Du libéralisme historique à la crise sociale du xx e siècle. La lecture de Wilhelm Röpke

The characteristic features of the civilization crisis described by Wilhelm Röpke (1899-1966) could be understood as an attack against collectivism and planning. Massification in all spheres of society reaches an apex in the economic field, mainly through big business? concentration and the enslavement of workers. Nevertheless, Wilhelm Röpke dismisses both historical liberalism and socialist planning. This article shows that his refusal is grounded in a specific historical interpretation : that of a causal pathway from one (liberalism) to the other (planning), with respect to the intensification of the same harmful trends. Therefore, the social crisis of the twentieth century follows from the inner decline of liberalism. We can understand the contemporary period solely by the analysis of primary causes, which are rooted in the previous century. The study reconstructs this complex discourse by linking Röpke?s cultural, sociological and economical fields of inquiry. Classification JEL : B25, B31