David Riesman

David Riesman ( born September 22, 1909 in Philadelphia, † 10 May 2002 Binghamton (New York)), was an American sociologist and educationalist.

Life

David Riesman was born in 1909 as the son of a medical professor. The ancestors of both parents were Jewish immigrants from Germany, who had emigrated generations ago in the United States. After completing his studies at Harvard in 1931 with a major in biochemistry, he received a doctorate in law in 1934 at the same university. In addition, he worked as an editor for The Crimson and the Harvard Law Review. After his clerkship in Boston, his path led him to a short stint at the Supreme Court (1935-1936) to a stint as a lawyer 1936-1937, after which he took a true 1937-1941 Lecturer at the Buffalo Law School. In addition, he served as managing director of the American Committee for the Guidance of Professional Personnel, a relief organization for lawyers in American exile.

As a guest lecturer at Columbia Law School (1941-1942), he met influential scholars such as anthropologist Margaret Mead, the sociologist Paul Lazarsfeld, the philosopher Hannah Arendt and the psychoanalyst Erich Fromm. 1949 Riesman was appointed to the social science faculty of the University of Chicago, where in 1950 his bestselling book The Lonely Crowd (Eng. The Lonely Crowd, 1956) co-authored with Nathan Glazer and Reuel Denney and gained almost overnight celebrity. In the same year Riesman member of the Congress for Cultural Freedom, an anti - communist organization of prominent intellectuals who, as has been discovered, received funds from the CIA. Riesman left the group and began his critique of McCarthy's strategies. Together with Paul Lazarsfeld, he worked on a study of the effects of McCarthyism on American social scientists. Riesman one of the founders of a research field, which under the name of " qualitative research " was part of the standard sociological training later.

1958 Riesman was appointed to Harvard University, where he taught for more than 20 years, the seminar American Character and Social Structure to fame. In the 60s, his interest focused on the changes in higher education in the United States.

Work

The Lonely Crowd

Riesman's main work, which can be referred to as the first sociological world bestseller, presents a development model of social characters he identifies as different types of behavior conformity. With recourse to Max Weber, he can distinguish three such types, the traditionalist ( tradition -directed ), the inner-directed (inner -directed ) and the foreign -led (other -directed ). All these types are present in all societies to some extent; However, they are at certain stages of population development into a majority and thus typical phenomenon. The period of ' high population turnover ' ( pre-industrial, medieval societies with high birth and death rates ) generates the traditionalist type, which is structured mainly through the sense of shame that arises when the traditions are violated. The period of high population growth (constant fertility with decreasing mortality rates ) that characterizes industrial societies, this causes the inward type, which is structured on values ​​such as power, fame, truth and beauty " through an internal gyro " (Heinz Kluth ); Deviations thereby produce a sense of guilt. The little dynamic, ' post-industrial ' affluent societies with declining birth rates and constant mortality rate to replace this type by the conformist exterior Steering: The behavior of others is crucial for one's own behavior; to be accepted by others and taken for full, core value. Deviations are sanctioned with feelings of anxiety.

In this Riesman sees this third type in the modern service companies on the rise, especially among the younger representatives of the middle class. The majority of the book is devoted to this type whose life settings undergo a meticulous analysis. Central to this is the interest of the consumer, leisure and entertainment habits, according to Riesman characterize this type more than the previous two, the particular mainly about their work.

The German book titled " The Lonely Crowd " ( the translated sociologist Renate Rausch) shifts the word meaning of lonely ( left alone ) with the Mitbedeutung of " timidity " with their choice of words lonely little towards "Proud standing alone ." Content ( as Helmut Schelsky in a lecture in 1955 ) would be the translation of " The anxious crowd" free, but reasonable.

Other Works (selection)

  • Faces in the Crowd (1952 ) - Sources and Material for The Lonely Crowd, again with Nathan Glazer and Reuel Denney
  • Thorstein Veblen: A Critical Interpretation (1953 )
  • Constraint and Variety in American Education (1956 ) - about the importance of economic factors in the education industry
  • Conversations in Japan: Modernization, Politics, and Culture (1967 )
  • The Academic Revolution ( 1968) - with Christopher Jencks - the politicization of academic education and educational policy in general
  • On Competence: A Critical Analysis of Competence -Based Reforms in Higher Education (1979 ) - about the state control of education and society's need for competence
  • Abundance For What? (? German Suhrkamp, Frankfurt 1966: Prosperity and what Suhrkamp, Frankfurt 1973: Prosperity for whom?) - Essays
  • Freud and psychoanalysis, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt 1965
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