СОЦИАЛИЗМ КАФЕДРАЛЬНЫЙ

Socialism of the Chair

An ironical name given to a group of German liberal professors and politicians, members of the socio-ethical school which in the second half of the 19th century was the first to "prove" theoretically that capitalism would peacefully develop into socialism. Following the teaching of the historical school in political economy, the Socialists of the Chair held that political economy must go beyond the bounds of studying economic phenomena in the narrow sense and merge with the other social sciences. They held that the state could regulate economic relations.

Socialism of the Chair was a peculiar reaction to the spread of the working-class movement and it expressed the desire of the bourgeoisie to retard the growth of the proletariat's class consciousness. In 1872, soon after the suppression of the Paris Commune, the Socialists of the Chair organised a Socio-Political Union which advocated the need for social reforms and state intervention in economic relations. Lorenz Stein, Adolf Wagner, Gustav Schmoller, Lujo Brentano, and Werner Sombart were among the proponents of Socialism of the Chair.