Interactions among life, scientific work and academic structures. The case of Gerhard Maletzke

Abstract

From the perspective of the sociology of science, this paper explains why the German communication scholar Gerhard Maletzke (1922-2010) could not fulfill his dream of becoming a professor, despite the success of his ideas in relation to the theories of many of the scholars of his time. We have evaluated the scientific work of Maletzke, biographical material, contemporary witness accounts and protocols of several interviews with Maletzke and some of his peers. The analysis of this material has confirmed the interdependence between the evolution of theories, discipline and the media and the importance of reviewing a scientific study in the context of the biography of its author and the structures of science, which should be applicable to many—local and global—figures in the history of communication science.