In whose image? Knowledge, social science and democracy in occupied Germany, 1943-1955

The dissertation explores the encounter between German and American culture during the occupation, by treating social scientific knowledge as an artifact of culture and exploring the interactions between social science, knowledge and democracy at the boundary between the two cultures. The dissertation examines the ways in which Germany was to be "democratized" through the medium of social science. Focussing on the disciplines of political science, economics, sociology and public opinion polling, the dissertation explores the activities of American and German social scientists, their efforts at resurrecting democracy within German culture, how representatives from each discipline understood the purpose of social scientific knowledge, and the differing assumptions between American and German social scientists concerning the nature of democracy and the proper role of social scientific research.;American social scientists arrived in Germany with the goal of democratizing German culture by "Americanizing" German social thought. The Americans believed that only by accepting social scientific techniques could the Germans gain the proper knowledge of social, economic and political conditions necessary to democratize German culture. Further, the Americans conceptualized social science as inherently democratic, as against the German philosophic tradition. Most Americans believed that democratization could proceed by simply implanting American ideas into German culture; democratization, many Germans argued, could only come by reviving those facets of German culture that were democratic. Consequently, the Americans encountered a different culture, a competing tendency among German social thinkers to ground social Wissenschaft in discursive philosophy, rather than American pragmatic "science." Especially during the 1960's this discursive philosophy would resurface in Germany, in the form of Critical Theory, which offered a competing definition of democracy. Despite American efforts aimed at introducing American social scientific techniques and institutional structures into German practice, the Germans continued to conceptualize social science as a part of German philosophy, not American science. German social thought remained resistant to American images of science, and American images of democracy. It is the dynamic between the cultures of (American) science and (German) philosophy that is the central thread of this cultural history of knowledge.