Soziologie ohne Soziologen? / Sociology without Sociologists

Abstract

Abstract Though there is a long and rich tradition of sociological thinking and research in Germany, a regular and scheduled teaching of this discipline has been established not earlier than in the fifties. In spite of a steadily growing number of students almost no efforts have been made to pay special regard to practical application of studies in sociology. Recent attempts to solve this problem are considerably hindered by a rapidly growing demand for contributions of sociological teaching to the curricula of other disciplines. The teaching capacity of sociology at West German universities ist heavily overloaded, and thus all the efforts to reshape sociological curricula are endangered as well as all the attempts to construct valuable contributions of sociology to the study of other disciplines. This precarious situation demands vigorous and effective measures. Discussions about the question who might take such measures are coinciding with deliberations as to the future structure of sociological curricula as well as to the teaching functions of sociology in the curricula of other disciplines. Special attention is drawn to the fact that social sciences and sociology are just - for the first time in Germany - introduced into the schools of secondary education, and it is criticized that there is no serious contribution to this development by academic sociology up to now.