Dorothy Swaine Thomas (October 24, 1899 – May 1, 1977) was an American
sociologist and economist. She was the 42nd President of the
American Sociological Association, the first woman in that role.
Life and career
Thomas was born on October 24, 1899, in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, Maryland to John Knight and Sarah Swaine Thomas.
Thomas earned a B.A. from
Barnard College
Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...
in 1922. She earned a PhD from the
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...
in 1924. For her work there she received the Hutchinson Research Medal.
Between 1924 and 1948, Thomas held research and teaching positions at various institutions in the United States and Europe, including at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
,
Columbia Teachers College
Teachers College, Columbia University (TC), is the graduate school of education, health, and psychology of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, it has served as one of the official faculties and ...
, the
Federal Reserve Bank in New York and the Institute of Social Science at the
University of Stockholm
Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, soci ...
.
Together with
William I. Thomas, she wrote the 1928 book ''The Child in America''. In it they formulated the
Thomas theorem
The Thomas theorem is a theory of sociology which was formulated in 1928 by William Isaac Thomas and Dorothy Swaine Thomas:
In other words, the interpretation of a situation causes the action. This interpretation is not objective. Actions are a ...
, a sociological theory. She married William I. Thomas in 1935.
From 1948, she worked at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
,
Wharton School
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in P ...
, first as the first professor of the Institute in sociological research, later as a co-director or director of various institutions, in particular the Population Studies Center. Her students there included
Ann R. Miller, also associated for many years with the Population Studies Center.
Thomas' main field of research was population growth, in particular the statistical side thereof. She wrote a multi-volume work with
Simon Kuznets on the development of population and economy of the United States.
In 1942, she was elected as a
Fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
of the
American Statistical Association
The American Statistical Association (ASA) is the main professional organization for statisticians and related professionals in the United States. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts on November 27, 1839, and is the second oldest continuousl ...
.
In 1948, she was elected as a member to the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
.
In 1958–59, she was president of the
Population Association of America
The Population Association of America (PAA) is a non-profit scientific professional association dedicated to the study of issues related to population and demography. The PAA was established by Henry Pratt Fairchild and Frederick Osborn, with fu ...
.
After her retirement in 1970, she received an honorary doctorate from the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
.
Thomas died on May 1, 1977, in
Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...
.
Works
*William I. Thomas, Dorothy S. Thomas, ''The Child in America'', Knopf, New York 1928
*Dorothy S. Thomas, Simon Kuznets,
Hope T. Eldridge, Everett S. Lee, ''Population Redistribution and Economic Growth: United States, 1870–1950'', 3 vols, Philadelphia 1957–1964
*Dorothy Swaine Thomas, ''Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement: The Salvage'', with Charles Kikuchi & James Sakoda (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1952), .
References
Sources
* & (eds.), ''Frauen in der Soziologie: Neun Portraits'', Beck’sche Reihe, No. 1198 (Munich: Beck, 1998). .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Dorothy Swaine
1899 births
1977 deaths
Columbia University faculty
Alumni of the London School of Economics
American sociologists
Barnard College alumni
Fellows of the American Statistical Association
American women sociologists
Women statisticians
American statisticians
Demographers by nationality
20th-century American women
20th-century American people