VISITING MEMBER AWARDS FOR 2009-2010
in the
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE

The School of Social Science each year invites as Members up to twenty scholars from a large applicant pool. Visiting Members are expected to pursue their own research, but the School organizes a seminar on the year’s focus and a weekly lunch at which Members as well as invited guests present their on-going work. The School is not wedded to any particular intellectual or disciplinary approach. It welcomes applications in economics, political science, law, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. It encourages social scientific work with an historical and humanistic bent and also entertains applications in history, philosophy, literary criticism, literature, and linguistics.

Memberships are for the full academic year; we regret that we cannot consider applications for a single term. The group is interdisciplinary and international, with memberships awarded at both the junior and senior level. Applicants must possess a Ph.D. or equivalent (for example, in some fields the terminal degree may be an M.F.A., or the applicant may possess a foreign degree, or have achieved a level of professional reputation that would merit consideration) by the deadline of November 15. Former Members in the School of Social Science should note that one can only be a Member once.

The theme for 2009-2010 is Education, Schools, and the State.  Every society and political regime develops institutions and practices of education that substantially shape that society and its evolutions, revolutions, and stabilizations over time. Diverse educational practices are also tightly linked to specific political orders. Contemporary phenomena have placed significant  pressure on the approaches to education undertaken by many polities as well as on the capacity of educational systems to support democratic political systems in particular. In the U.S. context, a quiet nationalization of education exists side-by-side with ongoing fragmentation that makes consideration of the "educational sector" as a whole difficult; demographic changes including population increases, immigration, and urban-suburban-rural differences also present challenges. In Europe, decisions at the level of the European Union present difficulties within particular countries. In the developing world, issues of education are often closely tied to gender relations. Everywhere national governments’ engagement in educational policy raises questions about the politicization of education. Because of the centrality of education to the continuity of socio-political orders, its analysis embraces virtually all the social sciences.  What are the socio-political issues at stake in how any given society  educates? What are the socio-economic and socio-political causes and effects of different approaches to education? How do transformations in the educational sector affect other socio-political domains and human development?

Each year our Membership stipends vary, depending on available funds, the needs of our Members, and the support they can get from outside agencies. Since our funds are always limited, we are rarely able to meet current salary levels. We therefore strongly encourage you to apply for outside support as part of this application process, and to find out in advance about your institution’s policies on matching fellowship awards. The success of your application, however, in no way depends upon securing such support. Memberships are funded by the Institute for Advanced Study, as well as other sources such as the National Endowment for the Humanities. If you are a recently-tenured faculty member, you may also wish to consider applying to the ACLS for the Frederick Burkhardt Fellowship.

The Institute for Advanced Study was founded in 1930 as a community of postdoctoral scholars where intellectual inquiry could be carried out in the most favorable circumstances. It provides libraries, offices, personal computers, seminar and lecture rooms, subsidized restaurant and housing facilities, and some secretarial services.