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, a student of Marxian philosopher Karl Korsch, with an endowment provided by Felix's wealthy father. Its first director died before making his mark, and was swiftly followed by Carl Grünberg, a Marxist historian who gathered together fellow "orthodox" Marxists at the Institut, including his former pupil Henryk Grossmann.

Following a non-fatal heart attack, Grünberg was succeeded in 1930 by Max Horkheimer, who would rapidly become the guiding spirit of an intellectual current that was born under his directorship at the Institut, the Frankfurt School, editing its journal Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung (Journal for Social Research) and writing 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.