Helmut Reichelt

Who is Helmut Reichelt?

Helmut Reichelt is a German Marxian economist and philosopher. Reichelt is one of the main authors of the “Neue Marx-Lektüre” and considered to be one of the most important theorists in the field of Marx's theory of value.

He studied economics, sociology and philosophy in Frankfurt where Theodor W. Adorno supervised his diploma in 1968. In 1970 Reichelt obtained his Ph.D at the Institute for Social Research. In 1971 he became professor of sociology at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. One year later he was also appointed as the dean of the philosophy department in Frankfurt.

On the initiative of Alfred Sohn-Rethel Reichelt accepted the Professorship for social theory at the department of Sociology at the University of Bremen in 1978. He remained in Bremen until his retirement in 2005.

Reichelt's research interests are the theory of society with special emphasis on the problems of the theory of economic value. Already during his time as a university student he began a long-term cooperation with Hans-Georg Backhaus. Together with Backhaus he considered engaging with economic phenomena and economic theory as fundamental for critical theory. Since 1998 Reichelt and Backhaus contributions have spawned a rich debate on theories of economic value and its relation to critical theory. Reichelt has published widely on Marx, on Adorno's social theory and on economic theory. Reichelt also oversaw an edition of Hegel's Philosophy of Right in the Ullstein Verlag. He is the current chair of the German Marx-Society.