author
A. (Albert) Schäffle
1831–1903
A sharp-eyed German economist and sociologist, he moved between journalism, university life, and politics in the 19th century. He is especially remembered for writing about society as an organic whole and for tackling questions about socialism, the state, and modern economic life.
1 Audiobook
The Theory and Policy of Labour Protection
by A. (Albert) Schäffle, etc. statutes Germany. Laws
About the author
Born in Nürtingen on February 24, 1831, Albert Eberhard Friedrich Schäffle studied at the University of Tübingen. Although he first prepared for the ministry, he turned to journalism and later became a professor of political economy, teaching at Tübingen and then at the University of Vienna.
Schäffle also stepped briefly into government service: in 1871 he served as Austrian minister of commerce and agriculture. Alongside that public role, he built a reputation as a political economist, sociologist, and editor whose work tried to connect economics with the larger structure of society.
His best-known writings explore the idea of society as something like a living organism, with interdependent parts working together. That broad, synthetic way of thinking made him an important voice in 19th-century social theory, especially in debates about the state, social reform, and socialism. He died in Stuttgart on December 25, 1903.