Conflicting drives for theory and self-respect made the Institute drift directionless through fundraising

Evidence

And his need for achievement in the theoretical sphere was no less highly developed than his need for self-respect, which was flattered by his role as a managerial scholar and director of a scientific institution. This inner conflict produced a compromise in which the business of the Institute continued but without any particular direction. From the winter of 1938-9 onward, the Institute tried (very half-heartedly) to get official foundations and private citizens interested in its activities as a whole and in specific research projects (as briefly sketched out in the Institute’s impressive-looking prospectus of 1938), in the hope of receiving grant money. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 272

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the pattern that institutions under insecurity substitute procedural legitimacy for substantive goals.