Werner Stark

Werner Stark (* 2 December 1909, Marienbad, Austrian Empire, now in the Czech Republic; † 4 October 1985, Salzburg, Austria) was a sociologist and economist, who has made important contributions to the sociology of knowledge, the sociology of religion and the history of economic thought.

Biography

Werner Stark was the son of a doctor. After completing his secondary education in Marienbad, he enrolled in the University of Hamburg to study economics and social sciences. He also took courses in history and philosophy. In 1933 he left Germany for political reasons and moved to Prague. There he worked as an economic journalist and bank employee, studied law and worked as a part-time lecturer. In 1939 he had to leave again. After an adventurous journey through Bratislava, Vienna, Cologne and the Netherlands, he arrived in England. There he received a grant from the "Society for the Protection of Science and Learning" and established himself with his wife Käte in Cambridge. Soon after his arrival he published an article in the Economic Journal on Jeremy Bentham (1941). This brought him into contact with John Maynard Keynes who helped him to obtain a teaching position in Cambridge University.

Major publications

• The History of Economics in its Relation to Social Development (1934)
• America: Ideal and Reality (1947)
• (edited) Jeremy Benthams Economics Writings (1953/54)
• Social Theory and Christian Thought (1959)
• The Fundamental Forms of Social Thought (1962)
• The Sociology of Religion (1966)
• The Social Bond (1976)

Secondary sources

• Clark, Charles M.A.(2001). "Werner Stark and the sociology of knowledge approach to the history of economics", in Historians of Economics and Economic Thought. The Construction of Disciplinary Memory, ed. Steven G. Medema and Warren J. Samuels, Routledge.