David Victor Glass (2 January 1911 – 23 September 1978) was an eminent English sociologist and was one of the few sociologists elected to the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. He is also one of the very few people to be elected both

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...

and

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

. He was professor of sociology at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

, 1948–1978.

Life

Glass was born in the

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, the son of a tailor, and attended a state elementary school and Raine's Grammar School. He then took a degree from the LSE in 1931. From 1932–1940 he was a research assistant to

William Beveridge William Henry Beveridge, 1st Baron Beveridge, (5 March 1879 – 16 March 1963) was a British economist and Liberal politician who was a progressive and social reformer who played a central role in designing the British welfare state. His 194 ...

and statistician,

Arthur Bowley Sir Arthur Lyon Bowley, FBA (6 November 1869 – 21 January 1957) was an English statistician and economist who worked on economic statistics and pioneered the use of sampling techniques in social surveys. Early life Bowley's father, James Wil ...

. In 1935 he was a research assistant with

Lancelot Hogben Lancelot Thomas Hogben FRS FRSE (9 December 1895 – 22 August 1975) was a British experimental zoologist and medical statistician. He developed the African clawed frog ''(Xenopus laevis)'' as a model organism for biological research in his ear ...

in the department of Social Biology at the LSE. At this time he came into contact with R. R. Kuczynski. After Hogben's departure and the closing of the department in 1937, he was heavily involved in founding the

Population Investigation Committee The Population Investigation Committee is a United Kingdom social research group founded in 1936 by the council of the British Eugenics Society. Its original members included David V. Glass, Griselda Rowntree and J.W.B. Douglas. Since the secon ...

(PIC). In 1948 he became professor.Archives.lse.ac.uk
/ref> and from 1961–1978 he was Martin White Professor of Sociology at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. Glass was succeeded in the role by Donald Gunn MacRae. He died in 1978 from a coronary thrombosis and was survived by his wife

Ruth Glass Ruth Glass (born Ruth Adele Lazarus, 1912–1990) was a German-born British sociologist, urban planner and founder (in 1958) of the Centre for Urban Studies at University College London (UCL). Life She was born in Berlin on 30 June 1912, the da ...

, the urban sociologist.

Positions held

* Chairman, Population Investigation Committee * President, British Society for Population Studies * Honorary President, International Union for Scientific Study of Population * Member,

International Statistical Institute The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is a professional association of statisticians. It was founded in 1885, although there had been international statistical congresses since 1853. The institute has about 4,000 elected members from gov ...

* FBA, 1964 * FRS, 1971 * Foreign Honorary Member,

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

, 1971 * Foreign Associate,

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

(USA), 1973

Publications

* The Town in a Changing World, 1935 * The Struggle for Population, 1936 * Population Policies and Movements in Europe, 1940 * (ed) Introduction to Malthus, 1953 * (ed) Social Mobility in Britain, 1954 * (with

Eugene Grebenik Eugene Grebenik ( uk, Євген Гребеник; 20 July 1919 – 14 October 2001), known as "Grebby", was a Soviet-born British civil servant who was a central figure in the development of demography in Britain. He was the first director of t ...

) The Trend and Pattern of Fertility in Great Britain, 1954 * (ed) The University Teaching of Social Sciences: Demography, 1957 * Latin American Seminar on Population: Report, 1958 * Society: Approaches and Problems for Study, 1962 (co-ed) * Differential Fertility, Ability and Educational Objectives, 1962 * (ed jtly), Population in History, 1965 * (ed jtly) Population and Social Change, 1972 * Numbering the People, 1973 * (with P. Taylor) Population and Emigration, 1976 He was an editor of the journals '' Population Studies'' and '' British Journal of Sociology''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glass, David 1978 deaths Alumni of the London School of Economics British Jews English statisticians Jewish scientists Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the British Academy Academics of the London School of Economics British sociologists Jewish sociologists 1911 births Deaths from coronary thrombosis People educated at Raine's Foundation School Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences

Life

Positions held

Publications

See also

References