Frederick B. Lindstrom (June 8, 1915 – January 8, 1998) was an American sociologist specializing in

popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...

and

demography Demography () is the statistics, statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and Population dynamics, dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups ...

who spent over four decades, starting in 1953, as professor (later professor emeritus) of sociology at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

. A

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

native, Lindstrom was born in the town of

Palmer Palmer may refer to: People and fictional characters * Palmer (pilgrim), a medieval European pilgrim to the Holy Land * Palmer (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Palmer (surname), including a list of people and ...

, located within the Springfield metropolitan area. His family background was mixed, including Swedish, German-Jewish, and other European forebears; he received a

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

upbringing. He attended the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, receiving his

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in 1938 and A.M. in 1941. Following service in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he returned to the University on the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

, earning his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in 1950. After teaching for three years at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

, he relocated to Arizona, where he chaired the ASU Department of Sociology for a record number of years. He also served multiple terms as Secretary-Treasurer of the Pacific Sociological Association (PSA). Lindstrom was considered to incarnate the outlook and practices of the Chicago school, of which he was a historian, contributing to the special issue of the journal ''Sociological Perspectives'' (Vol. 31, No. 3, July 1988) entitled ''Waving the Flag for Old Chicago''. With his wife, Laura Johnson, and Ronald A. Hardert, he edited the 1995 book ''Kimball Young on Sociology in Transition, 1912–1968''. As a student of

, he maintained an extensive collection of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

records, ranging from 78s to CDs, and frequently offered a course entitled ''The Sociology of Jazz and Blues''. His official area of specialization, however, was

. Before serving in the war, he had specialized in literature—after his change of academic field, he was involved with sociology of the arts and the teaching of sociology through literature. In 1994 he received a distinguished service award from ASU's College of Liberal Arts. Frederick B. Lindstrom died at the age of 82. He and his wife Laura were the parents of three children—two sons and daughter

Naomi Naomi or Naomie may refer to: People and biblical figures * Naomi (given name), a female given name and a list of people with the name * Naomi (biblical figure), Ruth's mother-in-law in the Old Testament Book of Ruth * Naomi (Romanian singer) (bor ...

, a literary critic specializing in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

, with whom he co-authored conference papers and articles.

External links

Frederick B. Lindstrom in memoriam notice (April 1998 issue of the ''University of Chicago Magazine'')
American sociologists American demographers University of Chicago alumni Arizona State University faculty American agnostics Collectors People from Tempe, Arizona American people of Swedish descent American people of German-Jewish descent People from Palmer, Massachusetts 1915 births 1998 deaths Place of death missing {{sociologist-stub