Karl Lowith was the son of a Munich artist and studied philosophy and biology in Munich, Freiburg and Marburg. He began his teaching career in 1928 as Privatdozent in Marburg, working under Heidegger, but was forced to leave in 1934. After two years in Rome, he held a chair at Tohku University, Sendai, Japan from 1936-1941. In 1941, he moved to the Theological Seminary at Hartford, Connecticut and, in 1949, to the New School for Social Research, New York. In 1952 he returned to Germany as Professor of Philosophy at the University of Heidelberg where he remained until his retirement. He died...

This book introduces social scientists to the ideas of George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) - one of the most original yet neglected thinkers of early twentieth century sociology.

Mead is an exceptional case amongst sociological classics in that, until now, there has been no comprehensive reader of his work. As the first one-volume, comprehensive edited collection of Mead's published and unpublished writing, this book fills this gap. It is the first to critically assess all of Mead's writings and draw out the aspects that are central to his system of thought. The book is divided into...

Karl Mannheim was one of the leading sociologists of the twentieth century. Essays on the Sociology of Culture, originally published in 1956, was one of his most important books. In it he sets out his ideas of intellectuals as producers of culture and explores the possibilities of a democratization of culture. This new edition includes a superb new preface by Bryan Turner which sets Mannheim's study in the appropriate historical and intellectual context and explains why his thought on culture remains essential for students engaged in debates about mass culture, the politics of culture and...

First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.