Frank Bechhofer RSE (1935–2018) was a British sociologist. He is known for studies around

social class A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of Dominance hierarchy, hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class and the Bourgeoisie, capitalist class. Membership of a social class can for exam ...

and

national identity National identity is a person's identity or sense of belonging to one or more states or one or more nations. It is the sense of "a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language". National identity ...

Early life

Bechhofer was born in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

on 10 October 1935. He left Germany at the age of three, coming to the United Kingdom in 1939, and his parents settled in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

. He attended Nottingham Grammar School. According to interview notes from 2001, he spent time in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

in the

BAOR British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) was the name given to British Army occupation forces in the Rhineland, West Germany, after the First World War, First and Second World Wars, and during the Cold War, becoming part of NATO, NATO's Northern Army Gr ...

, from 1954 to 1956. He went to

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the 16 "old colleges" of the university, and was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. Its buildings span the R ...

in 1956, having been admitted to read mathematics. Doubting his own ability, he chose engineering instead. He spent time as a student on drama, in the long vacation running a theatre company, which became an abiding interest. As a graduate student in the Department of Engineering, he had a scholarship from Queens' in 1960, and then a further grant from the

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR was the name of several British Empire organisations founded after the 1923 Imperial Conference to foster intra-Empire trade and development. * Department of Scientific and Industria ...

. Under the influence of

Stuart Chase Stuart Chase (March 8, 1888 – November 16, 1985) was an American economist, social theorist, and writer. His writings covered topics as diverse as general semantics General semantics is a school of thought that incorporates philosophy, philo ...

, he took an innovative business management course set up by Frederick John Willett (1922–1993). It included a history course by Geoffrey Best and a law course by Bill Wedderburn. He was awarded a Masters degree in 1962. At this point Bechhofer made the decision to leave engineering.

Academic

At Willett's suggestion, Bechhofer began a doctorate at Cambridge, making a false start on the

steel industry Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high elastic modulus, yield strength, fracture strength and low raw material cost, steel is one of the ...

, and constructing a survey of engineering graduates. He then went into research on

industrial sociology Industrial sociology, until recently a crucial research area within the field of sociology of work, examines "the direction and implications of trends in technological change, globalization, labour markets, work organization, managerial practic ...

and the

sociology of work Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociology was coined in t ...

, joining the research team in the Department of Applied Economics at Cambridge led by

John Goldthorpe John Harry Goldthorpe (born 27 May 1935) is a British sociologist. He is an emeritus Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford. His main research interests are in the fields of social stratification and mobility, and comparative macro-sociology. He ...

, David Lockwood, and

Jennifer Platt Jennifer Platt FAcSS is a sociologist who is emeritus Professor at the University of Sussex, where she taught from 1964 to 2002. She has been President of the British Sociological Association in 1987–89, and edited its journal ''Sociology'' for ...

. Their research, conducted between 1962 and 1965, was published in three jointly authored volumes in 1968–69 and subsequently translated into German, Swedish, French, and Italian. Bechhofer's interests changed again and in 1965 he moved to the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

as a lecturer, where he studied

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 ...

and

class society A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class and the capitalist class. Membership of a social class can for example be dependent on education, wea ...

. In 1971 he was promoted to reader and in 1987 he was given the chair of social research. At the request of the head of the sociology department, Tom Burns, Bechhofer also taught methods of sociology, for which he founded a seminar that was usually held in Cambridge. The seminar required him to study the subject matter intensively in order, as he said, to be at least one lesson ahead of his students; there resulted his ''Principles of Research Design in the Social Sciences'' (2000) with Lindsay Paterson. He investigated topics such as small and medium-sized shopkeepers with Brian Elliot, SME (

small and medium enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by many national agencies and international organizat ...

) policy, and small and medium-sized businesses in Great Britain with Brian Elliot and David McCrone. In 1975 Bechhofer went to the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

as a visiting professor. His research by then was on Scottish demography and occupational structures. In the late 1980s he coordinated the Edinburgh team consisting of Michael Anderson, David McCrone, and Bob Morris in the study of

social change Social change is the alteration of the social order of a society which may include changes in social institutions, social behaviours or social relations. Sustained at a larger scale, it may lead to social transformation or societal transformat ...

in the

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; ; ) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, making it Fife's second-largest s ...

Glenrothes Glenrothes ( ; ; , ) is a town situated in the heart of Fife, in east-central Scotland. It had a population of 39,277 in the 2011 census, making it the third largest settlement in Fife and the 18th most populous locality in Scotland. Glenroth ...

area of

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

. It resulted in a study of

and

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

, and the publication of ''Understanding National Identity'' (2015). Bechhofer in 1984 repurposed the existing Social Sciences Research Centre at Edinburgh, as the Research Centre for Social Sciences; he was its director to 1997. He chaired the

British Sociological Association The British Sociological Association (BSA) is a scholarly and professional society for sociologists in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1951, the BSA is the national subject association for sociology in the UK. It publishes the academic journals ' ...

from 1984 to 1986. He took early retirement in 1997 and became

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

, to write. In 2008 he was elected to the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

Works

*(as editor) ''Population Growth and the Brain Drain'', Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 1969, ISBN 978-0-85224-066-3 *(with Lindsay Paterson) ''Principles of Research Design in the Social Sciences'', 2000 *(with Lindsay Paterson and David McCrone) ''Living in Scotland: Social and Economic Change since 1980'', 2004 *(with David McCrone) ''National Identity, Nationalism and Constitutional Change'', 2009 *(with David McCrone) ''Understanding National Identity'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2015, ISBN 978-1-107-10038-1

Family

Bechhofer married in 1960 the child psychologist Jean Conochie, daughter of W. K. Conochie of

Lerwick Lerwick ( or ; ; ) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010. It is the northernmost major settlement within the United Kingdom. Centred ...

. She became Head of Child Clinical Psychology Services at the

Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh The Royal Hospital for Sick Children was a hospital in Sciennes, Edinburgh, Scotland, specialising in paediatric healthcare. Locally, it was commonly referred to simply as the "Sick Kids". The hospital provided emergency care for children from ...

. They were both involved in running

Edinburgh Folk Club Edinburgh Folk Club is the principal folk club within the Scottish capital city, Edinburgh. The club's roots date back to the early seventies where it grew from the British folk revival into one of the most respected and long running clubs in S ...

, to 1994.

Notes

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