Ludwig Gumplowicz (9 March 1838 – 19 August 1909) was a Polish sociologist, jurist, historian, and political scientist, who taught constitutional and administrative law at the University of Graz.
He was well known for his skepticism of the permanence of social progress and his belief that the state emerges from inevitable confrontation rather than unity or divine inspiration.
[3] By rejecting orthodox jurisprudence in favor of establishing sociology that had yet to be widely accepted in Austria and Germany, he remained an outsider and at odds with university circles after years of studying and teaching his beliefs.
Gumplowicz left a huge literary legacy, with 190 works to his name, not to mention the scores of papers and reviews he wrote in Polish.
[1] After the republic of Cracow dissolved, the National Polish Independence movement was created, which the young Gumplowicz became a part of.
According to Gumplowicz, a state that overlapped in scope with a country and was associated with the nation in people's imagination started to take on the role of a social agent.
In the same way that culture is a result of affluence, and leisure is made possible by conquering, higher civilization owes its existence to battles with those of lower classes.
[7]: 83 Nevertheless, he did not deduce his conceptions directly from evolutionary theory and criticized those sociologists (Comte, Spencer, Lilienfeld) who employed biological analogies as an explanatory principle.
[8] It is a combination of moral, physical, economic, and cultural elements that have been blended in varying amounts across time and among various social groupings.
[9] Gumplowicz defines syngenism as "That phenomenon which consists in the fact that invariably in associated modes of life, definite groups of men, feeling themselves closely bound together by common interests, endeavor to function as a single element in the struggle for domination.” Human beings, according to Gumplowicz, have an inherent propensity to form communities and create a sense of unity.
[3] His political beliefs and his polemic character attracted many Polish and Italian students, making his theories important in Poland, Italy, and other crown states (today Croatia, Czech Republic).
[5] Philosophers Carlo Cattaneo, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Gustav Ratenhofer were all men that Ludwig Gumplowicz had shared similar ideas.
This was what brought these men to their shared aim of studying social norms and groups to help redefine the principles by which people live.
The social scientists Émile Durkheim, León Duguit, Harold J. Laski, and others elaborated Gumplowicz's view of political parties as interest groups.
[4] His theories were also highly influential among the first conflict theorists and inspired early theoretical work on the governance on multiethnic states.
[16] Critical authors like Jerzy Szacki have stated that Gumplowicz's influence was undoubtedly aided by the fact that his scholarly work took place outside of the time's major intellectual centers, as well as the fact that his more intriguing theories about his sociological method were more thoroughly developed by other theorists, such as sociologism by Durkheim and conflict theory by Marx.
No astronomer would ask, whether the moon, in appearing between sun and earth is worthy of praise or blame-but no historian could be found who would consider it unjustified to judge about the "right" or "wrong" action of King X or Minister Y; who would refrain from praise or blame in the conception of any action whatever.” On 19 August 1909, Ludwig Gumplowicz and his wife, Franciska, both committed suicide by poison.
His influence as a great thinker, writer, philosopher, jurist, historian, and sociologist has changed the course of sociological history.
Gumplowicz was highly looked up to by many philosophers and sociologists and they emphasize their appreciation for his journey of seeking the truth and ideas.