Image by Annabel_P on Pixabay · Pixabay License
Robert Michels
Sign in to saveGerman sociologist (1876–1936)
OverviewAI-generated
Robert Michels (1876–1936) was a German sociologist, philosopher, and university teacher. Born in Cologne and dying in Rome, he held citizenship in Germany and the Kingdom of Italy. He was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, the Italian Socialist Party, and the National Fascist Party. Michels was educated at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Leipzig University, and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. He served as a professor at the University of Basel, University of Marburg, University of Turin, and University of Perugia.
His notable work includes the concept of the iron law of oligarchy. Other publications listed include *Sexual Ethics*, *Political Parties; A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy*, *Sittlichkeit in Ziffern?*, and *Archiv Für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik; Volume 22*. He was a member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and identified with Catholicism.
Synthesized by Vinony from 32 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Works
- 34
Top works
- Sexual Ethics
- Political Parties; A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy
- Sittlichkeit in Ziffern?
- Political Parties Sociological Study Olgrchcl
- Archiv Für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik; Volume 22
via Open Library + Wikidata
Key facts
- Born
- ( 1876-01-09 ) 9 January 1876, Cologne , German Empire
- Died
- 3 May 1936 (1936-05-03) (aged 60), Rome , Fascist Italy
- Influences
- Le Bon Sorel Pareto Mosca Loria Sombart Weber
- School or tradition
- Italian school of elitism
- Institutions
- University of Marburg University of Perugia University of Turin University of Basel
- Notable works
- Political Parties (1911)
- Notable ideas
- Iron law of oligarchy , Moderation theory
- Influenced
- Bryce Burnham Duverger McKenzie Lipset Neumann Moldbug
- Political party
- Social Democratic Party of Germany (–1907), National Fascist Party (1924–1936)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Robert
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Kingdom of Italy
- Place of birth
- Cologne
- Place of death
- Rome
- Occupation
- philosopher
- Educated at
- Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
- Political party
- Italian Socialist Party
- Languages spoken
- German
- Religion
- Catholicism
- Notable work
- iron law of oligarchy
- Image
- Robert-michels.jpg
- Work location
- Marburg
Show 5 more facts
- date of birth
- 1876-01-09
- date of death
- 1936-05-02
- Commons category
- Robert Michels
- Commons Creator page
- Robert Michels
- member of
- Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei
via Wikidata · CC0
~14 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Robert Michels ( German: [ˈmɪçəls]; 9 January 1876 – 3 May 1936) was a German-born Italian sociologist who contributed to elite theory by describing the political behavior of intellectual elites. He belonged to the Italian school of elitism. He is known best for his book Political Parties, published in 1911, which contains a description of the "iron law of oligarchy".
Michels was a friend and disciple of Max Weber, Werner Sombart, and Achille Loria. Politically, he transitioned from the Social Democratic Party of Germany to the Italian Socialist Party, endorsing the Italian revolutionary syndicalist group and later Italian fascism. His ideas provided the basis of moderation theory, which specifies the processes by which radical political groups are incorporated into an existing political system.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Robert Michels” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.