Walter Frederick Buckley (April 17, 1921 – January 27, 2006) was an American sociologist, and professor of

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

at the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

. Buckley was among the first to apply concepts from

general systems theory Systems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be natural or artificial. Every system has causal boundaries, is influenced by its context, defined by its struc ...

based on the work of Bertalanffy to

. Felix Geyer and Hans van der Zouwen (1992), "Sociocybernetics", in: ''Cybernetics and Applied Systems'', C.V. Negoita ed. p.96. In 1968 he coined the term

complex adaptive system A complex adaptive system (CAS) is a system that is ''complex'' in that it is a dynamic network of interactions, but the behavior of the ensemble may not be predictable according to the behavior of the components. It is '' adaptive'' in that the ...

Biography

Born and raised in

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest List of municipalities in Massachusetts, municipality in Massachusetts, United States, and the largest city in Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line ...

, Buckley studied

at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

. In 1958 he received his Ph.D. with the doctoral dissertation ''Sociological theory and social stratification'', in which he outlined a non-functionalist theory of

social stratification Social stratification refers to a society's categorization of its people into groups based on socioeconomic factors like wealth, income, race, education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, or derived power (social and political ...

. Buckley started his academic career early 1960s as assistant professor of sociology 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 ...

in the department of sociology, which was chaired by David Gold PhD. From 1971 to 1985 he was professor of sociology at the

. In the 1970s he participated in the Uppsala Theory Circle at the

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

in Sweden founded by Tom R. Burns. In 1998 he was awarded the honorary chair of the Socio-Cybernetics Research Committee of the

International Sociological Association The International Sociological Association (ISA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to scientific purposes in the field of sociology and social sciences. It is an international sociological body, gathering both individuals and national sociol ...

. Buckley has been described as a pioneer in

social systems In sociology, a social system is the patterned network of relationships constituting a coherent whole that exist between individuals, groups, and institutions. It is the formal Social structure, structure of role and status that can form in a smal ...

theory that challenged conventional views. In his personal life he appreciated

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

music and played tenor

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

. He died in 2006 in

Durham, New Hampshire Durham is a New England town, town in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 15,490 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 14,638 at the 2010 census.United States Census BureauU.S. Census website 2010 ...

Publications

Books, a selection:Buckley, Walter Frederick 1921-
at worldcat.org * 1959. ''Sociological theory and social stratification.'' Dissertation University of Wisconsin–Madison. * 1967, ''Sociology and Modern Systems Theory''. Prentice Hall * 1968, ''Modern Systems Research for the Behavioral Scientist''. Foreword from

Anatol Rapoport Anatol Borisovich Rapoport (; ; May 22, 1911January 20, 2007) was an American mathematical psychologist. He contributed to general systems theory, to mathematical biology and to the mathematical modeling of social interaction and stochastic ...

,Overview
of this book on the ISSS website, retrieved 24.03.2008. * 1969. ''Class and society'' with Kurt Bernd Mayer. New York * 1971. ''A systems study in regional inequality: Norrbotten, a fourth of Sweden''. With Bengt Sandkull. Stockholm, * 1975. ''Multi-level, dialectical social action : an open systems theory perspective''. With Thomas Baumgartner and Tom R. Burns * 1976. ''Power and control : social structures and their transformation'' Edited by Tom R. Burns and Walter Buckley. London : SAGE. * 1982. ''Power, Conflict, and Exchange in Social Life: An Actor-oriented Systems Theory of the Structuring and Dialectics of Social Systems''. With Thomas Baumgartner and P. DeVille. Institute of Sociology, Uppsala. * 1998, ''Society—A Complex Adaptive System : Essays in Social Theory'', Routledge.

References

External links

In Memoriam: Walter F. Buckley, professor of sociology, 1971-1985
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckley, Walter F. 1922 births 2006 deaths American sociologists Cyberneticists American systems scientists University of California, Santa Barbara faculty University of New Hampshire faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni