Vale Leonard Broom (November 8, 1911 – November 19, 2009) also known as Leonard Bloom, was an American sociologist whose career spanned seven decades. He was known for his research on

discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...

and

social inequality Social inequality occurs when resources within a society are distributed unevenly, often as a result of inequitable allocation practices that create distinct unequal patterns based on socially defined categories of people. Differences in acce ...

, which began with his studies on the effects of Japanese internment.

Biography

Leonard Broom was born on November 8, 1911, in Boston, Massachusetts. Broom was educated at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

(B.S.

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

, 1933; A.M., 1934) and

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

(Ph.D., 1937). In 1941, he obtained a tenure-track appointment at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), making him the second person to be named to the faculty of the department of sociology and anthropology there. From 1955 to 1957, he was the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of the ''

American Sociological Review The ''American Sociological Review'' is a bi-monthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of sociology. It is published by SAGE Publications on behalf of the American Sociological Association. It was established in 1936. It is along ...

''. In 1959, he left the faculty of UCLA to become a professor at the

University of Texas-Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

(UT-Austin), where he helped establish the Population Research Center. He was the Ashbel Smith Professor of Sociology at UT-Austin from 1959 to 1971, and chair of the sociology department there from 1959 to 1966. In 1971, he became a professor of sociology at the Institute of Advanced Studies at The

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

, where he continued to teach until 1976. He was a research associate at the

University of California-Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

from 1980 until his death. He died on November 19, 2009, in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

Honors, awards, and recognition

Broom received a Fulbright Fellowship in 1950 to conduct research in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, and a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in 1958 for research in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. While on the faculty of UT-Austin, he received a one-year fellowship in the

Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) is an interdisciplinary research institution at Stanford University designed to advance the frontiers of knowledge about human behavior and society, and contribute to the resoluti ...

(1962–3). He was a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and the Royal Anthropological Institute, and received an

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

(DSc) from Boston University. In 2002, the Research School of Population Health at the Australian National University established the Leonard Broom endowment in his honor; it serves to give

indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

the opportunity to pursue health-related careers. In 2011, the Leonard and Gretchan Broom Center for Demography was established at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

, with generous funding from Broom and his wife, Gretchan.

Publications

* * First published in 1951.

References

1911 births 2009 deaths American sociologists University of California, Los Angeles faculty University of Texas at Austin faculty Academic staff of the Australian National University Boston University alumni Duke University alumni University of California, Santa Barbara faculty Academics from Boston American academic journal editors Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences fellows Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia Fellows of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland American Sociological Review editors {{US-sociologist-stub