Melvin Seeman (February 5, 1918 – January 31, 2020) was an American social psychologist and emeritus professor of sociology at 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 ...

(UCLA). He is known for researching

social isolation Social isolation is a state of complete or near-complete lack of contact between an individual and society. It differs from loneliness, which reflects temporary and involuntary lack of contact with other humans in the world. Social isolation c ...

. Seeman

turned 100 A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100. Because life expectancies at birth worldwide are well below 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. The United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centenarian ...

in February 2018.

Biography

Seeman was born in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, and received his Ph.D. from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

in 1947. He subsequently taught at Ohio State for several years, and eventually became an associate professor there. He also served as the director of Ohio State's Operations Research Group from 1956 to 1958. In 1959, he joined the faculty at UCLA, where he chaired the sociology department from 1977 to 1980. He taught at UCLA for 29 years before he retired. He has been the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of ''

Sociometry Sociometry is a quantitative method for measuring Social relation, social relationships. It was developed by psychotherapy, psychotherapist Jacob L. Moreno and Helen Hall Jennings in their studies of the relationship between social structures an ...

'', associate editor of the ''

American Sociological Review The ''American Sociological Review'' is a bi-monthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of sociology. It is published by SAGE Publications on behalf of the American Sociological Association. It was established in 1936. It is along ...

'', and the president of the

Pacific Sociological Association The Pacific Sociological Association (PSA) is a professional association of sociologists in the Pacific region of North America. The PSA is best known for its annual conference and academic journal'' Sociological Perspectives''. History The Paci ...

Awards

In 1996, Seeman received the Cooley-Mead Award from 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 fi ...

's Section on Social Psychology.

References

External links

Faculty page (Internet Archive)Story about Seeman
on UCLA website (Internet Archive) {{DEFAULTSORT:Seeman, Melvin 1918 births 2020 deaths American social psychologists Johns Hopkins University alumni American men centenarians Ohio State University alumni Ohio State University faculty University of California, Los Angeles faculty