The Anthropological Society in Vienna

The Anthropological Society in Vienna, founded in 1870, was the most influential institution for the institutionalization of anthropology in Austria specifically for the establishment of physical anthropology, ethnology and prehistory at the university of Vienna. A study on the Anthropological Society as an interest group for these disciplines` academic establishment, a process which ended with the creation of separate chairs for physical anthropology and ethnology in 1927/28, will contribute to several aspects of the history of science. First, this study will assign more significance to the specific political and cultural context of Imperial Austria than hitherto. The differences between anthropological research work in Austria and in other European countries are not only due to the particular circumstances of a Vielvölkerstaat, but also to the catholic church`s immense influence on the Austrian education system and especially to the absence of colonies. Taking into account the Anthropological Society`s membership, which includes significant aristocrats, the study asks whether the liberal attitude of anthropological societies observed in other European countries was also predominant in Austria. In addition, the study asks why the members of the Anthropological Society in Vienna chose to found an association rather than promoting the establishment of new disciplines by other means. The project seeks also to contribute to knowledge about the professionalization and differentiation of academic disciplines. For anthropology in Austria, the relations between natural scientific and humanistic approaches as well as between the state`s and the Anthropological Society`s political interests will be of central concern. Here, it will be necessary to examine, whether the growing number and importance of humanistic (geisteswissenschaftliche) approaches in Austrian anthropology was due to the state`s influence or to the education of some of the Anthropological Society`s members and to the relatively late beginning of ethnological research in the Habsburg Lands.

The Anthropological Society in Vienna, founded in 1870, was the most influential institution for the institutionalization of anthropology in Austria specifically for the establishment of physical anthropology, ethnology and prehistory at the university of Vienna. A study on the Anthropological Society as an interest group for these disciplines` academic establishment, a process which ended with the creation of separate chairs for physical anthropology and ethnology in 1927/28, will contribute to several aspects of the history of science. First, this study will assign more significance to the specific political and cultural context of Imperial Austria than hitherto. The differences between anthropological research work in Austria and in other European countries are not only due to the particular circumstances of a Vielvölkerstaat, but also to the catholic church`s immense influence on the Austrian education system and especially to the absence of colonies. Taking into account the Anthropological Society`s membership, which includes significant aristocrats, the study asks whether the liberal attitude of anthropological societies observed in other European countries was also predominant in Austria. In addition, the study asks why the members of the Anthropological Society in Vienna chose to found an association rather than promoting the establishment of new disciplines by other means. The project seeks also to contribute to knowledge about the professionalization and differentiation of academic disciplines. For anthropology in Austria, the relations between natural scientific and humanistic approaches as well as between the state`s and the Anthropological Society`s political interests will be of central concern. Here, it will be necessary to examine, whether the growing number and importance of humanistic (geisteswissenschaftliche) approaches in Austrian anthropology was due to the state`s influence or to the education of some of the Anthropological Society`s members and to the relatively late beginning of ethnological research in the Habsburg Lands.