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School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences

Coordinates:48°51′0.86″N2°19′36.33″E/ 48.8502389°N 2.3267583°E/48.8502389; 2.3267583
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The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences
École des hautes études en sciences sociales
Other names
EHESS
Former names
École pratique des hautes études,VI Section (1947–1975),
École libre des hautes études(1941–1946)
TypeGrand établissement
EPCSCP
Established23 January 1975;49 years ago(23 January 1975)
Budget€60 million[1]
PresidentRomain Huret
Academic staff
830
Administrative staff
450
Students3,000[1]
Location
Paris,Marseille,Toulouse,Lyon
,
France
CampusUrban
Websiteehess.fr

TheSchool for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences(French:École des hautes études en sciences sociales;EHESS) is a graduategrande écoleandgrand établissementin Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. It is regarded as one of the most prestigious institutions of graduate education in France.[2][3]The school awardsMasterandPhDdegrees alone and conjointly with the grandes écolesÉcole normale supérieure,École polytechnique,andÉcole pratique des hautes études.

Originally a department of the École pratique des hautes études, created in 1868 with the purpose of training academic researchers, the EHESS became an independent institution in 1975.[4][5]Today its research coverssocial sciences,humanities,andapplied mathematics.Degrees and research in economics and finance are awarded through theParis School of Economics.

The EHESS, in common with other grandes écoles, is a small school with very strict entry criteria, and admits students through a rigorous selection process based on applicants' research projects. Scholars in training are subsequently free to choose their owncurriculumamongst the School's fields of research. Theécolehas a small student-faculty ratio; 830 researchers for 3,000 students (27.6%).

Most of the School's faculty belong to other institutions, mostly within theFrench National Centre for Scientific Researchand schools affiliated withPSL University.[6]The School is notable for its work connected to amongst others sociologistPierre Bourdieu,philosopherJacques Derrida,as well as economistThomas Piketty.[7][8]

History[edit]

École pratique des hautes études[edit]

Originally part of theÉcole pratique des hautes études(EPHE) as itsVI Section: Sciences économiques et sociales,the EHESS gained autonomy as an independent higher education institution on 23 January 1975. The creation of a dedicated branch for social science research within the EPHE was catalyzed by theAnnaleshistorical school and was supported by several academic initiatives of theRockefeller Foundation,dating to the 1920s. After WWII, the Rockefeller Foundation invested more funds in French institutions, seeking to encourage non-Marxist sociological studies.

The VIth section was created in 1947, andLucien Febvretook its head. Soon after its creation (1947), theVI Section,later EHESS, became one of the most influential shapers of contemporaryhistoriography,area studiesandsocial sciencesmethodology, thanks to the contribution of eminent scholars such asFernand Braudel,Jacques Le GoffandFrançois Furet.F. Braudel succeeded L. Febvre in 1956. He concentrated the various study groups at the well-known building onboulevard Raspail(area ofallée Claude-Cahun-Marcel-Moore), in part by financing from theFord Foundation.[9]

Independent institution[edit]

Today, the EHESS is one of France'sGrands établissements.It functions as aresearch,teaching,and degree-granting institution. It offers advanced students high-level programs intended to lead to research careers. Students are admitted on the relevance of their research project and undertake at the EHESSmaster programsanddoctoral studies.The main areas of specialization include:history,literary theory,linguistics,philosophy,philology,sociology,anthropology,economics,cognitive science,demographics,geography,archaeology,psychology,law,andmathematics.The institution's focus is oninterdisciplinaryresearch within these fields. The EHESS has more than 40 research centers (among which are several joint research units with theCNRS) and 22 doctoral programs, 13 of which are in partnership with other FrenchUniversitiesandGrandes écoles.[10]

PSL Research University[edit]

The school is a constituent college of the federalPSL Research University.Other institutions include theCollege de France,theÉcole Normale Supérieure,theÉcole pratique des hautes études,Chimie ParisTech,ESPCI ParisTech,theÉcole des mines,andParis Dauphine University.

Research[edit]

History[edit]

Influence from the Annales School[edit]

Lucien FebvreandFernand Braudelwere members of theÉcole des Annales,the dominant school of historical analysis in France during theinterwar period.However, this school of thought was contested by the growing importance of the social sciences and the beginning ofstructuralism.Under pressure fromClaude Lévi-Strauss,in particular, they integrated new contributions from the fields ofsociologyandethnographyto event-based historical analysis, a concept put forward by the Annales school, to advocate for the concept of "a nearly imperceptible passage of history". They were reproached, along with the structuralists, for ignoringpoliticsand the individual's influence over his fate during a period in which the colonial wars of liberation were taking place.[citation needed]

The work ofBraudel,Le Roy Ladurieand other historians working under their influence greatly affected the research and official teaching of history in France beginning in the 1960s. The work ofJean-Marie Pesezrenewed interest in the issue of methodology in medieval archeology and created the idea of "material culture".[citation needed]François Hartog,who serves as the director of the school's ancient and modernhistoriographydepartment, is also noted for proposing that the problems of modern time schema are not entirely caused by an imperialist past.[11]He is also known for challenging theEurocentricreflection of history and the present.[12]

New History[edit]

During the 1970s, EHESS became the center ofNew Historyunder the influence ofJacques Le GoffandPierre Nora.During this period, a generation of ethnologists working under the ideas ofGeorges BalandierandMarc Augéwere critical of the French colonial tradition and applied modern sociological concepts to third world countries.

New Polish School of Holocaust Scholarship[edit]

In 2019, held theNew Polish School of Holocaust Scholarship conference.The conference was disrupted by Polish nationalists.[13][14][15]EHESS President,Christophe Prochasson,said he could not recall such a violent disturbance at any scientific conference.[16]MinisterFrédérique Vidalcondemned Polish authorities.[17][18]

Sociology[edit]

Pierre Bourdieu,Luc Boltanski,Alain Touraine,Jean-Claude Passeronhave all been associated with EHESS.

Economics[edit]

EHESS has always been a central place for economic debate in Europe. In France this debate is also enabled by the proximity of the researchers in Paris with national economic institutions: In this sense EHESS's advisors who have been drawn from economic professors have enjoyed a large media audience (one notable example wasJean Fourastié). The diversity of viewpoints has been a priority, and liberal and Marxist economists have had the chance to debate in EHESS. Since the 1970s and 1980s EHESS has focused on quantitative economics, with classes led by well-known professors such as Louis-André Gérard-Varet, Jean-Jacques Laffont, François Bourguignon and Roger Guesnerie. They initiated not only the Paris School of Economics but the Toulouse School of Economics and Grequam (Aix-Marseille).

Domestic and foreign networks[edit]

Affiliations[edit]

The school is a founding member of theParis School of Economics,Toulouse School of Economics,and Aix-Marseille School of Economics, the three French leading centers inQuantitative Economics.Since 2014 it is an associated member of the Paris Research University (PSL).

International partnerships[edit]

EHESS has exchange programs with universities such asOxfordandCambridgein the United Kingdom;Columbia,Yale,University of California,andUniversity of Michiganin the United States;Heidelbergin Germany;TokyoandKyotoin Japan;Peking Universityin China; and theEuropean University InstituteinFlorence,Italy. It also has exchange programs with universities in Asia and the Middle-East, and holds research centers on Asian Studies and Islamic Studies.

Notable alumni[edit]

Main category:School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences alumni

Notable faculty[edit]

Main category:Academic staff of the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences

Past and presentfaculty(includingEPHE's VI Section):

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ab"EHESS: l'École".Archived fromthe originalon 5 June 2008.Retrieved19 June2008.
  2. ^"Comprendre les sociétés humaines".
  3. ^"The Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales | Columbia | HILI".
  4. ^"Décret n° 2005-1444 du 24 novembre 2005 relatif à l'Ecole pratique des hautes études".legifrance.gouv.fr(in French). 24 November 2005.Archivedfrom the original on 23 April 2023.Retrieved15 June2023.
  5. ^"Décret n° 2019-1130 du 5 novembre 2019 portant création de l'Université Paris sciences et lettres (Université PSL) et approbation de ses statuts".legifrance.gouv.fr(in French). 5 November 2019.Archivedfrom the original on 6 December 2022.Retrieved15 June2023.
  6. ^Sociales, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences (7 December 2015)."Partenaires".EHESS.
  7. ^Sociales, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences (2 March 2016)."History".EHESS.Retrieved3 May2022.
  8. ^Sociales, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences (21 February 2017)."Thomas Piketty".EHESS(in French).Retrieved3 May2022.
  9. ^Sociales, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences (19 December 2018)."L'histoire de l'École".EHESS.
  10. ^Sociales, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences (25 November 2015)."Les unités et centres de recherche".EHESS.
  11. ^Lorenz, Chris; Bevernage, Berber (2013).Breaking Up Time: Negotiating the Borders Between Present, Past and Future.Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. p. 209.ISBN978-3-525-31046-5.
  12. ^Diawara, Mamadou; Lategan, Bernard C.; Rüsen, Jörn (2010).Historical Memory in Africa: Dealing with the Past, Reaching for the Future in an Intercultural Context.Berghahn Books. p. 88.ISBN978-1-84545-652-8.
  13. ^Par Danielle Delmaire, « Chahut lors d’un colloque sur la Shoah en Pologne », Tsafon [En ligne], 77 | 2019, mis en ligne le 09 septembre 2019, consulté le 15 décembre 2019. URL:[1];DOI: 10.4000/tsafon.2049
  14. ^[2]Conflits contemporains dans la culture polonaise, un diagnostic: entretien avec Agnieszka Żuk, 3ᵉ partie
  15. ^[3],Comprendre la relation des Polonais à la Shoah,Sylvain Boulouque,25 novembre 2019
  16. ^[4]Un colloque sur l’histoire de la Shoah perturbé par des nationalistes polonais, Le Monde
  17. ^[5]La Pologne minimise les incidents lors d’un colloque sur la Shoah à Paris, Le Monde
  18. ^[6],Behr Valentin, Entre histoire et propagande. Les contributions de l’Institut polonais de la mémoire nationale à la mise en récit de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, Allemagne d'aujourd'hui

External links[edit]

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