Walter Frederick Buckley (April 17, 1921 – January 27, 2006) was an American sociologist, and professor of
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation and ...
at the
University of New Hampshire
The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mov ...
. Buckley was among the first to apply concepts from
general systems theory
Systems theory is the interdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be natural or human-made. Every system has causal boundaries, is influenced by its context, defined by its structu ...
based on the work of
Bertalanffy to
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation and ...
Felix Geyer
Rudolf Felix Geyer (born 13 October 1933) is a Dutch sociologist and cybernetician, former head of the methodology section of SISWO (Interuniversity Institute for Social Science Research) at the University of Amsterdam, known for his work in the fi ...
and Hans van der Zouwen
Johannes "Hans" van der Zouwen (born 1939) is a Dutch sociologist, and Emeritus Professor of Social Research Methodology at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, known for his pioneering work with Felix Geyer in the field of sociocybernetics.
In ...
(1992), "Sociocybernetics", in: ''Cybernetics and Applied Systems'', C.V. Negoita ed. p.96.
Biography
Born and raised in
Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...
, Buckley studied
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation and ...
at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
. 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). A ...
.
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 land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...
in the department of sociology, which was chaired by David Gold PhD. From 1971 to 1985 he was professor of Sociology at the
University of New Hampshire
The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mov ...
. In the 1970s he participated in the
Uppsala Theory Circle at the
Uppsala University
Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation.
The university rose to significance during ...
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 sociolo ...
.
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 structure of role and status that can form in a small, stable group. A ...
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, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major f ...
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 ...
. He died in 2006 in
Durham, New Hampshire
Durham is a New England town, town in Strafford County, New Hampshire, 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 Censu ...
.
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 Rapoport ( uk, Анатолій Борисович Рапопо́рт; russian: Анато́лий Бори́сович Рапопо́рт; May 22, 1911January 20, 2007) was an American mathematical psychologist. He contributed to general ...
,[Overview](_blank)
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