OPPENHEIMER, FRANZ

OPPENHEIMER, FRANZ (1864–1943), German sociologist and economist, an initiator of cooperative agriculture in Ereẓ Israel. The son of a reform rabbi, Oppenheimer was born in Berlin and studied medicine in Freiburg and Berlin. He started his career as a practicing physician, but after graduating in economics at the University of Kiel (1908), he became Privatdozent at the University of Berlin in 1909 and professor at the University of Frankfurt in 1917, where he occupied a newly established chair of sociology from 1919 to 1929. After Hitler's advent to power in 1933, Oppenheimer lectured in Berlin at the Hochschule fuer die Wissenschaft des Judentums. In 1938 he left Germany for the U.S. He died in Los Angeles. Oppenheimer's sociology is developmental in character, combining in an independent way elements from the theories of Marx, Spencer, Gumplowicz, and also from the instinct theory of McDougall; to these is added a melioristic intention. Oppenheimer considered accumulation of wealth and power, and hence gross inequality among men, as originating from social conflict, exemplified in earliest times chiefly by the subjugation of peaceful farmers, craftsmen, and traders by conquering nomads and pirates. The "economic means" of accumulation through one's own work is thereby replaced by "political means," i.e., force of arms, starting with payment of tribute, then leading to serfdom, feudalism, and finally to the development of antagonistic classes under capitalism. The central evil is the monopolization of land, which forces rural populations into urban areas, and creates what Marx had defined as the "industrial reserve army." Consequently, if the monopolization of land were replaced by an agrarian cooperative system of independent farmers, free competition could be restored and a "liberal socialism" established. Oppenheimer's belief that the removal of evil institutions would do away with the domination of man by man and lead to social harmony has a dogmatic ring.   Oppenheimer's interest in Zionism and Jewish affairs dated from 1902, when Oskar marmorek and johann kremenetzky introduced him to theodor herzl . Herzl asked Oppenheimer to elaborate the economic and agricultural parts of the Zionist program, which he did in 1903 at the Sixth Zionist Congress in Basle. In 1911 the Palestine Office of the Zionist Organization in Jaffa established at Merḥavyah a cooperative settlement based on Oppenheimer's ideas. Although it did not prove successful and had to be reorganized, the Merḥavyah experiment laid the foundation for cooperative agricultural settlement in Ereẓ Israel. As an opponent of nationalism, Oppenheimer became alienated from the Zionist movement, and in 1913 he withdrew from any official participation. Nevertheless, he maintained his interest in the development of Ereẓ Israel and in Jewish social problems. During World War I he became aware of the misery of the Jewish population in Eastern Europe. In 1934–35 he visited Palestine and explained his concepts to Jewish labor leaders, but his ideas were not enthusiastically received. His most important works are Der Staat (1907; The State, 1914) and System der Soziologie (4 vols., 1922–35). Some of his articles on the Merḥavyah experiment were included in the books Genossenschaftliche Kolonisation in Palaestina (1915); Merchavia (1914); and Wege zur Gemeinschaft (1924). He also published an autobiography, Erlebtes, Erstrebtes, Erreichtes (1913, 1964). In later years his collected works were published in three volumes edited by J.H. Schoeps, A. Silbermann and H. Suessmuth: vol. 1, Theoretische Grundlegung (1995); vol. 2, Politische Schriften (1996), vol. 3, Schriften zur Marktwirt schaft (1998). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: K. Werner, Oppenheimers System des liberalen Sozialismus (1928); Fuss, in: American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 6 (1946), 95–112; 7 (1947), 107–17; H.E. Barnes (ed.), Introduction to the History of Sociology (1948); J.H. Bilski (ed.), Means and Ways Towards a Realm of Justice (1958); A. Bein, Return to the Soil (1952), index; A. Granott, Ishim be-Yisrael (1956), 79–109. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Loewe, in: YBLBI, 10 (1965), 137–49; A. Bein, in: Herzl Yearbook, 7 (1971), 71–127; G. Kressel, Franz Oppenheimer (Heb., 1972); V. Caspari and B. Schefold (eds.), Franz Oppenheimer und Adolf Lowe (1996); H. Oppenheimer, Mabat Aḥorah: Zikhronot (2004). (Joachim O. Ronall and Werner J. Cahnman / Noam Zadoff (2nd ed.)