ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with findings about the influence of the German Historical School of Economics (GHSE) on marketing thought. Even a cursory examination of the backgrounds and training of those economists who are widely recognized as the pioneers of the marketing discipline leads us to consider institutional economics. The influence of social pressure that was a concomitant of the First World War played an important role in discouraging our scholars from expressing the German influence on the foundations of marketing thought. The chapter reveals the inconsistent nature of progressivism, the racist and eugenicist assumptions threading throughout this vein of research, and indicate ways forward for studying marketing theory, thought, and practice. By the late nineteenth century, Richard T. Ely's students were examining marketing-related topics as part of their assessment program. At more advanced levels, Wisconsin was a veritable factory for PhD graduates and these were often steeped in the GHSE.
