Jean Stoetzel (23 April 1910, Saint-Dié-des-Vosges - 21 February 1987,

Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris ...

) was a French sociologist.

Biography

He had Alsacian and Lorrainian descent.Jean Stoetzel
// '' Encyclopædia Universalis'' Stoetzel had studied in Lycée Louis-le-Grand, in a preparatory class for superior schools (''écoles supérieures'')Alain Girar
Jean Stoetzel (1910—1987)
Revue française de sociologie, Année 1987, 28-2, pp. 201—211 In 1932, he entered

École normale supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

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 ...

.Valade, Bernard.
Jean Stoetzel: théorie des opinions et psychosociologie de la communication
» Hermès, La Revue 2 (2007): 72-74. In 1938, he visited

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. There he get to know the methods of

opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll, is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of qu ...

ing by

George Gallup George Horace Gallup (November 18, 1901 – July 26, 1984) was an American pioneer of survey sampling techniques and inventor of the Gallup poll, a statistics, statistically-based survey sampling, survey sampled measure of opinion polls, public ...

.Philip Nor
France’s New Deal: From the Thirties to the Postwar Era
p. 83-84 Upon return to France, he founded

Institut français d'opinion publique The Institut français d'opinion publique (IFOP; ) is an international polling and market research firm, whose motto is "Connection creates value". It was founded on 1 December 1938 by Jean Stoetzel, former Sorbonne professor, after he met Ge ...

, the first French organization to conduct opinion polling. Amongst the questions asked were the position of French on Édouard Daladier's politics with respect to "German threat", the opinion of birth rate decline, etc. Although Stoetzel methods were quite crude, he managed to detect rightward shift in French public mood. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he was a liaison officer with British army and fought in Battle of Dunkirk. Afterwards, he returned to occupied France and taught philosophy in a secondary school. Stoetzel became a Doctor of Philosophy in 1943. He was a sociology professor at the University of Bordeaux 1943–1954, and he was a social psychology professor at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

1955–1978. In 1977, Stoetzel was elected a member of

Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

. He was elected to 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 1979.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stoetzel, Jean 20th-century French people French sociologists Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni École Normale Supérieure alumni Members of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques Members of the American Philosophical Society