Social Science History Association
Interdisciplinary Perspectives On The Past
The organization might be best seen as a coalition of distinctive scholarly communities which share interests in social life and theory; historiography; and historical and social-scientific methodologies. Our substantive intellectual work ranges from everyday life in the medieval world – and sometimes earlier — to contemporary global politics, but we are united in our historicized approach to understanding human events, explaining social processes, and developing innovative theory.
51st Annual Meeting of the Social Science History Association
Atlanta, Georgia – November 19-22, 2026
Decentering Modernity
The 2026 SSHA Conference will be held at the Atlanta Hilton Hotel
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Preliminary Program can be found HERE
The Social Science History Association is an interdisciplinary organization that publishes a journal, Social Science History, organizes an annual conference, supports graduate student travel to the conference, and awards book and article prizes.
With scholars from history, economics, sociology, demography, anthropology, and other social sciences, the association brings together scholars in thematic networks where they can explore common questions.
Each network organizes its own call for papers and selects the bulk of the papers to be presented at the annual conference. This open, flexible, and non-hierarchical structure makes these networks particularly welcoming spaces for younger scholars and invigorating tonic for more seasoned academics.
SSHA 2025 Conference Award Winners
Allan Sharlin Memorial Book Award
(Outstanding Book in Social Science History to Honor the Memory of Allan Sharlin in Previous Year)
Book Award Co-Winner
Dagmar Herzog
The Question of Unworthy Life: Eugenics and Germany’s Twentieth Century
Princeton University Press
(2024)
Honorable Mentions
Benjamin Breen
Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science
Grand Central Publishing/Hachette (2024)
Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky
Empire of Refugees: North Caucasian Muslims and the Late Ottoman State
Stanford University Press (2024)
President’s Book Award
(Best Book by Early Career Scholar in Previous Year)
Book Award Winner
Sophie Salvo
Articulating Difference: Sex and Language in the German Nineteenth Century
University of Chicago Press
(2024)
Honorable Mentions
Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky
Empire of Refugees: North Caucasian Muslims and the Late Ottoman State
Stanford University Press (2024)
Kevin P. Donovan
Money, Value, and the State: Sovereignty and Citizenship in East Africa
Cambridge University Press (2024)
Founder’s Prize (Best Overall Article in Previous Year)
Founder’s Prize Winner
Carolyn Swope
“The Spatial Configuration of Segregation, Elite Fears of Disease, and Housing Reform in Washington, D.C.’s Inhabited Alleys”
Social Science History Volume 48, Issue 2, pp. 173-201.