Toward a Sociology of the State and War. Emil Lederers Political Sociology

In: Race & class: a journal on racism, empire and globalisation, Band 50, Heft 2, S. 65-90

Abstract

Although recognized for innovations in economics and economic sociology, Emil Lederer's impressive contributions to political sociology have been almost completely ignored. Lederer wrote extensively on questions of practical and theoretical relevance for a sociological analysis of the state and war, especially in response to and anticipation of the World Wars of the last century. This article considers the elements of his political-sociological work in the context of the circumstances under which they developed and concludes with an attempt to construct an outline of the basic tenets of a sociology of the state and war derived from Lederer's writings. This analysis highlights Lederer's sensitivity to a dynamic understanding of the total social configuration and its impact on the individual psyche as central to explicating the characteristics of particular political-sociological phenomena. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd., copyright 2008 Institute of Race Relations.]