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University of Frankfurt Institute for Social Research

Coordinates: 50°07′06″N 8°39′14″E / 50.118414°N 8.65385°E / 50.118414; 8.65385
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For the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, see University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.
Institut für Sozialforschung
AbbreviationIfS
Formation1923; 102 years ago (1923)
FounderFelix Weil
HeadquartersFrankfurt am Main
Coordinates50°07′06″N 8°39′14″E / 50.118414°N 8.65385°E / 50.118414; 8.65385
LeaderFerdinand Sutterlüty (Acting Director)
AffiliationsGoethe University Frankfurt
Columbia University
The New School
Websitewww.ifs.uni-frankfurt.de

The University of Frankfurt Institute for Social Research (German: Institut für Sozialforschung, IfS) is a research organization for sociology and continental philosophy, best known as the institutional home of the Frankfurt School and critical theory. Currently a part of Goethe University Frankfurt, it has historically also been affiliated with Columbia University in New York City.

History

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The current building of the Institute for Social Research, at Senckenberganlage 26 in Frankfurt

The Institute was founded in Frankfurt am Main in 1923, where it was (and as of 2005 once again is) affiliated with the University of Frankfurt am Main. It was founded by Felix Weil, a student of the Marxist philosopher Karl Korsch, with an endowment provided by Weil's wealthy father Hermann Weil.

Kurt Albert Gerlach, who proposed the idea of creating the institute with Weil, was to be the first director of the Institute, but died in 1932 before he could take up his role. Instead, the inaugural director was Carl Grünberg, a Marxist historian who gathered together fellow "orthodox" Marxists at the Institute, including his former pupil Henryk Grossman. Following a non-fatal heart attack, co-founder Friedrich Pollock became acting director of the institute in 1928.[1]

Grünberg was officially succeeded in 1930 by Max Horkheimer. Horkheimer rapidly became the guiding spirit of the Frankfurt School, a group of thinkers that was born under his directorship at the Institute. Horkheimer edited the group's journal Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung (Journal for Social Research) and wrote essays defining a critical theory of society.

The growing influence of the Nazis led the founders to decide in September 1930 to prepare to move the Institute out of Germany, by establishing a branch in Geneva and moving the funds to the Netherlands.[2] In 1933, after the rise of Hitler, the Institute left Germany for Geneva and then in 1934 moved to New York City. In New York it became affiliated with Columbia University, and its journal Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung was renamed Studies in Philosophy and Social Science. It was there that much of the important work of the Frankfurt School thinkers began to emerge, and the Institute's residence in New York was likely partly accountable for its work's favorable reception in American and English academia.

In 1940, Horkheimer moved to Pacific Palisades to surround himself with other German exiles, such as Bertolt Brecht and Thomas Mann, and to begin writing Dialectic of Enlightenment with his friend Theodor Adorno, and in 1941 Pollock again assumed the role of the Institute's acting director.[3]

In 1950, Horkheimer, Pollock, and Adorno began the process of returning the Institute to Frankfurt. Horkheimer resumed his role as director and oversaw the reopening in 1951. He held onto this position until 1958, when he was succeeded by Adorno, who in turn was the director of the Institute until his sudden death in 1969.

In 1971, Gerhardt Brandt became the Director of the Institute, returning it from an "orphanage" following Adorno's death. During his tenure as director, the Institute acquired a new focus on labor and labor sociology. In 1974, Brandt stepped down from his role and was replaced by Ludwig von Friedeburg, who had spent the last five years embroiled in political battles as the Hessian Minister of Education. Accordingly, Friedeburg's long tenure as director, which lasted until 2001, saw a new focus on the sociology of education.[4]

The University of Frankfurt am Main

The Institute has been both a research enterprise and, during its Frankfurt periods, a provider of instruction in sociology at the university there. To this end, The Institute selected Axel Honneth, Professor for Social Philosophy at Goethe University Frankfurt[5] and the Jack B. Weinstein Professor of the Humanities in the department of philosophy at Columbia University,[6] as its director to succeed Friedeburg. Following Honneth's resignation in 2018, Ferdinand Sutterlüty became the acting director until 2021, when he was replaced by Stephan Lessenich on a permanent basis.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Gruber, Hans-Peter; Bergmann, Werner; Heil, Johannes (2022). "Aus der Art geschlagen": eine politische Biografie von Felix Weil (1898-1975). Frankfurt New York: Campus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-593-51507-6.
  2. ^ "The Origins of Critical Theory: An interview with Leo Lowenthal" by Helmut Dubiel in Telos 49
  3. ^ Lenhard, Philipp; Fischer, Lars (2019). Friedrich Pollock: The Éminence Grise of the Frankfurt School. Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill bv. p. 162. ISBN 978-90-04-50748-7.
  4. ^ a b "The History of the IfS". Institut für Sozialforschung. Retrieved 25 April 2025.
  5. ^ "Goethe-Universität —".
  6. ^ "Axel Honneth | Philosophy".
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