Institute for Social Research

The Institut für Sozialforschung (Institute for Social Research) was founded in Frankfurt am Main in 1923, where it was (and still is) affiliated with the University of Frankfurt am Main. It was founded by Felix Weil and its first director was Carl Grünberg, who was succeeded by Max Horkheimer, the guiding spirit of the Frankfurt School, who edited its journal Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung (Journal for Social Research) and wrote essays defining a critical theory of society.

In 1933, after the rise of Hitler the Institute left Germany for Geneva and then (in 1935) for New York City, where it became affiliated with Columbia University, and where the Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung became Studies in Philosophy and Social Science. It re-opened in Frankfurt in the 1950s (see following photograph of the current Institute building at Senckenberganlage 26 in Frankfurt).

The Institute has been both a research enterprise and, during its Frankfurt periods, a provider of instruction in sociology at the university there.