Hugo O. Engelmann
Encyclopedia
Hugo Otto Engelmann was an American
sociologist, anthropologist and general systems
theorist. Throughout his work he emphasized the significance of history
.
, Austria
, Engelmann arrived in the United States
in 1939, just two weeks before World War II
broke out in Europe. Having fled first to Czechoslovakia
and later to France
as a result of the German annexation of Austria in 1938, he worked as a laborer in the fields of France until he was able to sail to America, as recorded in Journey Into a New Life.
Following graduate school at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
he taught at Michigan State University
in East Lansing, at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and at Northern Illinois University
, DeKalb. Towards the end of the 1950s he was among the first members of the Society for General Systems Research
. He was the first editor of the Wisconsin Sociologist 1960-62, then again in 1965-70. In 1963 Engelmann was president of the Wisconsin Sociological Association. He appeared in Who’s Who in America in 1989. He is named in Austrian Social Scientists in Exile 1933-1945
.
In the 1960s Engelmann regularly participated in civil rights marches and was a strong advocate for racial and gender equality at a time when neither could be taken for granted even at universities. In the early 1970s one of his papers - an analysis of bussing and neighborhood schools—was quoted in a successful desegregation suit of Milwaukee Public Schools
initiated by Lloyd Barbee
.
From 1969 until he retired Professor Emeritus in 1989 he taught, wrote, and traveled throughout the US and Europe. Retirement did not change much. He continued his active correspondence with colleagues and former students for 30 years and more. He remained active in sociology until his death on February 2, 2002 in DeKalb, Illinois.
His wife Ruth is author of Leaf House: Days of Remembering. Their son John is a lawyer and is sometimes a co-author of Engelmann’s articles.
About injustice he had this to say, "...when we restrict the behavioral development of others, we are depriving ourselves of interactive opportunities, and limit our own development. Thus, we can say in a very real sense that 'Whatsoever we shall do unto the least of them, we shall have done to ourselves.'"
Beyond a certain point totalitarian power structures eclipse authoritarian ones. Sheer amounts of interaction transform vertical power structures into horizontal ones as more and more people exercise power over each other. In "Orwell, Modern Thought, and Totalitarianism" Engelmann drew a stark distinction between authoritarian and totalitarian societies. "Authoritarian police officials aiming at outward compliance suppress activities considered undesirable. Totalitarian leaders look for inner conviction expressed in positive enthusiasm or contrite confession."
His anthropological views were laid out in "The Activity Bias of Ethnography and the History of Society" (1960). Researchers are prone to focus on the physical manifestations of people’s activity, such as pottery, tools, or weapons, but ignore their experiential patterns. As technology becomes more and more developed researchers all too often conclude that society is increasing in complexity. They ignore the possibility that activity expands at expense to experiential intricacy.
Engelmann’s historical perspective was especially evident in "The European Empire: From Charlemagne to the Common Market" (1962). The geographic similarity between Charlemagne’s Empire and that of the Common Market almost twelve-hundred years later was attributed to similar phases of migration patterns. Like the outward expansion of Charlemagne’s forces, a similar pattern was noticed in the Common Market. Even Charlemagne’s capital, Aachen, is a mere 75 miles from NATO headquarters in Brussels. Matthew Omolesky, in his 2009 article about the European Union, "Between Rome and Byzantium," cites Engelmann's observation about the geographic similarity between the Common Market and Charlemagne's Empire too.
A recurring theme in Engelmann’s work refers to professional manipulators engaging others in activity for its own sake regardless of its nature or consequences. In his last paper, "Science under Siege", he warned of two sorts of religion edging their way into science. The first is the supernaturalist view, the sort of view held by Creationists. The second is more subtle. It is the naturalist view. Advocates of either notion urge us to believe things that cannot be put to the test. Whether God created the heavens and the earth in six days or whether there are parallel universes have nothing whatsoever to do with science no matter how gladly true believers would have it so. Central to all science is the testable hypothesis. If it is not there, we are not talking about science.
in 1967. Those groups most likely to emerge and to persist are the ones that amount to one-third of the total population, whether they be ethnic enclaves in the city, students protesting in the streets, social movements coming to the fore, or local governments on the rise.
Most intriguing was Engelmann’s concept central to almost all his hypotheses. Both the intensity and complexity of an average individual’s behavior cannot increase simultaneously. As one goes up the other goes down. Twenty-three centuries after Aristotle we find an explanation for his assertion, "If we take intense delight in one thing, we cannot do anything else at all." We also find that behavioral intensity increases with rising interaction frequency even as complexity declines. Therein lies the source of both power exercise and the widespread approval of it in modern times.
Engelmann’s sociology of knowledge carefully distinguished between total relativisim and intellectually adequate work. In other words, “…ideas limited by one’s own social position will be biased…Engelmann argued that scientific observations (and laws) are societally invariate--true across the entire society.”
In Engelmann's office hung two photos, one of Albert Einstein
, the other of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Each in his own way underscored the fact that society is a network of direct and indirect interactions. Their views on society, which were very similar to those of Engelmann, became many years later the source of an article by one of his former students called "The Preacher and the Physicist."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sociologist, anthropologist and general systems
Systems theory
Systems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems in general, with the goal of elucidating principles that can be applied to all types of systems at all nesting levels in all fields of research...
theorist. Throughout his work he emphasized the significance of history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
.
Biography
Born September 11, 1917 in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Engelmann arrived in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1939, just two weeks before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
broke out in Europe. Having fled first to Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
and later to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
as a result of the German annexation of Austria in 1938, he worked as a laborer in the fields of France until he was able to sail to America, as recorded in Journey Into a New Life.
Following graduate school at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
he taught at Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
in East Lansing, at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and at Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University is a state university and research institution located in DeKalb, Illinois, with satellite centers in Hoffman Estates, Naperville, Rockford, and Oregon. It was originally founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895 by Illinois Governor John P...
, DeKalb. Towards the end of the 1950s he was among the first members of the Society for General Systems Research
Society for General Systems Research
The Society for General Systems Research is predecessor of the current International Society for the Systems Sciences , known to be one the first interdisciplinary and international co-operations in the field of systems theory and systems science...
. He was the first editor of the Wisconsin Sociologist 1960-62, then again in 1965-70. In 1963 Engelmann was president of the Wisconsin Sociological Association. He appeared in Who’s Who in America in 1989. He is named in Austrian Social Scientists in Exile 1933-1945
Austrian Social Scientists in Exile 1933-1945
With the rise of National Socialism numerous artists, scientists and writers fled to other lands. Among them were many Austrian social scientists. Often they left because of their ancestry and frequently because of their political views...
.
In the 1960s Engelmann regularly participated in civil rights marches and was a strong advocate for racial and gender equality at a time when neither could be taken for granted even at universities. In the early 1970s one of his papers - an analysis of bussing and neighborhood schools—was quoted in a successful desegregation suit of Milwaukee Public Schools
Milwaukee Public Schools
Milwaukee Public Schools is the largest school district in Wisconsin. As of 2007, it had an enrollment of 87,360 students, and as of 2006 employed 6,100 full-time and substitute teachers in 223 schools. The Milwaukee Public Schools system is the 33rd largest in the United States by enrollment...
initiated by Lloyd Barbee
Lloyd Barbee
Lloyd Augustus Barbee was an American, Democratic politician and civil rights activist.Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Barbee served in the United States Navy during World War II. In 1949, he graduated from LeMoyne-Owen College. Barbee moved to Madison, Wisconsin to study for his law degree at the...
.
From 1969 until he retired Professor Emeritus in 1989 he taught, wrote, and traveled throughout the US and Europe. Retirement did not change much. He continued his active correspondence with colleagues and former students for 30 years and more. He remained active in sociology until his death on February 2, 2002 in DeKalb, Illinois.
His wife Ruth is author of Leaf House: Days of Remembering. Their son John is a lawyer and is sometimes a co-author of Engelmann’s articles.
Work
For most of his life he was first and foremost a sociologist. Ethnicity and religion were distant runners up. He was a strong supporter of intellectual freedom, equal rights, civil liberties, and workers. That spirit is evident in the first Wisconsin Sociologist journal—today called Sociological Imagination. It insisted it was "a journal of communication, published cooperatively by its contributors, under the auspices of WSA Wisconsin Sociological Association. Communications may cover any subject matter of concern to social scientists in their respective roles as scientific workers, teachers, and professional employees."About injustice he had this to say, "...when we restrict the behavioral development of others, we are depriving ourselves of interactive opportunities, and limit our own development. Thus, we can say in a very real sense that 'Whatsoever we shall do unto the least of them, we shall have done to ourselves.'"
Population Expansion and the Social System
Through billions of small-scale social interactions society changes in piecemeal ways and often in contradictory directions. Still, the overall thrust of social change can be discerned. In his 1967 paper "Population Expansion and the Social System," Engelmann outlined his basic theory. As the world’s population increases people interact with each other more and more frequently due to crowding, migration, and travel. Freedom declines, power exercise at first increases but later abates (see also Engelmann and Cash, 1981),) and violence becomes boundless.Beyond a certain point totalitarian power structures eclipse authoritarian ones. Sheer amounts of interaction transform vertical power structures into horizontal ones as more and more people exercise power over each other. In "Orwell, Modern Thought, and Totalitarianism" Engelmann drew a stark distinction between authoritarian and totalitarian societies. "Authoritarian police officials aiming at outward compliance suppress activities considered undesirable. Totalitarian leaders look for inner conviction expressed in positive enthusiasm or contrite confession."
Other 1960s papers
In his paper "A Sociohistorical Perspective for East European Developments" he made his point even more forcefully, "While totalitarianism derives from psychological rigidity, authoritarian rule depends on external enforcement of regulations through power exercise."His anthropological views were laid out in "The Activity Bias of Ethnography and the History of Society" (1960). Researchers are prone to focus on the physical manifestations of people’s activity, such as pottery, tools, or weapons, but ignore their experiential patterns. As technology becomes more and more developed researchers all too often conclude that society is increasing in complexity. They ignore the possibility that activity expands at expense to experiential intricacy.
Engelmann’s historical perspective was especially evident in "The European Empire: From Charlemagne to the Common Market" (1962). The geographic similarity between Charlemagne’s Empire and that of the Common Market almost twelve-hundred years later was attributed to similar phases of migration patterns. Like the outward expansion of Charlemagne’s forces, a similar pattern was noticed in the Common Market. Even Charlemagne’s capital, Aachen, is a mere 75 miles from NATO headquarters in Brussels. Matthew Omolesky, in his 2009 article about the European Union, "Between Rome and Byzantium," cites Engelmann's observation about the geographic similarity between the Common Market and Charlemagne's Empire too.
A recurring theme in Engelmann’s work refers to professional manipulators engaging others in activity for its own sake regardless of its nature or consequences. In his last paper, "Science under Siege", he warned of two sorts of religion edging their way into science. The first is the supernaturalist view, the sort of view held by Creationists. The second is more subtle. It is the naturalist view. Advocates of either notion urge us to believe things that cannot be put to the test. Whether God created the heavens and the earth in six days or whether there are parallel universes have nothing whatsoever to do with science no matter how gladly true believers would have it so. Central to all science is the testable hypothesis. If it is not there, we are not talking about science.
Sociology of knowledge
Great theories generate numerous testable hypotheses. Engelmann’s theory was very successful in that regard. His hypotheses were on target whether about aggression, random violence, cultural closure, anti-intellectualism, diminishing freedoms, or scientific viewpoints. In the late 1960s when riots were common place and everyone blamed everyone else, Engelmann sought answers to questions no one else was asking. Statistically speaking, how do groups emerge? In terms of probability how can they persist? The questions involve two mathematical curves. One represents the likelihood that a subgroup of a specific size will emerge; the other is the probability that it will persist. The product of the two curves provided the answer for the one-third hypothesisOne-third hypothesis
The one-third hypothesis is a sociodynamic term advanced by Hugo O. Engelmann, which asserts that a group’s increases as it approaches one-third of the population and diminishes when it exceeds or falls below one-third of the population....
in 1967. Those groups most likely to emerge and to persist are the ones that amount to one-third of the total population, whether they be ethnic enclaves in the city, students protesting in the streets, social movements coming to the fore, or local governments on the rise.
Most intriguing was Engelmann’s concept central to almost all his hypotheses. Both the intensity and complexity of an average individual’s behavior cannot increase simultaneously. As one goes up the other goes down. Twenty-three centuries after Aristotle we find an explanation for his assertion, "If we take intense delight in one thing, we cannot do anything else at all." We also find that behavioral intensity increases with rising interaction frequency even as complexity declines. Therein lies the source of both power exercise and the widespread approval of it in modern times.
Engelmann’s sociology of knowledge carefully distinguished between total relativisim and intellectually adequate work. In other words, “…ideas limited by one’s own social position will be biased…Engelmann argued that scientific observations (and laws) are societally invariate--true across the entire society.”
In Engelmann's office hung two photos, one of Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
, the other of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
Each in his own way underscored the fact that society is a network of direct and indirect interactions. Their views on society, which were very similar to those of Engelmann, became many years later the source of an article by one of his former students called "The Preacher and the Physicist."
Publications
Engelmann wrote six books and at least fifty articles, a selection:.- 1953. Methodological and Philosophical Bases of Social Scientific Theory. Dissertation University of Wisconsin, Madison.
- 1956. The evaluation modality test. Psychometric Affiliates.
- 1957. A systemic dynamic approach to social theory.
- 1966. Theoretical Sociology: Its Bases and Place in Modern Science.
- 1966. Essays in Social Theory and Social Organization. W. C. Brown Book Co.
- 1969. Sociology A Guided Study Text. Kendall/Hunt Pub. Co.
- 1976. Marx as an Upper-class Ideologist.
- 1980. Behavior, Interaction, and Social Organization.
- 1993. Problems of Sociological Inquiry.
- 2002. Journey into a New Life.Carmel, IN, Simudell Publishers.
External links
- Johnson, Warren R. 2001. The Preacher and the Physicist, Heidelberg, Germany: UMUC Social Sciences Newsletter. Term II 2001-2002, pp. 7–8.
- Nelson, James K. 1998. Milwaukee School Desegregation in the 1960s, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.
- Omolesky, Matthew. 2009. Between Rome and Byzantium. Europe 2020.