The Société Ethnologique de Paris was a French learned society set up by William Frédéric Edwards in 1839.Scholarly Societies Project, ''Data for Societies founded 1810 to 1839''
At the time,

ethnology Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). ...

was a neologism (''ethnologie'' in French), and the Société was the first association of scholars and travellers to have as its central concern

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

. It is considered a significant institution in the rise of the social sciences, though there had been earlier societies in the area in the first decades of the 19th century. It was formally dissolved in 1862, long after it had ceased to be active. The effective manifesto of the Société was ''Des charactères physiologiques des races humaines considérés dans leurs rapports avec l'histoire'', a pamphlet of Edwards from a decade earlier. The group brought together by Edwards included linguists and geographers. The aim was to study

human variability Human variability, or human variation, is the range of possible values for any characteristic, physical or mental, of human beings. Frequently debated areas of variability include cognitive ability, personality, physical appearance ( body sh ...

, and draw racially based conclusions. Edwards was the first President, with Imbert des Mottelettes as Secretary, but he died in 1842 and was replaced by the vicomte de Santarém. was a vice-president. The Société was active for some years towards the end of the

July Monarchy The July Monarchy (french: Monarchie de Juillet), officially the Kingdom of France (french: Royaume de France), was a liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 26 July 1830, with the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 23 F ...

, but then political involvements told against it. Publications appeared to 1847. The membership of the Société included significant Saint-Simonian figures, among them

Gustave d'Eichthal Gustave Séligmann d'Eichthal (3 March 1804, Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle - 9 April 1886, Paris) was a French writer, publicist, and Hellenist. Life At the age of thirteen he became a convert to Roman Catholicism from Judaism, and when he left the ...

and Ismael Urbain.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Societe Ethnologique de Paris Scientific societies based in France Ethnology 1839 establishments in France 1862 disestablishments