M. Rainer Lepsius | |
|---|---|
 2006 | |
| Born | Mario Rainer Lepsius (1928-05-08)8 May 1928 |
| Died | 2 October 2014 |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupations |
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| Spouse | Renate Meyer (1927–2004) |
| Children | Oliver Lepsius |
| Parent | Wilhelm Lepsius (1890–1942) |
M. Rainer Lepsius (8 May 1928 – 2 October 2014) was a Germansociologist.[1][2] A particular interest of his was the work ofMax Weber; he was prominent among the co-compilers of the (eventually) 47-volume edition of theComplete Works of Weber. [de][3]
Mario Rainer Lepsius was born inRio de Janeiro, at that time the capital ofBrazil. HisPortuguese first name reflected the country where the family lived when he was born, while his second name reflected theGerman provenance of the family.[4] After moving to Germany he would stop using the nameMario, substituting the initialM, which is why most sources identify him asM. Rainer Lepsius.[4]
Lepsius came from a prominentBerlin family. His father, Wilhelm Lepsius (1890–1942) had a doctorate degree in law, and by the time Lepisus was born, was working forSchering AG, a large pharmaceutical company headquartered in Berlin.[5] His mother, the daughter of aMunich judge, came from a middle class ProtestantFranconian family, with a number of lawyers, doctors, and pastors among her ancestors.[6] In 1934, when Lepsius was six years old, his family relocated toMadrid where he first attended school.[4] Two years later, in 1936, his family returned toGermany, settling in Munich where Lepsius spent a majority of his childhood. While in Munich, at the age of fourteen his father passed.[4] On May 8, 1945, his seventeenth birthday, Lepsius was in Munich when he witnessed the capitulation of theGerman army, marking the formal end to theSecond World War.[4]
Between 1947 and 1952 he studied history,social economics [de] (Volkswirtschaftslehre) andsociology at the universities ofMunich andCologne. He received his first degree from Munich in 1950. His doctorate, also from Munich, followed in 1955.[7] InMunich he was able to obtain a grounding a sociology fromAlfred von Martin. InCologne he was one of the so-called "young Turks"[5] drawn to the ideas ofRené König, and from this point his academic focus was almost exclusively on sociology.[8]Gerhard Weisser triggered his interest in town planning.[9] In autumn 1951, during an extended stay inLondon, he was able to pursue his studies at theLondon School of Economics.[7] It was also in London that he metRenate Meyer whom he would later marry.[5]
After thisFriedrich Lütge offered him a post as seminar assistant in Economic History back atMunich, which made Lepsius andKnut Borchardt colleagues. He was also commissioned to produce a study on the social position of theMaster orForeman (Meister) in industrial management structures, which led to the creation of contacts with industrial sociologists such asTheo Pirker [de],Burkart Lutz [de] andFriedrich Weltz [de].
In 1955–56 Lepsius won aFulbright scholarship which led to a year spent atColumbia University inNew York, studying withRobert K. Merton, whom he found a "lucid teacher" andPaul Lazarsfeld as his "student advisor."[4] At the end of his year he was offered a position as a research assistant byReinhard Bendix atBerkeley, but after a certain amount of soul searching decided to return toWest Germany and participate in the postwar reconstruction of the country's academic base.[4] Between 1957 and 1963 he worked for his former tutorAlfred von Martin as a research assistant at the newly establishedMunich University Institute for Sociology. He played a central role both in the day-to-day teaching and as an administrator, working closely with the institute directorEmerich K. Francis who, like Lepsius, had been persuaded by Alfred von Martin to return from theUnited States.[5]
In 1963 Lepsius received fromMunich hishabilitation (post-doctoral qualification) for a piece of work critiquing theFunctionalist Theory of social organization. He subsequently expressed regret that the dissertation had never been published: however, in 2015 it was published posthumously, complete with a foreword by his son,Oliver Lepsius and an introduction by his fellow Weber scholar,Wolfgang Schluchter.[10]
1963 was also the year in which he moved fromMunich to the National Economic Academy (Staatliche Wirtschaftshochschule) inMannheim (rebranded in 1967 as theUniversity of Mannheim). Here he held a full professorship in Sociology until 1981 when he moved again. In 1981 he took a leading position at the then threatened Sociology department atHeidelberg University, where he held an equivalent professorship until he became anemeritus professor in 1993.[5]
Lepsius lost his ability to speak after astroke in July 2014. He died inWeinheim after a second stroke on 2 October 2014.[11]
Between 1971 and 1974 Lepsius chaired theGerman Sociological Association. He was a member of several learned institutions; from 1977 a full member of theHeidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, from 1992 a corresponding member of theBavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and from 2004 a foreign member of theTurin Academy of Sciences and Humanities [it].[7]
Lepsius was considered one of the leadingWest German researchers and theoreticians of contemporary society. Like most sociologists of the postwar generation, he started out as anindustrial sociologist, and like many of the better known sociologists of that generation, he was a member of theExpert Committee for Industrial Sociology at theGerman Sociological Association (Fachausschuss für Industriesoziologie der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie).[12]
Lepsius had a particular interest in the work ofMax Weber: he was prominent among the co-compilers of the (eventually) 47-volume edition of theComplete Works of Weber [de].[3] His research work also embraced both historical and contemporarysocial structure. He also worked extensively onpolitical sociology and on theEuropean Union. Lepsius powerfully influenced thepolitical culture through his work on thesocial environment.[13]
Lists of publications are included in: Adalbert Hepp,Martina Löw (eds.):M. Rainer Lepsius. Soziologie als Profession. Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main/New York 2008,ISBN 3-593-38322-5, pp. 161–178 and Steffen Sigmund, Gert Albert, Agathe Bienfait, Mateusz Stachura (eds.):Soziale Konstellation und historische Perspektive. Festschrift für M. Rainer Lepsius. VS Verlag, Wiesbaden 2008,ISBN 3-531-15852-X, pp. 468–483.
Horst Baier,Gangolf Hübinger, M. Rainer Lepsius,Wolfgang J. Mommsen, Wolfgang Schluchter,Johannes Winckelmann (eds.):Max-Weber-Gesamtausgabe (MWG). 47 Bände. Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 1984–2019.
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