One language, one history? On the uncertain future of social sciences in Europe

In: Portuguese journal of social science, Band 11, Heft 1, S. 55-69

Abstract

The question of the future of European social sciences is taken up by examining two examples of 'futures past' that represent significant moments of two different 'histories' of the social sciences. The first one is that of Max Weber in the years about 1910 when he engaged himself in
the foundation of the German Sociological Association and in other initiatives. The second example is that of the efforts of Fernand Braudel, during the 1950s and 1960s, to reorganize social sciences and humanities in the frame of new institutions as the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences
sociales and the Foundation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme. Both initiatives, the German and the French, combined an intellectual with an institutional project, the first being a story of failure, the second a story of success.
The actual situation is then examined under the viewpoint of
the tensions between Eurocentrism and de-Europeanisation on the one side, monolingualism and pluri-lingualism on the other. Going back directly (and not via second hand lectures) to important intellectual projects as those of Weber and Braudel (or others) could be helpful for the design of
the future of European social sciences.