History

The current Max Planck Institute for Political and Social Science in Göttingen has a long institutional history. It was founded in 1956 as the Max Planck Institute for History, succeeding the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for German History (1917–1944). The institute developed into a renowned center for everyday history, historical anthropology, and cultural studies.

In 2007, the institute underwent a personnel and substantive reorientation as the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity. It focused on the multidisciplinary study of diverse forms of societal diversity in a globalized world. The departments were Socio-Cultural Diversity under the founding director Steven Vertovec, Religious Diversity under Peter van der Veer, and Ethics, Law, and Politics under Ayelet Shachar.

For more information about the predecessor institute, see: www.mmg.mpg.de