As of: February 3, 2024 12:41 p.m
Oskar Negt is dead. This was announced by the Steidl publishing house. Negt was 89 years old and was considered one of the most influential sociologists in the Federal Republic. He taught at the University of Hanover for more than 30 years.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier praised Negt as a “great social scientist and political intellectual. He was at the same time a committed citizen and journalist who shaped public debates and democratic thinking in the Federal Republic for decades,” said Steinmeier in a letter of condolence on Saturday Negt’s widow Christine Morgenroth-Negt.
The Federal President explained that Negt made a contribution to the democratization of German society well into his old age. In today’s time of crises and changes, his idea of the social responsibility of political people is more relevant and important than ever. “Oskar Negt is missing from our country. But his democratic spirit lives on wherever freedom and democracy are defended courageously and resolutely.”
Adorno student and Habermas assistant
Negt was born in 1934 on the East Prussian Kapkeim estate near Königsberg as the youngest of seven children. He barely survived the escape from what was then Königsberg – a drastic experience for the then eleven-year-old. He called it “luck of survival,” the title of his autobiography, which was published in 2017. He graduated from high school in Oldenburg. Negt studied sociology and philosophy in Frankfurt am Main with Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno. From 1962 to 1970 he was assistant to Jürgen Habermas.
Negt joined the Socialist German Student Association (SDS) in 1956. He was committed to cooperation between the Marxist left and the trade unions and, with the beginning of the student movement in 1968, became one of the spokesmen of the extra-parliamentary opposition and later of the Offenbach Socialist Office. In 1972 he founded one of the first reform schools in Germany, the Glocksee School, in Hanover.
Further information
26 Min
The social philosopher talks to NDR Kultur about his autobiographical book “Survival Happiness”. 26 mins
Long teaching career in Hanover
From 1970 to 2002 Oskar Negt taught sociology at the University of Hanover. In addition to his outstanding importance as a sociologist and social philosopher, he was one of the most prominent political adult educators in the Federal Republic. He criticized capitalism and was part of Gerhard Schröder’s advisory staff, whose Hartz IV reforms he rejected.
Negt emphasized that education is an existential necessity under democratic conditions. You don’t need everything you learn directly to develop your personality. Rather, education is a storehouse of concepts, perspectives and intentions. He once said about himself: “Basically, in my entire scientific development, I fell through the cracks of the disciplines.”
Further information
15 Min
The philosopher was born on September 11, 1903. Theodor W. Adorno was considered one of the theoretical fathers of the student revolt. 15 minutes
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NDR Culture | Journal | 02.02.2024 | 4:00 p.m