p. 529-561

How and in what way are the social sciences becoming internationalized ? To answer that question, this article compares the genesis and development of eight European organizations in five disciplines : sociology, economics, anthropology, political science and psychology. Social science internationalization is found to involve several distinct types of competition : rivalries between scientific paradigms, competitions between different academic institutions, and geopolitical power balances. Internationalization operates as a resource that can be used on these various levels or scenes in the framework of preexisting, inseparably intellectual-institutional conflicts. However, the use of this resource has fairly uncertain effects. The actual extension and practices of the associations studied are sometimes not in line with their original aims ; and it often happens that actors lose control of the process of scientific internationalization that they have themselves set in motion.

INTERNATIONALIZATION – RESOURCE – HISTORY OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES – SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATIONS – EUROPE – COMPARISON