Joseph Berger (born April 3, 1924) is an American sociologist and social psychologist best known for co-founding

expectation states theory Expectation states theory is a social psychological theory first proposed by Joseph Berger and his colleagues that explains how expected competence forms the basis for status hierarchies in small groups. The theory's best known branch, status cha ...

. Expectation states theory explains how individuals use social information about one another (such as race, gender, or specific skills) to create informal status hierarchies in small groups. Researchers have used this program to develop interventions that counteract the disadvantages faced most notably by black students in the classroom and women leaders in the workplace. Social scientists have also applied this work to study hiring bias against mothers and discrimination against loan applicants among other topics. Berger used expectation states theory as an exemplar of formal (or axiomatic) theory construction, for whose wider adoption among sociologists he advocated. Formal theories are logically related sets of statements from which a scientist can logically deduce hypotheses (e.g., if A → B and B → C, then A → C). Formal theorists then lay out the precise conditions under which their predictions do and do not apply. This contrasts with the norm in sociological theorizing, which is less explicit in its definitions, predictions, and scope. He is currently a

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

and a senior fellow at the

Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; abbreviated as Hoover) is an American public policy think tank and research institution that promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, and ...

Biography

A native of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, he was educated at Thomas Jefferson High School and

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

. After earning his

doctoral degree A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

in sociology at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in the 1950s, where he had been taught by Talcott Parsons, he established a theoretical and experimental research program at Stanford. The program,

, has many branches and through his mentorship of generations of

graduate student Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and stru ...

s, this program has been a unique example of the growth of knowledge in sociology through chains of theory development accompanied by experimental tests and refinements. His expertise is in the area of status processes and status relations among members of different groups, processes of legitimation, reward expectations and

distributive justice Distributive justice concerns the socially just allocation of resources. Often contrasted with just process, which is concerned with the administration of law, distributive justice concentrates on outcomes. This subject has been given considera ...

, and theory construction in the behavioral sciences. His current research focuses on gender relations in interpersonal settings, status characteristics theory, and cumulative theory in

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soc ...

. Berger, along with collaborators, has edited a large number of books to which invited scholars have contributed papers that elaborate upon one or another " sociological theory in progress." Berger is a recipient of the Cooley-Mead Award from the

American Sociological Association The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fif ...

to honor long-term distinguished contributions to the intellectual and scientific advancement of

social psychology Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the r ...

. In 2007, he received the

W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in ...

Award for his contributions to the field of sociology.

Bibliography

Books *''Types of Formalization in Small Group Research,'' 1962, by Joseph Berger, Bernard P. Cohen, J. Laurie Snell, and Morris Zelditch Jr. *''Status Characteristics and Social Interaction: An Expectation States Approach,'' 1977, by Joseph Berger, M. Hamit Fisek, Robert Z. Norman, and Morris Zelditch Jr. Edited Volumes *''Sociological Theories in Progress,'' Vol. I, 1966, edited by Joseph Berger, Morris Zelditch Jr., and Bo Anderson *''Sociological Theories in Progress,'' Vol. II, 1972, edited by Joseph Berger, Morris Zelditch Jr., and Bo Anderson *''Expectation States Theory: A Theoretical Research Program,'' 1974, edited by Joseph Berger, Thomas L. Conner, and M. Hamit Fisek *''Status, Rewards, and Influence: How Expectations Organize Behavior,'' 1985, edited by Joseph Berger and Morris Zelditch Jr. *''Sociological Theories in Progress, New Formulations,'' 1989, edited by Joseph Berger, Morris Zelditch Jr., and Bo Anderson *''Theoretical Research Programs: Studies in the Growth of Theory,'' 1993, edited by Joseph Berger and Morris Zelditch Jr. *''Status, Power, and Legitimacy: Strategies and Theories,'' 1998, edited by Joseph Berger and Morris Zelditch Jr. *''New Directions in Contemporary Sociological Theory,'' 2002, edited by Joseph Berger and Morris Zelditch Jr.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, Joseph 1924 births Living people American sociologists Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Thomas Jefferson High School (Brooklyn) alumni Brooklyn College alumni