Search Results - Stapelfeldt, Gerhard

Gerhard Stapelfeldt

Gerhard Stapelfeldt (born October 26, 1947, Hamburg, Germany) is a German sociologist. He was a university teacher at University of Hamburg until December 2010.

In 1979 Stapelfeldt published his PhD Thesis, a reconstruction and interpretation of Karl Marx's Das Kapital with special reference to Marx's further studies and writings. Following this interpretation he then put its consequences into practice by developing a programme of depicting and interpreting political economy, from mercantilism, to Liberalism, imperialism and finally Neoliberalism.

The focal point of his studies lies in the critical theory of society and the history of ideas while his theoretical point of reference is the Critical theory of the Frankfurt School, with theorists like Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno or Herbert Marcuse, and of Karl Marx. Other major influences on his thinking come from Greek philosophy, Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel or Sigmund Freud. He teaches sociology but also social history, economic history and philosophy.

His major work is a three-part work, also his professorial dissertation, the Critique of Economic Rationality (Kritik der ökonomischen Rationalität), which describes the genesis as well as the logic, institutional and empirical structure of capitalism in the eras of state-interventionism and Neoliberalism. It contains a general historical-philosophical part as well as examinations of the political economy of the Federal Republic of Germany, the European Union and world economy.

Among his current works is an analysis of the Euro crisis ([http://www.kritiknetz.de/kritikderpolitischenoekonomie/1062-der-euro-identitaet-und-krise-der-europaeischen-union http://www.kritiknetz.de]). In this interpretation he shows and explains the history of the Euro and criticises that European policy mainly took the currency - and not political ideas - as EU-European identity. Provided by Wikipedia