About the ISCSC

The International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations was formally established in 1961 at a meeting in Salzburg, organized by historian Othmar Anderle and attended by fellow historians Arnold J.Toynbee and Rushton Coulborn. Sociologist Pitirim Sorokin was the Society's first president. In 1970 the Society's leadership crossed the Atlantic as Benjamin Nelson became it's first American president.

Under the guidance of anthropologist Roger Wescott; historian Carroll Quigley; political scientist David Wilkinson; literary comparatist Michael Palencia-Roth; sociologists C.P. Wolf, Vytautas Kavolis, Matthew Melko, Benjamin Nelson the ISCSC developed into a dynamic international organization. Although a majority of its members reside in the United States of America, over thirty foreign countries are represented in its membership. The dynamism of the society has been maintained over the years in part through its Annual Meeting and the participation of scholars such as Talcott Parsons, Hayden White, Immanuel Wallerstein, Gordon Hewes, André Gunder Frank, Marshall Sahlins, Lynn White Jr. and Jeremy Sabloff.

The ISCSC is committed to the notion that complex, civilizational problems need diverse, multidisciplinary analyses. Initially the members of the Society came from history, anthropology, and sociology; now, the Society includes such disciplines as philosophy, psychology, comparative religions, economics, political theory, literary criticism and textual analysis, art history, comparative government, comparative literature, science and technology, linguistics, archaeology, architecture, geography, biology, physics and ethnohistory. The Society is affiliated with comparative studies programs worldwide and actively fosters internationalism through its annual meetings and its publications.

* View our by-laws

Our History

Our Presidents:

Pitirim A. Sorokin, 1964-71

Othmar Anderle, 1964-71

Benjamin Nelson, 1971-77

Vytauta Kavolis, 1977-83

Matthew Melko, 1983-86

Michael Palencia-Roth, 1986-92

Roger W. Wescott, 1992-95

Shuntaro Ito, 1995-98

Wayne Bledsoe, 1998-2004

Lee Daniel Snyder, 2004-07

Andrew Targowski, 2007-2010

Our Conferences:

1961: Salzberg, Austria

1964: Salzberg, Austria

1971: Philadelphia, with the American Academy for the Advancement of Science

1972: Washington, DC, with the AAAS

1974: Boston University, with the Society for Cross-Cultural Research

1975: University of Pittsburgh

1976: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

1977: Bradford Junior College, Bradford, MA

1978: The University of Milwaukee

1979: California State University, Northridge

1980: Syracuse University, NY

1981: Indiana University, Bloomington

1982: The University of Pittsburgh

1983: The State University of New York at Buffalo

1984: Appalachian State University, Boone, NC

1985: Antioch College, Yellow Springs, OH

1986: The College of Santa Fe, NM

1987: Ohio University, Athens, OH

1988: Hampton University, Hampton, VA

1989: The University of California, Berkeley

1990: The University of Illinois, Urbana

1991: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

1992: Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond

1994: University College, Dublin, Ireland

1995: Wright State University, Dayton, OH

1996: California Polytechnical Institute, Pomona, with the World History Association

1997: Brigham Young University, Provo, UT

1998: Reitaku University, Reitaku, Japan

1999: St. Louis, MO

2000: The University of Alabama, Mobile

2001: Rutgers University, Newark

2002: Frenchman’s Cove, Port Antonio, Jamaica

2003: St. Petersburg, Russia, with four Russian associations

2004: The University of Alaska, Fairbanks

2005: The University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN

2006: Paris, France, with the Ecole Practique des Hautes Etudes

2007: ASILOMAR, Monterey, California

2008: New Brunswick, Canada

2009: Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA