Werner Sombart

Werner Sombart (1863-1941) was one of the leading German economists and social scientists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The son of an industrialist, his academic career was hampered by his early reputation as a Marxist economist. However, Sombart in his own work reversed Marx's primacy of base over superstructure and emphasised the role of Geist or spirit. This focus on the psychological foundations of capitalism was to be a constant for Sombart throughout his career and became...See more

Werner Sombart (1863-1941) was one of the leading German economists and social scientists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The son of an industrialist, his academic career was hampered by his early reputation as a Marxist economist. However, Sombart in his own work reversed Marx's primacy of base over superstructure and emphasised the role of Geist or spirit. This focus on the psychological foundations of capitalism was to be a constant for Sombart throughout his career and became more pronounced after he became disillusioned with socialism.After World War I his thought began to shift in a more conservative direction and this 'conservative turn' has been cited as a reason for Sombart's subsequent neglect, a neglect that is all the more surprising given how prominent a social scientist he was at his peak.Sombart's contribution to economic thought as one of the leading figures in the later German Historical School was extremely wide ranging. It stretched over the following fields: urban economics, defence economics, fiscal sociology, comparative economic systems, industrial organisation, the idea of the mixed economy, accounting theory, religion in the development of capitalism, double-entry accounting and the rise of capitalism, the drivers of technological innovation, and environmental economics. See less