Richard LaPiere

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Richard Tracy LaPiere (born September 5, 1899 in Beloit (Wisconsin) , † February 2, 1986 ) was a professor of sociology at Stanford University from 1929 to 1965.

Life

LaPiere was born in Wisconsin and received his BA in Economics in 1926, followed by his Master of Arts in Sociology in 1927 and his Ph.D. in sociology 1930. He received all titles from Stanford University .

He married in 1934 and died of cancer in 1986.

Scientific work

LaPiere became known in the 1930s for his work Attitudes Versus Actions ("attitudes versus behavior"). He spent two years traveling around the US with some Chinese . At that time there was strong prejudice against Chinese people in the US . One assumption was therefore that attitudes (rejection of the Chinese) and behavior (refusal of an overnight stay) matched.

This turned out to be wrong. He visited 251 hotels. Only one of them was turned away. After the trip, he wrote to the hotels and asked in writing whether Chinese visitors were served there. There was only one positive acceptance and mostly rejections - the reported figures differ widely. Sometimes it is said that there are 250 hotels, and it is often said that only 128 responded to the written inquiries. In addition, LaPiere is said to have asked the written request for Germans, French, Japanese and other nationalities.

There is some methodological criticism of LaPiere's work . It is not known whether inquiries were answered by the same people who were also at the reception (possibly attitude of managers and behavior of employees). There will have been a significant discrepancy between the appearance of the three travelers and the prevailing stereotype of Chinese people in the United States. It was also the time of the Great Depression , so it can be assumed that any guest who could pay an overnight stay was welcome.

Still, his work stimulated many follow-up examinations.

Works

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b MEMORIAL RESOLUTION ( Memento of the original dated December 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - engl. Commemorative letter from Stanford University (pdf; 14 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / histsoc.stanford.edu
  2. ^ Elliot Aronson, Timothy Wilson, Robin M. Akert: Social Psychology , Pearson Studies; Edition: 6th edition. (December 12, 2008), ISBN 382737359X , page 214
  3. ^ Prejudice Research: Part of Attitude Research - Article by Susanne Lin
personal data
SURNAME LaPiere, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES LaPiere, Richard Tracy (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American sociologist
DATE OF BIRTH September 5, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Beloit, Wisconsin
DATE OF DEATH February 2, 1986