Weimar cultural minister Becker championed sociology against professorial opposition

Evidence

Carl Heinrich Becker, who was Minister for Prussian and German Cultural Policy throughout the 1920s, was therefore more or less in agreement with Weil and Gerlach from the start. Although he was not a Social Democrat himself, and by his own account may have even been a good monarchist before the Weimar period, Becker was valued by the Social Democrats as an expert committed to reform, and from 1919 on he encouraged the reduction of specializations in the universities and the introduction of interdisciplinary subjects. He emphasized sociology in particular, as it consisted entirely of an interdisciplinary synthesis', and for that reason was an important educational tool: The creation of chairs of sociology is an urgent necessity at all the universities. This means sociology in the broadest sense, including the academic study of political science and contemporary history.’ Opposition from professors in the established subject areasseveral of whom attempted to denounce sociology as mere socialismmeant that sociology, a controversial and still rather vaguely defined science, was initially only taken up significantly in non-university further education (Adult Education Centres and technical colleges). — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 65 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: A Prussian reform minister drove sociology’s introduction against professors who dismissed it as socialism — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 65

Broader Connections

• A Prussian reform minister drove sociology’s introduction against professors who dismissed it as socialism #corroborates (0.90) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 65