The State: A History of Government

By Franz Oppenheimer and John M (John Milton) Gitterman

Book Overview

Franz Oppenheimer's history of government examines how states are formed, attesting that their genesis consists of conquest of one group of people over another.

A classic of sociology and political theory, The State traverses the millennia of human civilization, identifying and discussing trends common to the creation and organization of centralized government. Oppenheimer strongly disagreed with the Enlightenment idea of the social contract, which posits that individuals consent to be governed; surrendering freedoms in exchange for the maintenance of public order. In the author's view, government is the consequence of violent conquest, and seeks economic exploitation of a subjugated people, who are often left with no choice in the matter.

The author advocated for a socialist society, and writes from this perspective; he believes that the state is the originator and enforcer of wealth inequality in a country. By forcing terms upon property and the labor force, the state is able to engineer a situation whereby a small, wealthy class maintains social and economic control. However, Oppenheimer believes that this situation was moderated by the emergence of the modern democratic state, which he considered more humanitarian than earlier forms of government.

Enduringly read by libertarian, anarchist and socialist readers for over a century, The State remains a hotly debated work.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 178987520X
• ISBN13: 9781789875201
• Release Date: January 1914
• Publisher: Pantianos Classics
• Length: 122 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Serious work written two years too late...

There isn't much else that can be said about "The State" that wasn't covered in the first review. The book is very relavent because it forces the reader to think about the very serious question of how we came to be ruled. People are unaware of the coercive nature of the state, as well as it's predatory appetite. The key to the entire treatise is that it identifies the income tax as the turning point of when the state ceases to be the servant of the people and becomes its master. The book, originaly written in 1914, could possibly have prevented this slavery of the masses if it had been written just two years earlier. But all "civilized" societies succumb to the income tax because they are tricked into it. Think about it, who would support the confiscatory practice of paying taxes, when gov't had already survived so long without it? "The State" is an important read for the serious student of history. It adds that extra level of knowledge that one would otherwise not even think about.

The Rise and Development of the State.

_The State_, republished from volume two of _The System of Sociology_ in English by the anarchist Black Rose Books, written by German sociologist and political economist Franz Oppenheimer is a fascinating sociological exposition of the growth and development of the state from a libertarian (classical liberal) perspective. Franz Oppenheimer (1864 - 1943) was a German sociologist who taught at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main. He was eventually to teach in Palestine and finally emigrate to America. Oppenheimer's views are libertarian and he defined himself as a liberal socialist. He was heavily influenced by such anarchistic thinkers as Proudhon and Kropotkin but also by libertarians such as Henry George and in line with the thinking of Albert Jay Nock. Oppenheimer sees the state as being born in violence and resulting from the oppression of one class by another. However, he does not completely condemn the state, remaining neutral in this book and maintaining the stance of a classical liberal. Oppenheimer's views are also tinted with a belief in progress, democracy, and evolutionism, and as such he believed that the state could eventually be overcome and result in a democratic society of freemen. This is unfortunate in light of the fact of the continued growth of the state and seems naïve as pointed out by C. Hamilton in his 1975 preface to this book. Nevertheless, this book offers an extremely useful and important sociological critique of the role of the state and shows its growth and development through history. Oppenheimer begins his book with a preface in which he attempts to explain precisely what he means by "the state" and distinguish his understanding of the state (what he calls the "sociological understanding") from that of his critics. In particular, Oppenheimer argues that although several noted critics among ethnologists have maintained that forms of "government" and "leadership" exist even among societies in which there are no class distinctions, that this rests on a fundamental misunderstanding of what he means by "the state". Oppenheimer maintains that "The State may be defined as an organization of one class dominating over the other classes. Such a class organization can come about in one way only, namely, through conquest and the subjection of ethnic groups by the dominating group." Oppenheimer cites such individuals as Albion Small, Alfred Vierkandt, Wilhelm Wundt, and in particular Ludwig Gumplowicz to support this interpretation. Oppenheimer also maintains that this is the "sociological concept of the state". Further, Oppenheimer argues against the theories of Malthus concerning the so-called "law of population". The first chapter of this book is entitled "Theories of the State". Again, Oppenheimer considers the "sociological conception of the state". Oppenheimer considers for example the theories of Rousseau (who derives the state from a "social contract"), Carey (who argues that the state