American occupiers funded empirical sociology to promote democracy in Germany.

Evidence

This energetic support sprang from a belief among those responsible for American policy in Germany that sociology, particularly when represented by American citizens and with its emphasis on empirical research, was a factor promoting democracy. (The Institute of Social-Scientific Research (Institut für sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung) in Darmstadt, founded in 1949, was also financed by a grant from HICOG, but it only survived for a few years. The Rockefeller Foundation supported the establishment of a Dortmund Sociological Research Unit (Sozialforschungsstelle Dortmund) at the University of Münster. Political science was encouraged by the Americans even more than sociology.) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1861

Categorization

• XREF: Confirms ch57’s claim that Allied bans preserved Nazi economic influence — here the Americans instead actively subsidized a competing democratic discipline. — connects to: US occupation authorities funded German sociology as a tool for democratization — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1861; American occupation policy and funding drove West German empirical sociology — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1865; American funders backed several new West German social-science institutes — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1861 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• US occupation authorities funded German sociology as a tool for democratization #corroborates (0.95) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1861
• American occupation policy and funding drove West German empirical sociology #corroborates (0.95) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1865
• American funders backed several new West German social-science institutes #expands (0.85) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1861
• Post-war German sociology ignored American social theory and its empirical grounding #contradicts (0.85) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2047
• American occupation officials promoted opinion research as a tool of democratic function. #expands (0.85) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1926
• The Institut planned to teach Americans social science techniques to counter German speculation #responds-to (0.72) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 846
• The Frankfurt group pioneered Germany’s group discussion technique for social research #expands (0.70) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1872