US occupation authorities funded German sociology as a tool for democratization

Evidence

In 1950 the US High Commissioner, John McCloy, put DM 200,000 at the Institute’s disposal, with a further DM 235,000 for rebuilding. 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. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1861

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader postwar pattern of American social science export and the Cold War ‘projection of American sociology’ scholarship (e.g., the work of Mitchell Ash, the Ford Foundation’s role). — connects to: American occupiers funded empirical sociology to promote democracy in Germany. — 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 (+2 more)
• SEED: An essay angle: how the US occupation bankrolled its own sociological allies in Germany, and what that did to the discipline’s political valence.
• CANDY: The US funded a Marxian institute’s rebuilding to spread democratic empiricism — a neat irony.