Solvay Institute of Sociology

The Solvay Institute of Sociology in Leopold Park, Brussels, was inaugurated November 16, 1902, renovated in 1994, and now holds the Bibliothèque Solvay.

The Solvay Institute of Sociology [SIS; Institut de Sociologie Solvay] assumed its first "definitive form" (Solvay 1902/1906: 26)[1] on November 16, 1902, when its founder Ernest Solvay, a wealthy Belgian chemist, industrialist, and philanthropist, inaugurated the original edifice of SIS in Parc Léopold (BS 2006). Under the guidance of its first director, Emile Waxweiler, SIS expressed a "conception of a sociology open to all of the disciplines of the human sciences: ethnology, of course, but also economics [...] and psycho-physiology, contact with which was facilitated by the proximity of the Institute of Physiology" (Vatin 1996: 486).[2] While SIS is now part of the Université Libre de Bruxelles and known more simply as that university's Institute of Sociology [Institut de Sociologie], the approach instigated by Solvay and Waxweiler still serves as methodological framework: a synergy between basic and applied research involving interdisciplinary studies firmly anchored in social life (IS 2007).

  1. ^ "Nous avons tenu à formuler ces conclusions au moment même où l'Institut de Sociologie se trouve réalisé sous la forme définitive que nous avions en vue."
  2. ^ "L'autre trait caractéristique de cet institut est sa conception d'une sociologie ouverte sur l'ensemble des disciplines des sciences humaines: l'ethnologie bien sûr, mais aussi l'économie (abordée dans l'esprit de l'Ecole historique allemande), et la psycho-physiologie dont la rencontre était facilitée par le voisinage de l'Institut de physiologie qu'avait créé parallèlement Ernest Solvay."