Committee on Degrees in Social Studies
Encyclopedia
At Harvard University
the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies is the committee that runs the honors-only, interdisciplinary concentration in social science subjects for undergraduate students. Founded in 1960, it reflects the belief that the study of the social world requires an integration of the disciplines of history, political science, sociology, economics, anthropology and philosophy. All students are required to complete a senior thesis.
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies is the committee that runs the honors-only, interdisciplinary concentration in social science subjects for undergraduate students. Founded in 1960, it reflects the belief that the study of the social world requires an integration of the disciplines of history, political science, sociology, economics, anthropology and philosophy. All students are required to complete a senior thesis.
Founders
- Stanley HoffmannStanley HoffmannStanley Hoffmann is the Paul and Catherine Buttenweiser University Professor at Harvard University.-Biography:A French citizen since 1947, Hoffmann spent his childhood between Paris and Nice before studying at the Institut d'études politiques...
, an authority on international relations; - Alexander GerschenkronAlexander GerschenkronAlexander Gerschenkron was a Russian-born American Jewish economic historian and professor in Harvard, trained in the Austrian School of economics.Gerschenkron kept to his roots - in his economics, history and as a critic of Russian literature...
, an eminent economic historian; - H. Stuart HughesH. Stuart HughesHenry Stuart Hughes was an American historian, professor, and activist; he also advocated the application of psychoanalysis to history.-Early life:...
, a specialist in European intellectual history; - Barrington Moore, Jr., a political sociologist writing about Soviet society and revolutions;
- Robert Paul WolffRobert Paul WolffRobert Paul Wolff is a contemporary American political philosopher and professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Wolff has written widely on many topics in political philosophy such as Marxism, tolerance , political justification and democracy. Wolff is also well known for his work on...
, a student of political and social theory, who became head tutor for the first year of the program; - Laurence Wylie, a scholar working on social change in France
Chairs
- Stanley Hoffmann
- Michael WalzerMichael WalzerMichael Walzer is a prominent American political philosopher and public intellectual. A professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, he is co-editor of Dissent, an intellectual magazine that he has been affiliated with since his years as an undergraduate at...
- David S. Landes 1981-1993
- Charles Maier 1993-1997
- Seyla BenhabibSeyla BenhabibSeyla Benhabib is Eugene Mayer Professor of Political Science and Philosophy at Yale University, and director of the program in Ethics, Politics, and Economics, and a well-known contemporary philosopher. She is the author of several books, most notably about the philosophers Hannah Arendt and...
1997-2001 - Grzegorz EkiertGrzegorz EkiertGrzegorz Ekiert is Professor of Government and Senior Scholar at the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies. His teaching and research interests focus on comparative politics, regime change and democratization, civil society and social movements, and East European politics and...
2001-2006 - Richard Tuck (current) 2006-
Well-Known Graduates
- E.J. Dionne, Washington Post columnist, 1973
- Merrick B. GarlandMerrick B. GarlandMerrick Brian Garland is an American federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit...
, judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1974 - Mickey KausMickey KausRobert Michael Kaus , better known as Mickey Kaus, is an American journalist, pundit, and author best known for writing Kausfiles, a "mostly political" blog which was featured on Slate until 2010. Kaus is the author of The End of Equality and had previously worked as a journalist for Newsweek, The...
, journalist, blogger, and 2010 Senate candidate, 1973 - Mark WhitakerMark WhitakerMark Whitaker is Executive Vice President and managing editor for CNN Worldwide . He was previously Senior Vice President and Washington Bureau Chief for NBC News, succeeding Tim Russert after his fatal heart attack in June 2008...
, former Editor of NewsweekNewsweekNewsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, 1979 - Joshua RedmanJoshua RedmanJoshua Redman is an American jazz saxophonist and composer who records for Nonesuch Records. He won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in 1991.-Biography:...
, jazz musician, 1986 - Ben MezrichBen MezrichBen Mezrich is an American author from Princeton, New Jersey. He graduated magna-cum-laude with a degree in Social Studies from Harvard University in 1991. Some of his books have been written under the pseudonym Holden Scott. Mezrich attended Princeton Day School, in Princeton, New Jersey...
, author, 1991