Marie Jahoda Gate
The unemployed of Marienthal
A ground-breaking study
In 1932, together with her former husband Paul Lazarsfeld (1901–1976) and other colleagues at the research centre for economic psychology, which had moved to the Department of Psychology, Jahoda led a ground-breaking study on the effects of unemployment in the village of Marienthal in Lower Austria. Using empirical social research methods she came to the conclusion that long-standing unemployment did not, as had been assumed, lead to revolt but rather to resignation and political apathy. The study on unemployment in Marienthal – largely compiled by Jahoda and published with Lazarsfeld and Hans Zeisel (1905-1992) in 1933 - is regarded as a classic text in modern sociology.
Photo: Hans Zeisel, 1931
© ASGÖ
