Social Issues, Geopolitics, and Judaica

by Werner J. Cahnman (Editor)

Overview

This volume brings together thirty-four essays and ar- ticles by Werner J. Cahnman representing four decades (1940-1980) of work by an extraordinary, multidisciplinary scholar. Cahnman's work encompasses the experiences of a German Jewish refugee, an economist turned sociologist, and a scholar of Judaism. Part 1 contains personal and autobiographical writings and includes analyses of the cultural ambiguities of Jewish assimilation in Germany and Austria. Part 2 is devoted to sociological essays ranging from a critical assessment of Gunnar Myrdal's landmark study of the problems of race and democracy, An American Dilemma, to a probing look at the stigma of obesity, based on empirical research, a subject very much in the news today and that shows Cahnman ahead of his time. Part 3 offers some of Cahnman's most perceptive essays dealing with geopolitical themes. Included are theoretically based writings that help to clarify the methods and concepts of geopolitics, marking the intellectual beginnings of the global approach to world affairs. Here Cahnman broached the possibility of a united Europe (1944), realized sixty years later in the formation of the European Union. The twelve essays of Part 4 return to Cahnman's ever-present concern with Jews and Judaism. They present a wide-ranging historical-sociological view, from the Jews of Vienna in the 1930s to the American scene in the 1960s, to the still-unresolved problematics of Arab-Israeli relations, with Cahnman arguing for coexistence and a two-state solution for Jews and Arabs. The volume, carefully selected and assembled by the editors, presents for the first time essays representing the full range of Werner Cahnman's scholarship and thought. It will be of interest to students of sociology, history, political science, and Judaic studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765803641
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/15/2007
Pages:	402
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	16 Years

About the Author

Werner J. Cahnman (1902-1980) worked at the Berlin Industrial and Trade Chamber and the Counsel of the National Association of Bavaria before being arrested by the Gestapo. Upon his release he went to the United States and taught at many American universities, including Rutgers University. His major contributions in social science were made through his work in the sociology of Jews and sociological theory. His books include Ferdinand Toennier and A New Evaluation and Sociology and History. Judith T. Marcus is professor emeritus of sociology at the State University of New York -Potsdam. She has taught sociology at Kenyon College, Skidmore College, The College of Wooster, Rutgers University, and the New School for Social Research. She is the author of Georg Lukacs and Thomas Mann: A Study in the Sociology of Literature editor of Foundations of the Frankfurt School of Social Research and Georg Lukacs: Theory, Culture, and Politics.

Zoltán Tarr was visiting Fulbright Scholar to Budapest, Hungary, and taught sociology and history at the City University of New York, the New School for Social Research, and Rutgers University. Some of the books he has authored or edited include Georg Lukács, Jews and Gentiles, and Foundations of the Frankfurt School of Social Research.

Table of Contents

1: Personal and Autobiographical Writings; 1: My Relations to Jews and Judaism; 2: Jewish Intellectuals and the Central-Verein; 3: The Nazi Threat and the CentralVerein—A Recollection; 4: The Education of Rudolf Hess; 5: Stefan Zweig in Salzburg; 6: Werner Cahnman at Seventy: An Interview; 7: Robert E. Park at Fisk; 8: Germany: The Time Has Come for Friendship; 2: Sociological Essays; 9: Reflections on the Sociology of the Jews; 10: An American Dilemma; 11: The Stigma of Obesity; 12: The Forest Hills Experience; 13: “Ghetto” and “Sociology”; 14: The Concept of Social Policy ( Sozialpolitik ); 3: Geopolitical Ruminations: The Beginnings of the Global Approach; 15: Methods of Geopolitics; 16: Concepts of Geopolitics; 17: Foreign Area Study (ASTP) as an Educational Experiment in the Social Sciences; 18: Is a United Europe Possible?; 19: The Concept of Raum and the Theory of Regionalism; 20: France in Algeria—A Problem of Culture Contact; 21: Outline of a Theory of Area Studies; 22: Frontiers between East and West in Europe; 4: Jews and Judaism: A Historical View; 23: Reaction to Domination; 24: The Jews of Vienna; 25: Jewish Morale in Our Times; 26: Munich and the First Zionist Congress; 27: Two Maps of German-Jewish History; 28: A New Learning: Introduction to Franz Rosenzweig; 29: The Arabs and Zionist Policy; 30: Socio-Economic Causes of Anti-Semitism; 31: Adolf Fischhof and His Jewish Followers; 32: Theodor Herzl: A Column of Fire; 33: Some Facts of Intermarriage and Their Consequences for Action; 34: Comments on the American Jewish Scene

Editorial Reviews

"From an amazingly revealing memoir about Robert Park's retirement at Fisk, (and Cahnmann's presence there during the 1940s) to thoughts on European unity and Jewish family life, Cahnmann's views are illuminating and often controversal. A necessary addition to the library of any historian of the German Jewish Diaspora and its intellectual legacy-from the '40s to today."
—Sander L. Gilman, Distinguished Professor of the Liberal Arts and Sciences, Emory University "This diverse set of essays shows a fertile mind in operation. The editors, Judith T. Markus and Zoltan Tarr, have done an excellent job in bringing Werner J. Cahnmann to a new audience in a new time."
—Stephen Eric Bronner, Author of A Rumor about the Jews: Conspiracy, Antisemitism, and the Protocols of Zion

From the Publisher