Franz Oppenheimer

Franz Oppenheimer (1864–1943) was a German-Jewish sociologist and political economist, best known for his work on the fundamental sociology of the state. His book The State: Its History and Development Viewed Sociologically was the prototype for Albert Jay Nock's writing, for Frank Chodorov's work, and even for the theoretical edifice that later became Rothbardianism.

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Barter in Prehistoric Times

Global EconomyMoney and Banks

02/15/2012Mises Daily ArticlesFranz Oppenheimer

The history of primitive peoples shows that the desire to trade and barter is a universal human characteristic.

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The Six Stages of the Creation of the State

World HistoryInterventionismOther Schools of ThoughtPolitical Theory

11/05/2010Mises Daily ArticlesFranz Oppenheimer

This fantastic article illustrates why Oppenheimer's influence was so massive and long-lasting in the history of modern antistatist thought. Here he explains in detail the manner in which the state seizes control of society, one stage at a time.

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The Genesis of the State

Free MarketsWorld HistoryEntrepreneurshipInterventionism

10/25/2010Mises Daily ArticlesFranz Oppenheimer

There are two fundamentally opposed means whereby man, requiring sustenance, is impelled to obtain the necessary means for satisfying his desires. These are work and robbery, one's own labor and the forcible appropriation of the labor of others.

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Theories of the State

World HistoryInterventionismOther Schools of ThoughtPolitical Theory

10/18/2010Mises Daily ArticlesFranz Oppenheimer

Everywhere we find some warlike tribe of wild men breaking through the boundaries of some less-warlike people, settling down as nobility and founding its state. The goal is always the same: exploitation.

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The State: Its History and Development Viewed Sociologically

Big GovernmentThe Police StatePolitical Theory

11/08/1926BooksFranz Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer dismantles the social-contract view of the state as it had been advanced by most thinkers since the Enlightenment. He seeks to replace that view with a realistic assessment of the state: a victorious group of bandits who rule over the defeated group with the purpose of domination and...

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