{, class="infobox" , - style="background:#f3f3f3;" , style="text-align:center;",

1940s File:1940s decade montage.png, Above title bar: events during World War II (1939–1945): From left to right: Troops in an LCVP landing craft approaching Omaha Beach on D-Day; Adolf Hitler visits Paris, soon after the Battle of France; The Ho ...

^. 1950s in sociology ^.

1960s File:1960s montage.png, Clockwise from top left: U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War; the Beatles led the British Invasion of the U.S. music market; a half-a-million people participate in the 1969 Woodstock Festival; Neil Armstrong and Buzz ...

, - , style="text-align:center;", Other topics:

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

Comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

The following events related 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 an ...

occurred in the 1950s.

1950

Theodor Adorno Theodor is a masculine given name. It is a German form of Theodore. It is also a variant of Teodor. List of people with the given name Theodor * Theodor Adorno, (1903–1969), German philosopher * Theodor Aman, Romanian painter * Theodor Blue ...

's ''

The Authoritarian Personality ''The Authoritarian Personality'' is a 1950 sociology book by Theodor W. Adorno, Else Frenkel-Brunswik, Daniel Levinson, and Nevitt Sanford, researchers working at the University of California, Berkeley, during and shortly after World War II ...

'' is published. *

George Homans George Caspar Homans (August 11, 1910 – May 29, 1989) was an American sociologist, founder of behavioral sociology, and a major contributor to the social exchange theory. Homans is best known for his research in social behavior and his works ...

's '' The Human Group'' is published. *

Thomas Humphrey Marshall Thomas Humphrey Marshall (1893–1981) was an English sociologist who is best known for his essay " Citizenship and Social Class," a key work on citizenship that introduced the idea that full citizenship includes civil, political, and social ci ...

's '' Citizenship and Social Class''. *

Richard Titmuss Richard Morris Titmuss (1907–1973) was a pioneering British social researcher and teacher. He founded the academic discipline of social administration (now largely known in universities as social policy) and held the founding chair in the su ...

' '' The Problems of Social Policy'' is published. *''

British Journal of Sociology ''The British Journal of Sociology'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that was established in 1950 at the London School of Economics. It represents the mainstream of sociological thinking and research and publishes high quality papers on all asp ...

'' launched. *Sociology viewed as a Social Philosophy at the

University of Santo Tomas The University of Santo Tomas (also known as UST and officially as the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, Manila) is a private, Catholic research university in Manila, Philippines. Founded on April 28, 1611, by Spanish friar Migue ...

is initiated by Fr. Valentin Marin with Criminology, followed by A.W. Salt and

Murray Bartlett Murray Bartlett (born 20 March 1971) is an Australian actor. His roles include Dominic "Dom" Basaluzzo in the HBO comedy-drama series '' Looking'', Michael "Mouse" Tolliver in the Netflix revival of ''Tales of the City'', and Armond in the HBO s ...

University of the Philippines The University of the Philippines (UP; fil, Pamantasan ng Pilipinas Unibersidad ng Pilipinas) is a state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by Republic Act No. 9500 (UP Charter of 20 ...

and by Clyde Helfin at Siliman University.

1951

's ''

Minima Moralia ''Minima Moralia: Reflections from Damaged Life'' (german: Minima Moralia: Reflexionen aus dem beschädigten Leben) is a 1951 book by the philosopher Theodor W. Adorno and a seminal text in critical theory. Adorno started writing it during Wo ...

'' is published. *

Maurice Duverger Maurice Duverger (5 June 1917 – 16 December 2014) was a French jurist, sociologist, political scientist and politician born in Angoulême, Charente. Starting his career as a jurist at the University of Bordeaux, Duverger became more and m ...

's ''

Political Parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

'' is published. *

Theodor Geiger Theodor Julius Geiger (9 November 1891 in Munich, Germany - 16 June 1952) was a German socialist, lawyer and sociologist who studied Sociology of Law, social stratification and social mobility, methodology, and intelligentsia, among other ...

's '' Social Mobility within the Danish Middle-Class'' is published. *

Rosa Luxemburg Rosa Luxemburg (; ; pl, Róża Luksemburg or ; 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalised-German revolutionary socialism, revolutionary socialist, Marxism, Marxist philosopher and anti-war movement, anti-war activist. Succ ...

's '' The Accumulation of Capital'' is published. *

C. Wright Mills Charles Wright Mills (August 28, 1916 – March 20, 1962) was an American sociologist, and a professor of sociology at Columbia University from 1946 until his death in 1962. Mills published widely in both popular and intellectual journals, and ...

' '' White Collar: The American Middle Classes'' is published. *

Talcott Parsons Talcott Parsons (December 13, 1902 – May 8, 1979) was an American sociologist of the classical tradition, best known for his social action theory and structural functionalism. Parsons is considered one of the most influential figures in soci ...

' '' The Social System'' is published. * Robert C. Angell serves as president of the ASA. *

Society for the Study of Social Problems The Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) is an organization founded in 1951 in counterpoint to the American Sociological Association. History The Society was founded in 1951 by Elizabeth Briant Lee and Alfred McClung Lee. Profes ...

is founded. *

British Sociological Association The British Sociological Association (BSA) is a scholarly and professional society for sociologists in the United Kingdom, and was founded in 1951. It publishes the academic journals '' Sociology'', '' Work, Employment and Society, Sociological ...

is founded by

Morris Ginsberg Morris Ginsberg FBA (14 May 1889 – 31 August 1970) was a British sociologist, who played a key role in the development of the discipline. He served as editor of '' The Sociological Review'' in the 1930s and later became the founding chairm ...

and others

1952

*Sociology is banned by communist authorities in China and is labeled as a bourgeois pseudoscience. * Hans Jurgen Eysenck's '' Scientific Study of Personality'' is published. *

Melville J. Herskovits Melville Jean Herskovits (September 10, 1895 – February 25, 1963) was an American anthropologist who helped to first establish African and African Diaspora studies in American academia. He is known for exploring the cultural continuity from Af ...

's '' Economic Anthropology: A study in Comparative Economics'' is published. * Robert E. Park's '' Human Communities'' is published. *

' and

Edward Shils Edward Albert Shils (1 July 1910 – 23 January 1995) was a Distinguished Service Professor in the Committee on Social Thought and in Sociology at the University of Chicago and an influential sociologist. He was known for his research on the rol ...

' '' Towards a general theory of action'' is published. * Philippine Sociological Society is founded as a non-stock, non-profit professional association that is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. *

Alfred Radcliffe-Brown Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown, FBA (born Alfred Reginald Brown; 17 January 1881 – 24 October 1955) was an English social anthropologist who helped further develop the theory of structural functionalism. Biography Alfred Reginald Radc ...

's '' The Structure and Function of Primitive Society'' is published. *

Dorothy Swaine Thomas Dorothy Swaine Thomas (October 24, 1899 – May 1, 1977) was an American sociologist and economist. She was the 42nd President of the American Sociological Association, the first woman in that role. Life and career Thomas was born on October 24 ...

' '' The Salvage'' is published. *Dorothy Swaine Thomas serves as the first woman president of the

American Sociological Association The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fif ...

1953

's '' The Idea of Progress: A Revaluation'' is published. *

's '' On the Diversity of Morals'' is published. *

Alfred Kinsey Alfred Charles Kinsey (; June 23, 1894 – August 25, 1956) was an American sexologist, biologist, and professor of entomology and zoology who, in 1947, founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University, now known as the Kinsey Insti ...

's '' Sexual Behaviour in the Human Female'' is published. *

' '' Character and Social Structure'' is published. *

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian- British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is consi ...

's ''

Philosophical Investigations ''Philosophical Investigations'' (german: Philosophische Untersuchungen) is a work by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, published posthumously in 1953. ''Philosophical Investigations'' is divided into two parts, consisting of what Wittgens ...

'' is published. *

Max Weber Maximilian Karl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German sociologist, historian, jurist and political economist, who is regarded as among the most important theorists of the development of modern Western society. His ideas p ...

's '' The Sociology of Religion'' is published. *

Samuel A. Stouffer Samuel Andrew Stouffer (June 6, 1900 – August 24, 1960) was a prominent American sociologist and developer of survey research techniques. Stouffer spent much of his career attempting to answer the fundamental question: How does one measure an ...

serves as president of the ASA.

1954

Lewis Coser Lewis Alfred Coser (27 November 1913 in Berlin – 8 July 2003 in Cambridge, Massachusetts) was a German-American sociologist, serving as the 66th president of the American Sociological Association in 1975. Biography Born in Berlin as Ludwig Co ...

's '' The Functions of Social Conflict'' is published. * Hans Jurgen Eysenck's '' Psychology of Politics'' is published. *

David Glass David Glass may refer to: *David Glass (businessman) (1935–2020), American executive *David Glass (Canadian politician) (1829–1906), Canadian lawyer and political figure * David Glass (Israeli politician) (1936–2014), Israeli politician *Davi ...

' '' Social Mobility in Britain'' is published. *David Glass' '' Trend and Pattern of Fertility in Britain'' is published. *

Alvin Ward Gouldner Alvin may refer to: Places Canada *Alvin, British Columbia United States *Alvin, Colorado *Alvin, Georgia *Alvin, Illinois * Alvin, Michigan *Alvin, Texas *Alvin, Wisconsin, a town *Alvin (community), Wisconsin, an unincorporated community Other ...

's '' Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy'' is published. *

Edmund Leach Sir Edmund Ronald Leach FRAI FBA (7 November 1910 – 6 January 1989) was a British social anthropologist and academic. He served as provost of King's College, Cambridge from 1966 to 1979. He was also president of the Royal Anthropologi ...

's '' Political Systems of Highland Burma'' is published. *

' '' Mass Society and Liberal Education'' is published. * Siegfried Frederick Nadel's '' Nupe Religion'' is published. *

' '' Essays in Sociological Theory'' is published. *

Florian Znaniecki Florian Witold Znaniecki (15 January 1882 – 23 March 1958) was a Polish philosopher and sociologist who taught and wrote in Poland and in the United States. Over the course of his work he shifted his focus from philosophy to sociology. H ...

serves as president of the

. *

becomes Chair of Sociology at the

LSE LSE may refer to: Computing * LSE (programming language), a computer programming language * LSE, Latent sector error, a media assessment measure related to the hard disk drive storage technology * Language-Sensitive Editor, a text editor used ...

1955

's ''

Prisms Prism usually refers to: * Prism (optics), a transparent optical component with flat surfaces that refract light * Prism (geometry), a kind of polyhedron Prism may also refer to: Science and mathematics * Prism (geology), a type of sedimentar ...

'' is published. *

Gordon Allport Gordon Willard Allport (November 11, 1897 – October 9, 1967) was an American psychologist. Allport was one of the first psychologists to focus on the study of the personality, and is often referred to as one of the founding figures of personali ...

's '' Becoming'' is published. *

Milovan Djilas Milovan Djilas (; , ; 12 June 1911 – 30 April 1995) was a Yugoslav communist politician, theorist and author. He was a key figure in the Partisan movement during World War II, as well as in the post-war government. A self-identified democrat ...

' '' The New Class'' is published. *

Lucien Goldmann Lucien Goldmann (; 20 July 1913 – 8 October 1970) was a French philosopher and sociologist of Jewish-Romanian origin. A professor at the EHESS in Paris, he was a Marxist theorist. His wife was sociologist Annie Goldmann. Biography Goldmann w ...

's '' The Hidden God; a study of Pascal and Racine'' is published. * Louis Hartz's '' The Liberal Tradition in America'' * George Alexander Kelly's '' The Psychology of Personal Constructs'' is published. *

Paul Lazarsfeld Paul Felix Lazarsfeld (February 13, 1901August 30, 1976) was an Austrian-American sociologist. The founder of Columbia University's Bureau of Applied Social Research, he exerted influence over the techniques and the organization of social rese ...

's '' Personal Influence'' is published. *

Herbert Marcuse Herbert Marcuse (; ; July 19, 1898 – July 29, 1979) was a German-American philosopher, social critic, and political theorist, associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory. Born in Berlin, Marcuse studied at the Humboldt University ...

's ''

Eros and Civilization ''Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud'' (1955; second edition, 1966) is a book by the German philosopher and social critic Herbert Marcuse, in which the author proposes a non-repressive society, attempts a synthesis of the t ...

'' is published. * Joan Woodward's '' The Dockworker'' is published. *

Barbara Wootton Barbara Wootton, Baroness Wootton of Abinger, CH (14 April 1897 – 11 July 1988) was a British sociologist and criminologist. She was the first of four women to be appointed as a life peer, entitled to serve in the House of Lords, under the L ...

's '' Foundations of Wage Policy'' is published. *

Leopold Von Wiese Leopold Max Walther von Wiese und Kaiserswaldau (2 December 1876, Glatz, German Empire – 11 January 1969, Cologne, West Germany) was a German sociologist and economist, as well as professor and chairman of the German Sociological Association ...

retires as chairperson of the

German Society for Sociology The German Sociological Association (''Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie'', DGS) is a professional organization of social scientists in Germany. Established in Berlin on January 3, 1909, its founding members included Rudolf Goldscheid, Ferdina ...

and is succeeded by Helmuth Plessner.

1956

Vere Gordon Childe Vere Gordon Childe (14 April 189219 October 1957) was an Australian archaeologist who specialised in the study of European prehistory. He spent most of his life in the United Kingdom, working as an academic for the University of Edinburgh and ...

's '' Man Makes Himself'' is published. *

Viola Klein Viola Klein (1908–1973) was a sociologist in Great Britain. Her work demonstrated that objective ideas about women's attributes are socially constructed. Although her early training was in psychology and philosophy, her most prolific research ...

's and

Alva Myrdal Alva Myrdal ( , ; née Reimer; 31 January 1902 – 1 February 1986) was a Swedish sociologist, diplomat and politician. She was a prominent leader of the disarmament movement. She, along with Alfonso García Robles, received the Nobel Peace ...

's '' Women's Two Roles: Home and Work'' is published. * David Lockwood's '' Some Remarks on "The Social System"'' is published. * Charles Wright Mills's ''

The Power Elite ''The Power Elite'' is a 1956 book by sociologist C. Wright Mills, in which Mills calls attention to the interwoven interests of the leaders of the military, corporate, and political elements of society and suggests that the ordinary citizen in ...

'' is published. *

Pitirim Sorokin Pitirim Alexandrovich Sorokin (; russian: Питири́м Алекса́ндрович Соро́кин; – 10 February 1968) was a Russian American sociologist and political activist, who contributed to the social cycle theory. Background ...

's '' Fads and Foibles in Modern Sociology and Related Sciences'' is published. *

Otto Stammer Otto is a masculine German given name and a Otto (surname), surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name ...

's '' Functions in the Party Unit'' is published. * Asher Tropp's '' School teachers : the growth of the teaching profession in England and Wales from 1800 to the present day'' is published. *

's '' The Soteriology of the Underprivileged'' is published. *November 4 - The use of force by the

Soviet union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

to destroy the Hungarian Uprising turns many doctrinal

Marxists Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...

away from the Marxist-Leninist model.

1957

* Hans Jurgen Eysenck's '' Dynamics of Anxiety and Hysteria'' is published. * Edward Franklin Frazier's '' Black Bourgeoisie'' is published. * Terrence Morris's '' The Criminal Area: A study in Ecology'' is published. * Stanislaw Ossowski's '' Class Structure in the Social Consciousness'' is published. *

Karl Polanyi Karl Paul Polanyi (; hu, Polányi Károly ; 25 October 1886 – 23 April 1964),''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. 2003) vol 9. p. 554 was an Austro-Hungarian economic anthropologist and politician, best known ...

's '' Trade and Markets in the Early Empires'' is published. *

Karl Popper Sir Karl Raimund Popper (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994) was an Austrian-British philosopher, academic and social commentator. One of the 20th century's most influential philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the ...

's ''

The Poverty of Historicism ''The Poverty of Historicism'' is a 1944 book by the philosopher Karl Popper (revised in 1957), in which the author argues that the idea of historicism is dangerous and bankrupt. Publication ''The Poverty of Historicism'' was first written as a ...

'' is published. *

's '' A Natural Science of Society'' is published. *

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lite ...

's '' The Problem of Method'' is published. *

Victor Turner Victor Witter Turner (28 May 1920 – 18 December 1983) was a British cultural anthropologist best known for his work on symbols, rituals, and rites of passage. His work, along with that of Clifford Geertz and others, is often referred to as ...

's '' Schism and Continuity in an African Society'' is published. * Karl Wittfogel's '' Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power'' is published. * Michael Young's and Peter Willmott's ''

Family and Kinship in East London ''Family and Kinship in East London'' was a 1957 sociological study of an urban working class tight-knit community, and the effects of the post-war governments' social housing policy leading to their rehousing. Many East Londoners by rigid slum ...

'' *Revised edition of

Robert K. Merton Robert King Merton (born Meyer Robert Schkolnick; July 4, 1910 – February 23, 2003) was an American sociologist who is considered a founding father of modern sociology, and a major contributor to the subfield of criminology. He served as th ...

's ''

Social Theory and Social Structure ''Social Theory and Social Structure'' (''STSS'') was a landmark publication in sociology by Robert K. Merton. It has been translated into close to 20 languages and is one of the most frequently cited texts in social sciences. It was first publish ...

'' is published. *Robert K. Merton serves as president of the ASA.

1958

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, and even ...

's '' The Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter'' is published. *

Georges Gurvitch Georges Gurvitch (russian: Гео́ргий Дави́дович Гу́рвич; October 20, 1894, Novorossiysk – December 12, 1965, Paris) was a Russian-born French sociologist and jurist. One of the leading sociologists of his times, he was a ...

's '' The Spectrum of Time'' is published. *

Fritz Heider Fritz Heider (19 February 1896 – 2 January 1988) was an Austrian psychologist whose work was related to the Gestalt school. In 1958 he published ''The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations'', which expanded upon his creations of balance theory ...

's '' The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations'' is published. * David Lockwood's '' Blackcoated worker : a study in class consciousness'' is published. *

Helen Merrell Lynd Helen Merrell Lynd (March 17, 1896 – January 30, 1982) was an American sociologist, social philosopher, educator, and author. She is best known for conducting the first Middletown studies of Muncie, Indiana, with her husband, Robert Staught ...

's '' On Shame and the Search for Identity'' is published. *

's '' The Causes of World War 3'' is published. *

Gunnar Myrdal Karl Gunnar Myrdal ( ; ; 6 December 1898 – 17 May 1987) was a Swedish economist and sociologist. In 1974, he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences along with Friedrich Hayek for "their pioneering work in the theory of money a ...

's '' Beyond the Welfare State'' is published. * Irene B. Taeuber's '' The Population of Japan'' is published. *

' '' Essays on the Welfare State'' is published. * Michael Young's '' The Rise of the Meritocracy, 1870–2023: An Essay On Education and Equality'' is published. *The Jewish Journal of Sociology is established in London, Maurice Freedman becomes the first editor.

1959

* Oliver Cox's '' Foundations of Capitalism'' is published. *

Ralf Dahrendorf Ralf Gustav Dahrendorf, Baron Dahrendorf, (1 May 1929 – 17 June 2009) was a German-British sociologist, philosopher, political scientist and liberal politician. A class conflict theorist, Dahrendorf was a leading expert on explaining and a ...

's '' Class and Class Conflict in an Industrial Society'' is published. *

Ernest Gellner Ernest André Gellner FRAI (9 December 1925 – 5 November 1995) was a British- Czech philosopher and social anthropologist described by ''The Daily Telegraph'', when he died, as one of the world's most vigorous intellectuals, and by ''The ...

's '' Words and Things'' is published. *

Erving Goffman Erving Goffman (11 June 1922 – 19 November 1982) was a Canadian-born sociologist, social psychologist, and writer, considered by some "the most influential American sociologist of the twentieth century". In 2007 '' The Times Higher Ed ...

's '' Presentation of Self in Everyday Life'' is published. *

Morris Janowitz Morris Janowitz (October 22, 1919 – November 7, 1988) was an American sociologist and professor who made major contributions to sociological theory, the study of prejudice, urban issues, and patriotism. He was one of the founders of military ...

's '' Sociology and the Military Establishment'' is published. * Oscar Lewis' '' Five Families; Mexican Case Studies In The Culture Of Poverty'' is published. *

's ''

The Sociological Imagination ''The Sociological Imagination'' is a 1959 book by American sociologist C. Wright Mills published by Oxford University Press. In it, he develops the idea of sociological imagination, the means by which the relation between self and society can ...

'' is published. * Geoffrey Duncan Mitchell's '' Sociology : the study of social systems'' is published. *

's ''

The Logic of Scientific Discovery ''The Logic of Scientific Discovery'' is a 1959 book about the philosophy of science by the philosopher Karl Popper. Popper rewrote his book in English from the 1934 (imprint '1935') German original, titled ''Logik der Forschung. Zur Erkenntnisthe ...

'' is published. *

's '' Social Science and Social Pathology'' is published. *

Kingsley Davis Kingsley Davis (August 20, 1908 – February 27, 1997) was an internationally recognized American sociologist and demographer. He was identified by the American Philosophical Society as one of the most outstanding social scientists of the twen ...

serves as president of ASA. *Barbara Wootton becomes president of the

. * Helmuth Plessner retires as chairperson of the

and is succeeded by

Deaths

*April 27: William F. Ogburn *May 20:

Alfred Schütz Alfred Schutz (; born Alfred Schütz, ; 1899–1959) was an Austrian philosopher and social phenomenologist whose work bridged sociological and phenomenological traditions. Schutz is gradually being recognized as one of the 20th century's leadi ...

1950

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1957

1958

1959

Deaths

See also