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Regina Becker-Schmidt

Regina Becker-Schmidt (6 May 1937 – 14 September 2024) was a German psychologist and sociologist who was professor at the Institute of Sociology and Social Psychology at the Leibniz University Hannover. Her research focuses on corporate and subject theory, critical theory, psychoanalytically oriented social psychology and gender studies. She is considered a seminal figure in feminist critical theory.[1]

Life and career

Becker-Schmidt was born on 6 May 1937.[2] Starting in 1957, Becker-Schmidt studied sociology, philosophy, economics and social psychology at the Goethe University Frankfurt, and at the Sorbonne in Paris. Muharrem Acikgöz situated her in the second generation of the Frankfurt School; she was a student of Adorno's.[3][4] From 1964 to 1972 she worked as a research assistant and from 1968 as an assistant professor at the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt. In 1973 she was appointed professor at Leibniz University Hannover at the new Institute of Sociology and Social Psychology, a post that she held until her retirement in 2002.[1][5]

In particular, Becker-Schmidt influenced the development of feminist critical theory, especially in German-speaking countries.[1][6] Her approach was associated with the so-called Hannoverian approach in feminist-oriented sociology.[7]

She criticised the positions of critical theory, especially Adorno and Horkheimer, with regard to their ambivalent attitude to the complex of gender relations and how these critical theorists were oblivious to feminism.[7] She focuse on gender relations as an integral part of critical theory.[3] She distinguished herself from other feminist critical theorists in her empirical orientation, following Max Horkheimer, who argued that "larger philosophical questions" guide empirical research; and empirical research, in turn, guides larger philosophical questions.[8]

Becker-Schmidt conducted empirical research on female factory workers, developing her own social theory based on her findings.[3] Her first project was entitled "Problems of Mothers who are Wage Laborers", and consisted of interviews with sixty factory workers, of whom half who were still working and half who had withdrawn from factory work. Her research shed light on the "double burden" faced by women factory workers: the responsibility for domestic work combined with the responsibility for contributing to the income of the family.[3] She developed the concept of double socialization of women through wage labour and domestic work: the two spheres come from two different social realms with different logics, and were both separated and connected.[3] Her research focused on both the objective demands of work, and the subjective realities of the worker. In each setting, time functioned differently: in the factory, women must not lose time; while when taking care of children, women must forget about time. The two realms were seen as recombined through relationships (assumed to be heterosexual) and in the efforts of women to have both a career and family life.[3]

She was honoured for her life's work the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie in 2020.[9]

Becker-Schmidt died on 14 September 2024 after a severe illness, at the age of 87.[1]

Publications

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Regina Becker-Schmidt verstorben". Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie (in German). 18 September 2024. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  2. ^ Profile of Regina Becker-Schmidt
  3. ^ a b c d e f Umrath, Barbara. "Feminist Critical Theory in the Tradition of the Early Frankfurt School: The Significance of Regina Becker-Schmidt". The Interdisciplinary Journal of The New School for Social Research. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  4. ^ Wiemers, Matthias (15 July 2024). "Die Frankfurter Schule und ihre Kinder". Justament (in German). Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  5. ^ Cf. Muharrem Acikgöz: Die Permanenz der kritischen Theorie: die zweite Generation als zerstrittene Interpretationsgemeinschaft, Münster 2014, p. 222.
  6. ^ Cf. Gudrun-Axeli Knapp: Kritische Theorie. Ein selbstreflexives Denken in Vermittlungen, in: Becker/Kortendiek 2004.
  7. ^ a b Cf. Muharrem Acikgöz: Die Permanenz der kritischen Theorie: die zweite Generation als zerstrittene Interpretationsgemeinschaft, p. 223.
  8. ^ Horkheimer, Max; Adorno, Theodor W.; Noeri, Gunzelin (1 January 2002). Dialectic of Enlightenment. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-3633-6.
  9. ^ "Regina Becker-Schmidt mit dem Lebenswerkpreis der DGS ausgezeichnet". soziologie.de (in German). 1 October 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.

Further reading

External links