Alphons Silbermann

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title: "Alphons Silbermann" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["german-music-critics", "german-sociologists", "german-emigrants-to-australia", "jewish-sociologists", "academic-staff-of-the-university-of-cologne", "commanders-crosses-of-the-order-of-merit-of-the-federal-republic-of-germany", "2000-deaths", "1909-births", "german-male-non-fiction-writers", "sociomusicologists", "20th-century-german-musicologists", "jewish-emigrants-from-nazi-germany-to-the-netherlands", "emigrants-from-nazi-germany-to-the-netherlands"] topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphons_Silbermann" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

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FieldValue
nameAlphons Silbermann
birth_date11 August 1909
birth_placeCologne, German Empire
death_date4 March 2000
occupationSociologist; musicologist; entrepreneur; publicist
known_forMember of the Cologne School; founder of the Institut für Massenkommunikation
educationUniversity of Cologne; University of Freiburg; University of Grenoble
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| name = Alphons Silbermann | image = | caption = | birth_date = 11 August 1909 | birth_place = Cologne, German Empire | death_date = 4 March 2000 | death_place = | occupation = Sociologist; musicologist; entrepreneur; publicist | known_for = Member of the Cologne School; founder of the Institut für Massenkommunikation | education = University of Cologne; University of Freiburg; University of Grenoble Alphons Silbermann (August 11, 1909 – March 4, 2000) was a German Jewish sociologist, musicologist, entrepreneur and publicist.

Born in Cologne, he studied musicology, sociology and law at the Universities of Cologne, Freiburg i. Br. and Grenoble. After he gained his doctorate (Dr. jur.), the rise of Nazism led Silbermann to emigrate to the Netherlands and 1938 from Amsterdam via Paris, where he worked as a waiter, to Sydney. In Australia he started as a dishwasher but went soon from rags to riches with his own fast food restaurant Silver's Food Bars. He initiated the first fastfood chain of Australia, becoming a successful entrepreneur.

His academic career started in 1944 in Sydney at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music. As an empirical culture-sociologist, he went back to Europe (especially Paris) in 1951. In 1958 René König brought him back to Cologne, where he taught at the university. In 1964 he was called to the University of Lausanne as a successor of Vilfredo Pareto and later at the University of Bordeaux (1974–1979).

Alphons Silbermann was a member of the "Cologne School" (Kölner Schule) along with René König and others. He was one of the editors of the Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie (KZfSS) and founded the Institut für Massenkommunikation (Institute of Mass Communication). He was an important German pioneer of empirical methods, as against the ideological biases of many contemporary colleagues like his favorite opponent Theodor W. Adorno.

Bibliography

  • 1949: ...Of musical things. Sydney
  • 1959: Musik, Rundfunk und Hörer. Die soziologischen Aspekte der Musik am Rundfunk. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
  • 1963: The Sociology of Music. London.
  • 1963: Vom Wohnen der Deutschen. Eine soziologische Studie über das Wohnerlebnis. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
  • 1966: Bildschirm und Wirklichkeit. Ullstein.
  • 1968: Vorteile und Nachteile des kommerziellen Fernsehens: Eine soziologische Studie. Econ-Verlag.
  • 1969: Morale chez Vilfredo Pareto. In: Cahiers Vilfredo Pareto, 18; Lausanne.
  • 1973: Empirische Kunstsoziologie: eine Einf. mit kommentierter Bibliographie. Enke.
  • 1973: Mediensoziologie: Film. Econ Verlag.
  • 1973: Mediensozialogie: Rundfunk. Econ Verlag.
  • 1973: Soziologie der Massenkommunikation. Stuttgart.
  • 1981: Communication de Masse. Eléments de Sociologie empirique; Paris.
  • 1981: Der ungeliebte Jude. Zur Soziologie des Antisemitismus. Edition Interfrom.
  • 1981: Einführung in die Literatursoziologie. Oldenbourg.
  • 1984: Was ist jüdischer Geist? Fromm Druckhaus A.
  • 1985: Der Übersetzer: eine berufs- und literatursoziologische Untersuchung. Harrassowitz.
  • 1986: Comics and Visual Culture : Research Studies from Ten Countries. Editor with: H.D. Dryoff. Munich.
  • 1986: Lübbes Mahler-Lexikon. Lübbe.
  • 1989: Verwandlungen.' Eine Autobiographie. (Autobiography). Berlin.
  • 1991: Das imaginäre Tagebuch des Herrn Jacques Offenbach. Piper.
  • 1991: Neues vom Wohnen der Deutschen (West). Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik.
  • 1993: Badezimmer in Ostdeutschland: eine soziologische Studie. Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik.
  • 2000: Grovelling and Other Vices: The Sociology of Sycophancy. (Folklore). Translated by Ladislaus Lob. London.

References

References

  1. Alphons Silbermann, 1989: Verwandlungen. Eine Autobiographie; [[Bergisch Gladbach]]
  2. "Exil-Archiv Biografien".
  3. [http://www.cologne-info.de/prominente/alphons-silbermann/alphons-silbermann.html Cologne-Info.de]
  4. [http://www.zeit.de/1999/32/Aufrecht_flanieren?page=1 Aufrecht flanieren. Willi Jasper. DIE ZEIT, 32/1999]

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german-music-criticsgerman-sociologistsgerman-emigrants-to-australiajewish-sociologistsacademic-staff-of-the-university-of-colognecommanders-crosses-of-the-order-of-merit-of-the-federal-republic-of-germany2000-deaths1909-birthsgerman-male-non-fiction-writerssociomusicologists20th-century-german-musicologistsjewish-emigrants-from-nazi-germany-to-the-netherlandsemigrants-from-nazi-germany-to-the-netherlands