Ludwig Gumplowicz

Ludwig Gumplowicz (1838 to 1909) was a Polish sociologist, jurist, historian and political scientist who taught constitutional and administrative law at the University of Graz and is considered one of the founding fathers of sociology in German-speaking countries. The son of a Jewish carpet and porcelain manufacturer, he studied law at Kraków and Vienna and took a doctorate, began journalism in 1860 and edited the magazine Kraj from 1869 to 1874. He entered Graz in 1875 as a lecturer in the science of administration and Austrian administrative law, became associate professor in 1882 and full professor in 1893, and retired in 1908. His first sociological work, Race and State of 1875, was later retitled The Sociological Idea of the State and finally General State Law in 1907, and among his other works are Outlines of Sociology, Austrian State Law and The Race Struggle. He rejected orthodox jurisprudence in favour of sociology and held that the state arises from inevitable confrontation rather than from unity or divine inspiration.