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The Concept of Social Policy (Sozialpolitik)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2009

Werner J. Cahnman  and
Carl M. Schmitt
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Abstract

The concept of Sozialpolitik (social policy) has rarely been considered in the English-language literature thus far. The present article surveys the pertinent English, American and German literature which led to the initiation of the Verein für Sozialpolitik (Social Policy Association) in 1873. All these efforts culminated in Otto von Zwiedineck's classic book, Sozialpolitik (1911). A chapter of this book, now printed in Zwiedineck's collected essays, Mensch und Wirtschaft, is offered in English translation for the first time. The article presents and clarifies the concept of Sozialpolitik in terms of social action directed toward problems affecting society as a whole and the continued attainment of society's goals. However, the definition of these goals remains subject to change. A theoretical foundation for the integration of scientific and normative perspectives in the social sciences is thereby provided.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , January 1979 , pp. 47 - 59
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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References

1 ‘Social Problems Theory’, Newsletters nos 4, 5 and 6, Social Probl ems Theory Division Newsletter of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, Summer 1975, Winter 1976 and Summer 1976.

2 Merton, Robert K. and Nisbet, Robert A., Contemporary Social Problems: An Introduction to the Sociology of Deviant Behaviour and Social Disorganization, Harcourt, Brace and World, New York, 1961, pp. 3–18 and 697–737.Google Scholar

3 Vance, Rupert B., ‘Security and Adjustment: The Return to the Larger Community’, first published in Social Forces, 05 1944CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and now incorporated in Cahnman, Werner J. and Boskoff, Alvin (eds), Sociology and History: Theory and Research, Free Press, New York, 1964, pp. 366–88.Google Scholar

4 Briggs, Asa, ‘The Welfare State in Historical Perspective’, Archiv. Europ. Social, 2 (1961), 221–58CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Marshall, T. H., ‘The Welfare State: A Sociological Interpretation’, Archiv. Europ. Sociol., 2 (1961), 284–300CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Rimlinger, Gaston V., ‘Welfare Policy and Economic Development: A Comparative Historical Perspective’, Journal of Economic History, 26 (1966), 556–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5 See Ashley, W. J., An Introduction to English Economic History and Theory, Longman, Green and Company, New York, 1895.Google Scholar About Oastler, see Driver, C., Tory Radical, Oxford University Press, London, 1946Google Scholar; and about the Fabians, see Shaw, G. B. (ed.), Fabian Essays in Socialism, Fabian Society, London, 1892.Google Scholar

6 von Stein, Lorenz, Die Verwaltungslehre, seven volumes, J. G. Cotta, Stuttgart, 1865–1868Google Scholar; new edition, Verwaltungslehre und Verwaltungsrecht, V. Klostermann, Frankfurt-am-Main, 1958.Google Scholar For a complete listing of Stein's works, see Mengelberg, Kaethe (ed.), Lorenz von Stein: The History of the Social Movement in France 1789–1850, Bedminster Press, Totawa, New Jersey, 1964, pp. 433–45.Google Scholar

7 The most significant of Schäffle's papers in the present context is ‘Mensch und Gut in der Volkswirtschaft oder der ethisch-anthropologische und der chrematistische Standpunkt in den Nationalökonomie, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Steuerlehre’, Deutsche Vterteljahrs-Schrift, 96 (1861), 232–307.Google Scholar

8 Schäffle's article on invalidity insurance appeared in Allgetnetne Zeitung, 7 and 8 October 1881.

9 The best orientation concerning the Verein für Sozialpolitik can be gained from Dieter Lindenlaub, ‘ Richtungskämpfe im Verein für Sozialpolitik’ (Factional Controversies in the Social Policy Association), Parts I and II, Vicrteljahrs-Schrift füSozial – und Wtrtschafts-Geschichte, Beihefte 52 and 53 (Wiesbaden, 1967).Google Scholar Compare Schumpeter, Joseph A., History of Economic Analysis, Oxford University Press, New York, 1974, pp. 756 and 803Google Scholar; and the somewhat summary statement by Ringer, Fritz, The Decline of the German Mandarins: The German Academic Community 1890–1933, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1969, pp. 146–51 et passim.Google Scholar

10 The major work is Zwiedineck-Südenhorst, Otto von, Sozialpolitik, B. G. Teubner, Leipzig and Berlin, 1911.Google Scholar A variety of Zwiedineck's papers are collected in Mahr, Werner and Schneider, Franz Paul (eds), Mensch und Wirtschaft, Duncker and Humblot, Berlin, 1955Google Scholar; and Neuloh, Otto (ed.), Mensch und Gesellschaft, Duncker and Humblot, Berlin, 1961.Google Scholar Compare Lindenlaub, op. cit. Part I, pp. 42–3 et passim; and Neuloh, Otto, ‘Mensch und Gesellschaft im Leben und Denken von Zwiedineck-Südenhorst’, in Neuloh, Mensch und Gesellschaft, pp. 23et seq.Google Scholar, especially pp. 65–85.

11 Rimlinger, op. cit. p. 556.

12 Neuloh, Compare, Mensch und Gesellschaft, especially ch. 11 – ‘Zwiedineck's Konzeption der Sozialpolitik’, pp. 63–87.Google Scholar See Neuloh's notes as to a number of German authors who commented on and expanded Zwiedineck's approach to the problems of Sozialpolitik.

13 von Zwiedineck-Südenhorst, Otto, ‘Wandlungen in den Voraussetzungen der Sozial politik’, in Neuloh, Mensch und Gesellschaft, pp. 210–21Google Scholar; and ‘Die Notwendigkeit der Tatsachenforschung’, ibid. pp. 222–6.

14 Zwiedineck-Südenhorst, , ‘Die Notwendigkeit der Tatsachenforschung’, pp. 222–6.Google Scholar

15 di Lampedusa, Giuseppe Tomasi, Il Gattopardo, Feltrinelli, Milan, 1958.Google Scholar

16 See von Zwiedineck-Südenhorst, Otto, ‘Zum Schicksal der Sozialpolitik in Deutschland’, in Neuloh, Mensch und Gesellschaft, p. 117.Google Scholar

17 Zwiedineck-Südenhorst, , Sozialpolittfe, pp. 38Google Scholaret seq. The paper is reprinted in Mahr and Schneider, Mensch und Wirtschaft, pp. 391–8Google Scholar, and permission to reprint it here has been granted by Duncker and Humblot, Berlin.

18 The references to the literature are abridged. Gustav von Schmoller (1838–1917) and Adolf Wagner (1835–1917), along with Lujo Brentano (1844–1931), were the leading men in the initiation and development of the Verein für Sozialpolitik. Schmoller's principal consideration was that Sozialpolitik as a task of government was meant to incorporate the working class into the fabric of state and society. Wagner went further along that line in promoting state intervention and state socialism, while Brentano, who had learned much from the Fabians, intended to strengthen the power of the trade unions in the market place. Werner Sombart, a much younger man (1863–1941), abandoned the idea of a co-operative societal system and advocated instead a Marxist line, putting government not only practically but also ideologically on the side of the working class. As is well known, Sombart later supported National Socialism as a ‘German’ version of socialism. In comparison, Zwiedineck's position appears as a continuation of the comprehensive position of Riehl, but without Riehl's inability to understand the requirements of an industrial civilization.

19 Archiv für Sozialwissenschaften, XIX-S-II.Google Scholar