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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, 1961-1964
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, 2007-2013
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
2010: Provo, Utah, USA
2011: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
A Message from President Andrew Targowski
I would like to pay tribute to my predecessor, Past-President Lee Snyder (USA), a great civilizationist, who has identified a 300-400 year-long cycle of civilization and its four-stage timing. I thank past Vice-Presidents Laina Farhat-Holzman (USA) and Shuntaro Ito(Japan) for their dedication to our Society.
Our new
officers are: Roman Zawadzki, Vice President; Oleg Benesch (USA), Vice-President
for Organization; Jung
Dong-Hyeon (
Our new vice presidents, Oleg Benesch (USA)
and Dong Hyeon Jung (
- My program is designed to strengthen our organization by:
-
Supporting the Society’s mission and goals:
i.
ii. Creed: Civilizational studies matter.
iii. Goal: Achieve scholarly recognition as the primary source of knowledge on the comparative study of civilizations.
iv. Strategy: Organize annual international conferences with leading scholars of the comparative study of civilization and to publish our bi-annual journal, Comparative Civilization Review (CCR), Conference Proceedings, & Civilization Book Series.
- Securing the active participation of many our members in conferences, publications and committees.
- Improving or expanding the Society’s resources: budget, Website, e-communication, grants/donations, conferences, proceedings, and CCR.
- Implementing the Society’s Bi-Laws in the accordance with the Constitution.
- Establishing the
- Expanding the Society’s membership and bringing in more young researchers/contributors, who can continue our work and interests.
- Make the Society a truly interdisciplinary group of researchers and contributors investigating the past, present, and future (Braudel); challenges and responses of civilization (Toynbee), including aggressive use of communications technology to further our mission.
- Make the membership of the Society a pleasant and intellectually inspiring experience for those who are involved in the Society’s practices and beliefs that “understanding civilizations matters” in the 21st century.
Andrew Targowski
