The WZB Berlin Social Science Center (german: Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, WZB), also known by its German initials WZB, is an internationally renowned

research institute A research institute, research centre, research center or research organization, is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often i ...

for the

social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...

, the largest such institution in Europe not affiliated with a university. It was founded in 1969 through an all-party initiative of the German ''

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

''."Brief Timeline of the WZB"
accessed 2008-07-02 Around 140 German and foreign sociologists, political scientists, economists, historians, statisticians, computer scientists and legal scholars work in the WZB conducting basic research on selected social and political issues, concentrating on the industrialized societies of Japan and the West, as well as the transformations of Central and Eastern Europe and China. The question of globalization is of particular importance.

Research areas

The WZB is organized into seven research areas: # Dynamics of Social Inequalities # Markets and Choice # Digitalization and Societal Transformation #

International Politics International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the Scientific method, scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities betwe ...

and Law # Dynamics of Political Systems # Migration and Diversity #

Political Economy Political economy is the study of how Macroeconomics, economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and Economy, national economies) and Politics, political systems (e.g. law, Institution, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied ph ...

of Development Constituted as a non-profit limited liability company (GmbH), ownership is shared between the

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

(75 percent) and the city-state of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

(25 percent). WZB is a member of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Scientific Community. Although not a university body, it collaborates with

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...

, Hertie School of Governance, Humboldt University,

Technical University of Berlin The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was ...

Berlin University of the Arts The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research universiti ...

, as well as with research institutions in Berlin and abroad. Many WZB scientists are also university professors or hold teaching assignments. Recent presidents of the WZB have included Meinolf Dierkes (1980–1987), Wolfgang Zapf (1987–1994), Friedhelm Neidhardt (1994–2000), and historian

Jürgen Kocka Professor Emeritus Jürgen Kocka (born 19 April 1941 in Haindorf, Sudetenland) is a German historian. A university professor and former president of the Social Science Research Center Berlin (2001–2007), Kocka is a major figure in the new ...

(2001–2007). The current president is sociologist

Jutta Allmendinger Jutta Allmendinger (born September 26, 1956, in Mannheim) is a German sociologist who has been serving as the president of the WZB Berlin Social Science Center and a professor of educational sociology and labor market research at Humboldt Universi ...

. WZB is said to be the largest such research institution for the social sciences in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Around 140 social scientists are conducting research on the developmental trends, problems of adaptation, and possibilities for innovation in modern societies. The

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

and the federal state of Berlin have been shareholders and main funders since 1976. WZB headquarters on Landwehrkanal in

Berlin-Tiergarten Tiergarten (, literally ''Animal Garden'', historically for ''Deer Garden'') is a locality within the borough of Mitte, in central Berlin (Germany). Notable for the great and homonymous urban park, before German reunification, it was a part of We ...

was designed 1979–1988 by the British architects James Stirling and Michael Wilford integrating the 1894 building of Reichsversicherungsamt.

A.SK Social Science Award and Fellowships

Since 2007 the WZB grants the A.SK Award and Fellowships biannually: “The 100,000 Euro A.SK Social Science Award is one of the best-endowed awards in the social sciences. The endowment capital has been donated by the Chinese entrepreneurs Angela and Shu Kai Chan. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to social and political reform.” In German media award and fellowships were compared with internationally recognized prizes, such as the '' Johan Skytte Prize'' and the ''

Balzan Prize The International Balzan Prize Foundation awards four annual monetary prizes to people or organizations who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of humanities, natural sciences, culture, as well as for endeavours for peace and the br ...

''. In 2007 all laureates for the Award and Award Fellowships were nominated and chosen by a selection committee consisting of: Prof.

, Prof.

Werner Abelshauser Werner Abelshauser (born 24 November 1944 in Wiesloch near Heidelberg) is a German economic historian. Life Abelshauser studied economics at the University of Mannheim and graduated in 1970. He received his PhD at Ruhr University Bochum in 197 ...

, Prof.

Stefano Bartolini Stefano Bartolini (born January 22, 1952) is an Italian political scientist and professor at European University Institute in Florence, Italy. He is the author of many books and publications. Activities Bartolini is the editor of the Italian polit ...

, Prof. Lord

Dahrendorf Dahrendorf is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Ellen Dahrendorf, British historian and translator * Gustav Dahrendorf (1901–1954), German politician *Nicola Dahrendorf, British government and United Nations official *Ra ...

Prof.

Peter Katzenstein Peter Joachim Katzenstein FBA (born February 17, 1945) is a German-American political scientist. He is the Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. Professor of International Studies at Cornell University. Katzenstein has made influential contributions to the ...

and Prof.

Kai A. Konrad Kai A. Konrad (born 1961 in Heidelberg) is a German economist with his main research interest in public economics. Education Konrad got his university degrees at the University of Heidelberg (Diplom in Economics, 1985) and the Ludwig Maximilian U ...

. Since 2009 the WZB also publishes Calls for Nominations for the A.SK Fellowship. In 2015 the selection committee includes: Prof. Jutta Allmendinger, Prof. Werner Abelshauser, Prof.

Kurt Biedenkopf Kurt Hans Biedenkopf (; 28 January 1930 – 12 August 2021) was a German jurist, academic teacher and politician of the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU). He was rector of the Ruhr University Bochum. Biedenkopf made a political career firs ...

, Prof.

Dorothea Kübler Dorothea (also spelled Dorothée, Dorotea or other variants) is a female given name from Greek language, Greek (Dōrothéa) meaning "God's Gift". It may refer to: People * Dorothea Binz (1920–1947), German concentration camp officer exec ...

, Prof.

Orlando Patterson Horace Orlando Patterson (born 5 June 1940) is a Jamaican historical and cultural sociologist known for his work regarding issues of race and slavery in the United States and Jamaica, as well as the sociology of development. He is the John Cowl ...

and Prof.

Shalini Randeria Shalini Randeria is an American-born Indian anthropologist, tenured as a professor of anthropology and sociology at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva, Switzerland and appointed as the rector of the I ...

. The A.SK Award and Fellowships are handed over in a public ceremony, honoring the laureates and including leading politicians or scholars as speakers, in Berlin. In 2009 the ceremony was part of the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the WZB with the German president Horst Köhler as one of the speakers.

Recipients of the A.SK Social Science Award and A.SK Social Science Award Fellowships

2019

Raj Chetty Nadarajan "Raj" Chetty (born August 4, 1979) is an Indian-American economist and the William A. Ackman Professor of Public Economics at Harvard University. Some of Chetty's recent papers have studied equality of opportunity in the United States an ...

2017

John Ruggie John Gerard Ruggie (18 October 1944 – 16 September 2021) was the Berthold Beitz Research Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University and an affiliated professor in international legal studie ...

(Award) Philipp Hacker Alexander Horn 2015 Esther Duflo (Award) Robert Lepenies Juliana Silva Goncalves Mahnaz Zahirinejad Varnosfaderani 2013 Paul Collier (Award) Daniel Tischer Rami Zeedan Olga Ulybina Josef Hien Theresa Reinold 2011: Transparency International (Award) Yaman Kouli Thamy Pogrebinschi Martin Schröder 2009

Martha C. Nussbaum Martha Craven Nussbaum (; born May 6, 1947) is an American philosopher and the current Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, where she is jointly appointed in the law school and the philosoph ...

(Award) Arolda Elbasani Alexander Petring Juan Fernandez 2007 Sir

Anthony Atkinson Anthony Atkinson may refer to: * Tony Atkinson Sir Anthony Barnes Atkinson (4 September 1944 – 1 January 2017) was a British economist, Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics, and senior research fellow of Nuffield College, O ...

(Award) Andreas Leutzsch Felix Kolb Janine Leschke

People affiliated with WZB

Ralf Dahrendorf Ralf Gustav Dahrendorf, Baron Dahrendorf, (1 May 1929 – 17 June 2009) was a German-British sociologist, philosopher, political scientist and liberal politician. A class conflict theorist, Dahrendorf was a leading expert on explaining and a ...

William H. Starbuck William Haynes Starbuck (born in Portland, Indiana on September 20, 1934) graduated from Harvard University (AB Physics, 1956) and the Carnegie Institute of Technology (MSc, 1959; Ph.D. 1964). He is an organizational scientist who has held pro ...

Notes

External links

WZB website

WZB website

"Think Tank Directory"
Profile of the WZB {{Authority control Research institutes in Germany Social science institutes Buildings and structures in Berlin Organisations based in Berlin Education in Berlin Leibniz Association Organizations established in 1969

Research areas

A.SK Social Science Award and Fellowships

Recipients of the A.SK Social Science Award and A.SK Social Science Award Fellowships

People affiliated with WZB

See also

Notes

External links