Gerhard Stapelfeldt

Who is Gerhard Stapelfeldt?

Gerhard Stapelfeldt is a German sociologist. He was a university teacher at University of Hamburg until December 2010.

In 1979 Stapelfeldt published his PhD Thesis, a reconstruction and interpretation of Karl Marx's Das Kapital with special reference to Marx's further studies and writings. Following this interpretation he then put its consequences into practice by developing a programme of depicting and interpreting political economy, from mercantilism, to Liberalism, imperialism and finally Neoliberalism.

The focal point of his studies lies in the critical theory of society and the history of ideas while his theoretical point of reference is the Critical theory of the Frankfurt School, with theorists like Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno or Herbert Marcuse, and of Karl Marx. Other major influences on his thinking come from Greek philosophy, Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel or Sigmund Freud. He teaches sociology but also social history, economic history and philosophy.

His major work is a three-part work, also his professorial dissertation, the Critique of Economic Rationality, which describes the genesis as well as the logic, institutional and empirical structure of capitalism capitalism in the eras of state-interventionism and Neoliberalism. It contains a general historical-philosophical part as well as examinations of the political economy of the Federal Republic of Germany, the European Union and world economy.