his orientation on a critique of political economy. With Herrmann’s cooperation with the French Marxist economist
Paul Boccara
Paul may refer to:
People
* Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people
* Paul (surname), a list of people
* Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament
* Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...
he linked his work closely with the question of the general role of the state. The common work contributed not least to Herrmann’s orientation on the work of the French regulationist approach.
Based on this work he had been able to strengthen the attempts of locating the work on
social quality
Social quality is a way of understanding society which is also relevant for social and public policy. Social quality looks at elements that should constitute a good or decent society. It contributes to the body of work concerned with understanding ...
within the framework of
world systems theory
World-systems theory (also known as world-systems analysis or the world-systems perspective)Immanuel Wallerstein, (2004), "World-systems Analysis." In ''World System History'', ed. George Modelski, in ''Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems'' (E ...
. Currently his work focuses on establishing a political economic perspective as essential part of the social quality approach. Of special importance is the regulationist theory which is at the same time developed further by being applied within a different framework.
Moreover, Herrmann had been until 2021 correspondent to the Max Planck Institute for Social Policy and Social La (previously Max-Planck Institute for Foreign and International Social Law) in
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
, Germany. This allowed him to study more closely the ambiguity of social and human rights law – issues he discussed in particular in his collaboration with Hans F. Zacher. Especially with reference to Zacher he worked on the consideration of the “pre-legal” determination of law, thus allowing not least an integration with political economy.
His academic work is not least expressed in his engagement as member of the scientific council of the German branch of atta (until its dissolution in 2021 and in the EuroMemo Grou – a network of economists that is looking for alternative policies - he discontinued this enegagement in 2020 for health reasons, but also as critique of the lacking vigor of an open, radical alternative.
The different connections, Herrmann established over time, based on the wide range of topics, linked him since 2011 also to the work of the Eurasian Center for Big History and System Forecasting at the Moscow State University, in particular collaborating with
Andrey Korotayev
Andrey Vitalievich Korotayev (; born 17 February 1961) is a Russian anthropology, anthropologist, economic history, economic historian, comparative politics, comparative political scientist, demography, demographer and sociology, sociologist ...
and
Leonid Grinin
Leonid Efimovich Grinin (; born in 1958) is a Russian philosopher of history, sociologist, political anthropologist, economist, and futurologist.
Born in Kamyshin (the Volgograd Region), Grinin attended Volgograd State Pedagogical University, w ...
, Russia, the All-Russian Centre of Living Standar Moscow and the Plekhanov Russian University of Economic
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
.
Current activities
After his move to
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, Italy, Herrmann developed independently, but also as member of the scientific council of EURISPES ww.eurispes.eu(Istituto di Studi Politici, Economici e Sociali), his research. Important contacts for further developments could be established to the University La Sapienz Rome, the university Pontificia Università San Tommaso d’Aquino – Angelicu of the Vatican www.vatican.va the Hungarian academy of scienc namely Ferenc Bodi. Furthermore he developed working relations to the research unit Centro de Investigaciones de Política Internacional (CIPI at the foreign ministry in
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
as well as to the School of Public Affairs, Department of Social Security and Risk Management at Zhejiang Universit and the Bangor College at CSUFT Central South University of Forestry and Technolog in the People's Republic of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
and the Human Rights Centre at the Law School, Central South University.
According to his entries o researchgate his work is currently focusing on issues of digitisation. While he sees it in part as challenge around social security and employment law, his main interest aims on clarifying the meaning of ongoing processes for the existing mode of production. He sees increasingly the need to revisit not least in this context the question of Human Rights against the background of changing global constellations.
In 2015 he donated his books (as far as they had not been lost during the various moves) to EURIPSES ww.eurispes.it hoping that they will be in this way available for the wider public for research.