Claude Serge Fischer (born January 9, 1948) is an American sociologist and Professor of Sociology at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in urban sociology, research methods, and American society at UC Berkeley. He was elected a Member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 2017.

Early life and career

Fischer was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

on January 9, 1948. He came to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1952 at the age of 4. He was raised in

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He graduated from Fairfax High School. Fischer graduated with a B.A. in

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 ...

from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

in 1968. After completing his B.A., he went to

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and completed his M.A. (1970) and Ph.D. (1972) in sociology. After completing his Ph.D., he joined the faculty at the

in 1972.

Work

Fischer's early research focused on the

social psychology Social psychology is the methodical study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. Although studying many of the same substantive topics as its counterpart in the field ...

of urban life and on social networks. In 1982, he published the book ''To Dwell Among Friends: Personal Networks in Town and City'' and in 1984, he published the book ''The Urban Experience''. He is credited with developing the 'subcultural theory of urbanism'. He worked on the study of social networks, in which he developed techniques for the survey study of networks and studied urban-rural differences in personal networks. He has also worked on American social history, beginning with a study of the early telephone's place in social life. He published the book ''America Calling: A Social History of the Telephone to 1940'' in 1992. In that book, he presents the first social history of this vital but little-studied technology. He examine how Americans encountered, tested, and ultimately embraced it with enthusiasm. He was also the founding editor of ''Contexts'', the American Sociological Association's magazine of sociology for the general reader. He was also its executive editor through 2004.

Awards and honors

Fischer and his books have received many awards and honors. The following are the awards and honors received by Fischer and his books. * 1986 Distinguished Scholarship Award of the Pacific Sociological Association for ''To Dwell Among Friends'' (1982) * 1995 Dexter Prize, Outstanding Book, from the Society for the History of Technology, for ''America Calling'' (1992) * 1996 Robert and Helen Lynd Award, from the Community and Urban Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association, for distinguished lifetime contribution to urban and community studies * '' Inequality by Design: Cracking the Bell Curve Myth'' (1996) was awarded “Outstanding Book” on Human Rights, Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights in North America in 1998 * ''Century of Difference'' (2006) was a co-winner of the 2007 Otis Dudley Duncan Book Award, Population Section, American Sociological Association.

Bibliography

Fischer has published the following books. * ''Made in America: A Social History of American Culture and Character'' (2010) * ''Century of Difference: How America Changed in the Last One Hundred Years. (with Hout). New York: Russell Sage.'' (2006) * ''Inequality by Design: Cracking the Bell Curve Myth, (with Hout, Lucas, Sánchez-Jankowski, Swidler and Voss), Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press'' (1996) * ''America Calling: A Social History of the Telephone to 1940, University of California Press.'' (1992) * ''The Urban Experience. Second edition. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.'' (1984) * ''To Dwell Among Friends: Personal Networks in Town and City. University of Chicago.'' (1982) * ''Networks and Places: Social Relations in the Urban Setting. (with Jackson, Stueve, Gerson, Jones, and Baldassare). New York: Free Press.'' (1977) * ''Human Aggression and Conflict. (with Scherer and Abeles), Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.'' (1975)

References

* *

External links

Personal webpage at the University of California, Berkeley
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fischer, Claude S. 1948 births French emigrants to the United States American sociologists Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty Fairfax High School (Los Angeles) alumni Living people Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the American Philosophical Society Contexts editors