Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy

Last updated
Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy
Formation1944
Founder Paul F. Lazarsfeld
Location
Director
Thomas DiPrete
Matthew Connelly
Parent organization
Columbia University
Website https://www.iserp.columbia.edu/

The Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP) is the research arm of the social sciences at Columbia University, formerly known as the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Center for the Social Sciences. ISERP works to produce pioneering social science research and to shape public policy by integrating knowledge and methods across the social scientific disciplines. ISERP organizes an active intellectual community at Columbia University through its Faculty Fellows program, research centers, projects, and training initiatives.

Contents

History

ISERP is the direct descendant of the Bureau of Applied Social Research (BASR), established at Columbia University in 1944 by sociologist Paul F. Lazarsfeld. One of the first social science institutes in the nation, the Bureau made landmark contributions to communications research, public opinion polling, organizational studies, and social science methodology. BASR's tradition was carried on by the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Center for the Social Sciences, established in 1976 after Lazarsfeld's death and later renamed to honor him. Under directors Harold W. Watts, Jonathan Cole, and Harrison White, the Lazarsfeld Center expanded its interdisciplinary reach and established particular strengths in the sociology of science and network analysis.

The Lazarsfeld Center for the Social Sciences was one of the centers incorporated into the Institute at its founding in 1999 as the Institute for Social and Economic Theory and Research (ISETR). Also joining ISETR were the Center for Urban Research and Policy, founded in 1992, and several new research centers. In January 2001, ISETR merged with the Office of Sponsored Research to become the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy. [1]

The institute is currently led by professors Thomas DiPrete and Matthew Connelly. [2]

Fellowship

The fellowship of ISERP is drawn from faculty of the departments of Anthropology, Economics, History, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, and Statistics, as well as of Barnard College, the Earth Institute, Teachers College, the Mailman School of Public Health and the Schools of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Business, International and Public Affairs, Law, and Social Work. [3]

Centers and Major Projects

The Institute contains fifteen research centers and major projects that conduct basic research, develop policy initiatives, and train graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Stiglitz</span> American economist (born 1943)

Joseph Eugene Stiglitz is an American New Keynesian economist, a public policy analyst, and a full professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the John Bates Clark Medal (1979). He is a former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank. He is also a former member and chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. He is known for his support for the Georgist public finance theory and for his critical view of the management of globalization, of laissez-faire economists, and of international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social research</span> Research conducted by social scientists

Social research is research conducted by social scientists following a systematic plan. Social research methodologies can be classified as quantitative and qualitative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Lazarsfeld</span> Austrian-American sociologist (1901–1976)

Paul Felix Lazarsfeld was an Austrian-American sociologist. The founder of Columbia University's Bureau of Applied Social Research, he exerted influence over the techniques and the organization of social research. "It is not so much that he was an American sociologist," one colleague said of him after his death, "as it was that he determined what American sociology would be." Lazarsfeld said that his goal was "to produce Paul Lazarsfelds". He was a founding figure in 20th-century empirical sociology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Samuel Coleman</span> American sociologist (1926–1995)

James Samuel Coleman was an American sociologist, theorist, and empirical researcher, based chiefly at the University of Chicago.

The Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD) is a non-profit organization based at Columbia University in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seymour Martin Lipset</span> American sociologist (1922–2006)

Seymour Martin Lipset was an American sociologist and political scientist. He was the president of the American Political Science Association. His major work was in the fields of political sociology, trade union organization, social stratification, public opinion, and the sociology of intellectual life. He also wrote extensively about the conditions for democracy in comparative perspective. A socialist in his early life, Lipset later moved to the right, and was considered to be one of the first neoconservatives.

Peter Shawn Bearman is an American sociologist, notable for his contributions to the fields of adolescent health, research design, structural analysis, textual analysis, oral history and social networks. He is the Jonathan R. Cole Professor of Social Science in the Department of Sociology at Columbia University, the President of the American Assembly at Columbia University, as well as the director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Innovative Theory and Empirics (INCITE). He is also the founding director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, and co-founding director of Columbia's Oral History Master of Arts Program, the first oral history masters program in the country. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008, a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2014, a Guggenheim Fellow in 2016, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine in 2019.

The Earth Institute is a research institute at Columbia University that was established in 1995. Its stated mission is to address complex issues facing the planet and its inhabitants, with a focus on sustainable development. With an interdisciplinary approach, this includes research in climate change, geology, global health, economics, management, agriculture, ecosystems, urbanization, energy, hazards, and water. The Earth Institute's activities are guided by the idea that science and technological tools that already exist could be applied to greatly improve conditions for the world's poor, while preserving the natural systems that support life on Earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University</span> Public policy school of Columbia University

The School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) is the international affairs and public policy school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university located in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, New York City. It is consistently ranked one of the leading graduate schools for international relations in the world. SIPA offers Master of International Affairs (MIA) and Master of Public Administration (MPA) degrees in a range of fields, as well as the Executive MPA and Ph.D. program in Sustainable Development.

The Florida State University College of Social Sciences and Public Policy, located in Tallahassee, Florida, is one of fifteen colleges comprising Florida State University (FSU). The college was founded in 1973 and includes six departments: Economics, Geography, Political Science, Sociology, Urban and Regional Planning and the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy and interdisciplinary programs in African American Studies, Demography, International Studies, Interdisciplinary Social Science, and Public Health.

The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) is a research unit of the University of Louvain (UCLouvain). It is part of the School of Public Health located on the UCLouvain Brussels Woluwe campus, in Brussels, Belgium.

The Bureau of Applied Social Research was a social research institute at Columbia University which specialised in mass communications research. It grew out of the Radio Research Project at Princeton University, beginning in 1937. The Bureau's first director was Austrian sociologist Paul Lazarsfeld. The project took on permanent form as the Office of Radio Research, moving to Columbia in 1939. It was renamed the 'Bureau of Applied Social Research' in 1944.

The Center on Organizational Innovation (COI) is a research center at Columbia University's Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy. The center, established in 2000 and directed by sociologist David Stark, promotes research in the areas of organizational studies, science and technology studies and economic sociology, with an emphasis on innovation and reflexivity.

Columbia Global Centers | Beijing is a research facility established by Columbia University in Beijing, China, and is a part of the Columbia Global Centers network. Founded in March 2009, it aims to facilitate Columbia University with research and other events throughout the region. Xiaobo Lü, professor of political science at Barnard College and former director of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia, served as the first Director of the East Asia center, followed by Chinese economist Geng Xiao.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter H. Rossi</span> American sociologist (1921–2006)

Peter Henry Rossi was a prominent sociologist best known for his research on the origin of homelessness, and documenting the changing face of American homelessness in the 1980s. Rossi was also known for his work devising ways to evaluate federally funded initiatives in education, health services, crime control, and housing. He influentially applied his sociological expertise to affect related policy-making and funding agencies. At his death, he was the Stuart A. Rice professor emeritus of Sociology and the director emeritus of the Social and Demographic Research Institute (SADRI) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Ann Mische is an American sociologist and Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame and a Professor of Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. She is particularly known for her contributions to political sociology, relational sociology, social networks, and contentious politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies</span> Qatari think tank

The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS) is an Arab research institute with particular interest in the social sciences, applied social sciences, regional history and geostrategic affairs. To this effect, the ACRPS coordinates and develops research, publications, projects and events on issues and challenges relevant to the Arab world. The ACRPS primarily conducts its work in Arabic but publishes in both Arabic and English.

Located within Butler Library, the Columbia University Center for Oral History Research is the oldest oral history program. Pulitzer Prize winner Allan Nevins founded the program in 1948. There is an extensive list of projects belonging to the center, both current and completed. Currently the office holds 8,000 taped memoirs and 1,000,000 pages of transcripts.

Harold Mendelsohn was an American social psychologist who taught in the Mass Communications Department at the University of Denver from 1962 to 1988. During his tenure he also held a number of administrative positions in the University. He served as Chairman of the Mass Communications Department from 1970 to 1978, Dean of the Social Sciences Faculty beginning in 1984, and was Director of the University's Center for Mass Communications Research and Policy from 1962 to 1983.

Alessandra Casella is an economist, researcher, professor, and author. Currently, she is an Economics and Political Science professor at Columbia University.

References

  1. "About ISERP". Columbia University. Archived from the original on 2008-02-13. Retrieved 2008-02-02.
  2. "Faculty and Staff | QMSS". www.qmss.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  3. "About ISERP". Columbia University. Archived from the original on 2008-02-13. Retrieved 2008-02-02.
  4. Zendrian, Alexandra (February 2010). "Next Week's Guest: Joseph Stiglitz". Forbes Magazine. Retrieved 16 May 2011.

40°48′28″N73°57′35″W / 40.807792°N 73.959671°W / 40.807792; -73.959671