# Horst Helle > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Horst_Helle > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Horst_Helle.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horst_Helle > Source revision: 1348147544 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|German sociologist (1934–2026)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2026}} '''Horst Jürgen Helle''' (19 July 1934 – 7 February 2026) was a German [sociologist](/source/sociologist), who was Professor Emeritus at [LMU Munich](/source/LMU_Munich) in Germany.{{Cite web |url=http://www.soziologie.uni-muenchen.de/einrichtungen/lehrbereiche/pe_helle/personen/helle_horst/index.html |title=Prof. em. Dr. Horst Jürgen Helle - University webpage |access-date=13 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170430170913/http://www.soziologie.uni-muenchen.de/einrichtungen/lehrbereiche/pe_helle/personen/helle_horst/index.html |archive-date=30 April 2017 |url-status=dead }} ==Career== Helle received a business degree in his hometown at the [University of Hamburg](/source/University_of_Hamburg) before receiving an MBA from the [University of Kansas](/source/University_of_Kansas) on a Fulbright Scholarship, from 1956 to 1957.[http://www.horst-helle.de Horst Helle wee.org/web/20230131060556/https://horst-helle.de/cirriculum-vitae-in-english/ archived]) Thereupon, he returned to the University of Hamburg and obtained the Ph.D. in sociology as well as the license to teach sociology as [Privatdozent](/source/Privatdozent). He has since held tenured professorships at the [RWTH Aachen University](/source/RWTH_Aachen_University), the [University of Vienna](/source/University_of_Vienna), and [LMU Munich](/source/LMU_Munich) where, between 1973 and 2002, he was Professor of Sociology and Co-director of the Institute for Sociology. Over the course of his career, Helle also taught at universities in several other countries, including a year as a research fellow at the [University of Chicago](/source/University_of_Chicago) and, since 1996, in mainland China.[http://www.sagepub.in/authorDetails.nav?contribId=600551 H.J. Helle - Author information] ==Contributions to sociology== Helle's work is mainly concerned with analyzing the development of [Symbolic Interactionism](/source/Symbolic_Interactionism) since [Herbert Blumer](/source/Herbert_Blumer), although he does not single out Blumer's contribution. Instead, the latter is positioned and discussed in the context of the evolution of the so-called '[Verstehen](/source/Verstehen)' tradition of interpretive sociology. Helle has specifically looked at the path taken by European sociology in its tension between [positivism](/source/positivism) and [neo-Kantianism](/source/neo-Kantianism) since the writing of [Georg Simmel](/source/Georg_Simmel). He connects this tradition to Blumer's indebtedness to [George Herbert Mead](/source/George_Herbert_Mead), the widely acknowledged “father” of Symbolic Interactionism. In this theoretical continuity Helle also discusses the work of [Anselm Strauss](/source/Anselm_Strauss), [Tamotsu Shibutani](/source/Tamotsu_Shibutani) and, particularly, [Erving Goffman](/source/Erving_Goffman). Most of Helle’s substantive work has centered on [cultural change](/source/Transformation_of_culture), [religion](/source/Sociology_of_religion), [the family](/source/Sociology_of_the_family), and recently mainland China.[http://www.horst-helle.de/forschung.html Horst Helle website - Forschungsgebiete] ==Death== Helle died on 7 February 2026, at the age of 91.[https://trauer.sueddeutsche.de/traueranzeigen-suche/horst-helle "Anzeige Horst Helle"] (death notice). ''trauer.sueddeutsche.de'', 12 February 2026 (in German). Retrieved 13 February 2026. ==Selected bibliography== *''Verstehende Soziologie und Theorie der Symbolischen Interaktion''. Stuttgart: B. G. Teubner, 1977. *''Symbolic Interaction and Verstehen''. Frankfurt am Main/New York: Peter Lang, 2005. *''[https://brill.com/view/title/19617 Messages from Georg Simmel]''. Leiden: Brill, 2013. *''[https://brill.com/view/title/31937 China: Promise or Threat? A Comparison of Cultures]''. Leiden: Brill, 2016. *''Refugees, Religions, and Social Change: Essays on China and the Failing West''. Munich, 2019. *''Lebensrückblick als Dank: für die relevanten Anderen''. Munich, 2024. *''Verstehende Soziologie: Entwicklung einer Vorgehensweise von Simmel bis Goffman''. Munich, 2024. ==References== {{Reflist|2}} ==External links== * [http://www.horst-helle.de Horst Helle Website] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20170430170913/http://www.soziologie.uni-muenchen.de/einrichtungen/lehrbereiche/pe_helle/personen/helle_horst/index.html Horst Jürgen Helle webpage at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München] * [http://cdclv.unlv.edu/archives/interactionism/biographies/helle_abio.pdf Horst J. Helle - A Journey into Sociology] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Helle, Horst}} Category:1934 births Category:2026 deaths Category:German sociologists Category:University of Hamburg alumni Category:University of Kansas alumni Category:Academic staff of LMU Munich Category:Academic staff of RWTH Aachen University Category:Academic staff of the University of Vienna --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Horst Helle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horst_Helle) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horst_Helle?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.