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The Association for Social Policy (Verein für Socialpolitik) contributed to the development of scientific methods of empirical social research, and thereby, unintentionally, played a significant role in the institutionalization of sociology in Germany. Due to the fast industrialization process in Germany that was accelerated by the establishment of a unified German state in 1871, members of the German "Historical School of National Economy" founded the Association for Social Policy in 1873 in order to improve the social situation of the industrial laborers as an emerging social class. The history of the Association's contribution to the institutionalization of sociology is restricted to the development of empirical social research and its methods as a scientific discipline. The Association conducted its first empirical studies in social policy and sociology before the discipline was officially established, but it did not institutionalize the discipline, nor lay the foundations for the development of sociological theories. However, its research on the 'social question", i.e. how social legislation could better the situation of the industrial laborers, addressed the most urgent social problems of the time that also had the potential to become the central themes in sociology. Political pressure applied to the Association during the conservative era of the anti-socialist legislation 1878–1890, urged the founders to pretend to conduct purely academic objective research as a defense against the restrictive political interference of the state. Only the second generation of the Association's members drew a formal distinction between objective scientific research work and social policy. This later resulted in famous sociologists like Max and Alfred Weber or Ferdinand Tönnies conducting some of the most important sociological research of their time under the auspices of the Association. They also remained politically engaged members of the Association for Social Policy after they had co-founded the German Sociological Association in 1909.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-658-07614-6_40

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