Wittfogel pioneered Asiatic society study within a Communist academic career

Evidence

At the same time as his participation in Communist politics deepened, Wittfogel managed to pursue a vigorous academic career. He studied at Leipzig, where he was influenced by Karl Lamprecht, at Berlin, and finally at Frankfurt, where Carl Griinberg agreed to direct his dissertation. He published studies of both bourgeois science and bourgeois society before turning to what was to become his major concern in later years, Asiatic society. As early as 1922 Wittfogel had been asked by Gerlach and Weil to join the Institut they were planning to open. It was not until three years later, however, that he accepted the offer, his wife, Rose Schlesinger, having already become one of the Institut’s librarians. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 121

Categorization

• XREF: Wittfogel’s Asiatic Mode of Production work directly anticipates his postwar Oriental Despotism, a seminal text in Cold War totalitarianism theory. — connects to: Marx considered Asiatic village communities foundations of Oriental despotism — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 1535; Wittfogel’s positivism isolated him from Horkheimer’s inner circle — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 122; Marx viewed Asiatic societies as static for lacking class struggle — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 679

Broader Connections

• Marx considered Asiatic village communities foundations of Oriental despotism #expands (0.85) — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 1535
• Marx viewed Asiatic societies as static for lacking class struggle #expands (0.85) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 679
• Wittfogel’s positivism isolated him from Horkheimer’s inner circle #responds-to (0.80) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 122