John Itsuro Kitsuse (1923, Imperial Valley, California, US - 27 November 2003, Santa Cruz, California, US) was an American professor of
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 ...
who contributed to the sociology of
social problems,
criminology
Criminology (from Latin , 'accusation', and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'', 'word, reason') is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behaviou ...
and
deviance. Kitsuse is famous for his pioneer work in studying social problems as
social construction
Social constructionism is a term used in sociology, social ontology, and communication theory. The term can serve somewhat different functions in each field; however, the foundation of this theoretical framework suggests various facets of s ...
s. From 1977 until his death, Kitsuse and his colleague
Malcolm Spector published some of their research in this field in their book ''Constructing Social Problems''. As a second generation Japanese American, Kitsuse was imprisoned in an
American internment camp from 1942 to 1943, due to the ongoing war between the United States and Japan.
References
University of California
1923 births
2003 deaths
American sociologists
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