William Fielding Ogburn

William Fielding Ogburn (born June 29, 1886 in Butler , Georgia , † April 27, 1959 in Tallahassee , Florida ), was an American sociologist .

Ogburn taught from 1914 to 1927 as a professor at Columbia University and then until his retirement (1951) at the University of Chicago . He was president of the American Sociological Society in 1929 . In 1932 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Ogburn pioneered the technology assessment ( technology assessment ). In addition, he developed the theory of the cultural phase shift ( cultural lag ). It says that some parts of society are slower to adapt to change (especially technological ones) than others. As a result, a social imbalance arises, which leads to social problems and conflicts.

Publications

• Social Change: With Respect to Culture and Original Nature (1922).
• The Social Sciences and their Interrelations . With Alexander Alexandrovich Goldenweiser . Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1927.
• Recent Social Trends (1933).
• Living with Machines (1933).
• Technological Trends and National Policy (1937).
• War, Babies and the Future (1943).
• American Society in Wartime (1944)
• The Politics of Atomic Energy (1946)
• The Social Effects of Aviation (1946).
• Culture and social change. Selected Writings (1969).

literature

• Lewis Coser : Ogburn, William F. , in: Wilhelm Bernsdorf / Horst Knospe (eds.): Internationales Soziologenlexikon , Vol. 1, Enke, Stuttgart ² 1988, p. 312 f.
• Volkmann, Dietrich: Technology and society in William Fielding Ogburn - attempt of an interpretation from his complete works. Dissertation, Berlin, 1964.

Web links

• Literature by and about William Fielding Ogburn in the catalog of the German National Library
• University of Chicago Library - Guide to the William Fielding Ogburn Papers 1908-1960

Wikibooks: Sociological_Classics / Ogburn, _William_F.  - Learning and teaching materials