Lorenz von Stein and the paradigmatic bifurcation of social theory in the nineteenth century.

This paper examines the generally neglected place of Lorenz yon Stein in the paradigmatic bifurcation of social theory during the nineteenth century. As a student of Hegel who rejected the idealist approach of his teacher, von Stein anticipated the major arguments of historical materialism; but, unlike Marx, he did not postulate an inexorable proletarian revolution which would ultimately resolve societal contradictions. Instead, he proposed a fundamentally reformist political strategy in which the state guides the distribution of economic resources in a form that would prevent the class polarization envisioned by Marx. While yon Stein is little known by contemporary social scientists in the English literature, he has been recognized in Europe beyond his time as a theorist and as a governmental consultant whose ideas became materialized in social reforms, offering a ‘political realism’ that was designed to prevent the consequences seen by Marx in the development of capitalism, as well as to avoid the fallacies of the liberal belief in free and unregulated pursuit of individual self-interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]