Article ID: CBB133650007

Buried Layers: On the Origins, Rise, and Fall of Stratification Theories (2018)

unapi

This article presents a historical analysis of the origins, rise, and demise of theories of stratification ( Schichtentheorien). Following their roots in the ancient metaphysical idea of the “great chain of being,” Aristotle’s scala naturae, the medieval “Jacob’s ladder,” and Leibniz’s concept of the lex continua, I argue that theories of stratification represent the modern heir to the ancient cosmological idea of a harmonious, hierarchical, and unified universe. Theories of stratification reached their heyday during the interwar period within German academia, proliferating over a vast number of disciplines and rising to special prominence within personality psychology, feeding the hope for a unitary image of the world and of human beings, their biological and mental development, their social organization and cultural creations. This article focuses on the role of visuality as a distinct mode of scientific knowledge within theories of stratification as well as the cultural context that provided the fertile ground for their flowering in the Weimar Republic. Finally, the rapid demise of theories of stratification during the 1950s is discussed, and some reasons for their downfall during the second half of the 20th century are explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

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Authors & Contributors
Kauders, Anthony D.
Hau, Michael G.
Stephen P. Walker
Monika Ankele
Walter, Hannes
Sebastian Hoffmann
Concepts
Psychology
Medicine
Medicine and society
Science and society
Psychoanalysis
Women
Time Periods
20th century
20th century, early
19th century
Places
Weimar Republic (1919-1933)
Germany
Berlin (Germany)
Hamburg-Langenhorn (Germany)
Spain
France
Institutions
Berliner Psychoanalytische Vereinigung
Rockefeller Foundation
Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
Berliner Psychologisches Institut
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