Lynd, Robert Staughton
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Robert Staughton Lynd (September 26, 1892 – November 1, 1970) was an American sociologist and professor at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
,
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. He is best known for conducting the first
Middletown studies The Middletown studies were sociological case studies of the white residents of the city of Muncie in Indiana initially conducted by Robert Staughton Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd, husband-and-wife sociologists. The Lynds' findings were detailed in ...
of
Muncie, Indiana Muncie ( ) is an incorporated city and the county seat, seat of Delaware County, Indiana, Delaware County, Indiana. Previously known as Buckongahelas Town, named after the legendary Delaware Chief.http://www.delawarecountyhistory.org/history/docs ...
, with his wife,
Helen Lynd Helen Merrell Lynd (March 17, 1896 – January 30, 1982) was an American sociologist, social philosopher, educator, and author. She is best known for conducting the first Middletown studies of Muncie, Indiana, with her husband, Robert Staughto ...
; as the coauthor of ''Middletown: A Study in Contemporary American Culture'' (1929) and ''Middletown in Transition: A Study in Cultural Conflicts'' (1937); and a pioneer in the use of social surveys. He was also the author of ''Knowledge for What? The Place of the Social Sciences in American Culture'' (1939). In addition to writing and research, Lynd taught at Columbia from 1931 to 1960. He also served on U.S government committees and advisory boards, including
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Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...
's Research Committee on Social Trends and President
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
's Consumers' Advisory Board of the
National Recovery Administration The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was a prime agency established by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in 1933. The goal of the administration was to eliminate "cut throat competition" by bringing industry, labor, and governmen ...
. Lynd was also a member of several scientific societies.


Early life and education

Robert Staughton Lynd was born in
New Albany, Indiana New Albany is a city in Floyd County, Indiana, United States, situated along the Ohio River, opposite Louisville, Kentucky. The population was 37,841 as of the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of Floyd County. It is bounded by I-265 t ...
, on September 26, 1892, to Staughton and Cornelia Day Lynd. Robert Lynd received a
Bachelor of Arts 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 years ...
degree from
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
1914."Biographical Notes" in In the years 1919, 1920, 1921, and 1933 he attended classes at the
New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSSR ...
. From September 1920 to 1923 Lynd attended the Union Theological Seminary in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, where he received a
Bachelor of Divinity In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD or BDiv; la, Baccalaureus Divinitatis) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology ...
degree in 1923. Lynd received a
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 a ...
in
sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
from
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in 1931 using an abridged version of ''Middletown'' as his dissertation.Part 1 of 14 in


Marriage and family

Robert Lynd met Helen Merrell while hiking
Mount Washington Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River. The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934, ...
in
New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
. They married in 1921. Helen Lynd died on January 30, 1982.Gugin and St. Clair, eds., pp. 216 and 218. The Lynds had two children, a son,
Staughton Lynd Staughton Craig Lynd (November 22, 1929 – November 17, 2022) was an American political activist, author, and lawyer.Staughton Lynd, ''Living Inside Our Hope: A Steadfast Radical's Thoughts on Rebuilding the Movement,'' Cornell University Pres ...
, who became a lawyer,
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
, and social justice
activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...
, and a daughter, Andrea Merrell (Lynd) Nold.


Career


Early years

In 1914 Lynd began working as an assistant editor at ''
Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...
'' in New York City, before leaving in 1918 to serve in the U.S. Army Field Artillery during
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.Hoover, p. 3.Gugin and St. Clair, eds., p. 216. After the war Lynd was an advertising and publicity manager at
Charles Scribner's Sons Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan Rawli ...
for about a year, then began work in 1920 as an assistant publisher for B. W. Huebsch, Inc. and joined the staff of the ''Freeman''. In 1921 Lynd was a divinity student at Union Theological Seminary, and for a summer he work as a church missionary in
Elk Basin Elk Basin is a valley on the border of Montana and Wyoming in the United States. It is an active oil field with hundreds of derricks operating in it. Geologically, it is a breached anticline formed by a deep subsurface thrust fault. Most of t ...
,
Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
, the site of several oil camps. Afterwards Lynd wrote "Done in Oil," an exposé critical of the conditions in the camps. The essay and his community work brought Lynd to the attention of the Rockefeller family. (
John D. Rockefeller Jr. John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960) was an American financier and philanthropist, and the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. He was involved in the development of the vast office complex in ...
tried unsuccessfully to block publication of the essay, but held no grudge against Lynd for writing it.) In 1923 Rockefeller agreed to let the Institute of Social and Religious Research hire Lynd as a director for its Small City Study. Lynd served as the director of the Institute's study, which Rockefeller funded, from 1923 to 1926. Lynd's wife, Helen, joined the project that became better known as the
Middletown studies The Middletown studies were sociological case studies of the white residents of the city of Muncie in Indiana initially conducted by Robert Staughton Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd, husband-and-wife sociologists. The Lynds' findings were detailed in ...
as a coinvestigator.


First Middletown study

In 1924 Robert and Helen Lynd moved to
Muncie, Indiana Muncie ( ) is an incorporated city and the county seat, seat of Delaware County, Indiana, Delaware County, Indiana. Previously known as Buckongahelas Town, named after the legendary Delaware Chief.http://www.delawarecountyhistory.org/history/docs ...
, to begin an eighteen-month study of daily life in this
Midwestern The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
community. The Lynds and their three-person staff primarily observed the social lives of the city's inhabitants. The study compared life in Muncie in 1890 to Muncie in 1924, with the goal of measuring the effects of the
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
on American life. The Lynds coauthored ''Middletown: A Study in Contemporary American Culture'' (1929) describing the details of their research in Muncie. (archived version) It was the first sociological study of an American community and a classic work in the field. ''Middletown'' was an immediate success, receiving positive reviews in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and ''
New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...
'', and launched the academic career of both Robert and Helen Lynd.Gugin and St. Clair, pp. 217–18.Hoover, p. 7. Reviewers "praised its careful research and its scientific character," but the book's popularity was due to the coauthors' explanations of American life. Not all the reviews were positive. The book was strongly criticized for its failure to include a variety of racial and ethnic experiences. Instead, the Lynds focused on the city's white and predominantly
Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
community.


Researcher and professor

In 1926 Lynd became assistant director of the Division of Educational Research at the Commonwealth Fund, then joined the
Social Science Research Council The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is a US-based, independent, international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing research in the social sciences and related disciplines. Established in Manhattan in 1923, it today maintains a he ...
in 1927 as a research supervisor and assistant to the chairman. He spent another four years, 1928 to 1931, as the Council's secretary.Hoover, p. 10. In 1931 Lynd accepted a tenure-track position as Professor of Sociology at Columbia University, a position he held until 1960. While teaching at Columbia, Lynd began but never completed sociological studies concerning the impact that the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
had on segments of the population in
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
,
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, and in Montclair, New Jersey.


Second Middletown study

Lynd returned to Muncie, Indiana, during the summer of 1935 to make additional observations of the city and to update earlier research. After returning to New York, Robert and Helen Lynd coauthored ''Middletown in Transition'' (1937). The sequel to their earlier work was more theoretical and not as popular among readers as ''Middletown''. The sequel concluded that the community's values and attitudes had not changed much since their earlier research. The tone of the second book was also more critical than the first. Although the Lynds considered a third volume on Middletown, their plans were never realized. After the publication of two books on the Middletown studies, Lynd resumed his academic career as a social scientist and professor at Columbia University. He also resumed writing, which included ''Knowledge for What? The Place of Social Science in American Culture'' (1939). In addition to teaching at the university, Lynd served on U.S government committees and advisory boards, including
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...
's Research Committee on Social Trends and President
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
's Consumers' Advisory Board of the
National Recovery Administration The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was a prime agency established by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in 1933. The goal of the administration was to eliminate "cut throat competition" by bringing industry, labor, and governmen ...
. Lynd became a member of the advisory board's executive committee in 1935. He was also a member of a number of scientific societies in the field of sociological anthropology and economics, such as the AAAS, the American Social Society, American Statistics Society, and American Economics Association.


Potential Communist affiliations

During the
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era of the late 1940s and early 1950s, Robert and Helen Lynd were the subjects of U.S. government investigations for alleged involvement in the
Communist party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
. Several individuals who were interviewed in 1942 in connection with Robert Lynd's initial case believed that his political views were "extremely liberal," but they did not believe that he was a party member.


Later years

Lynd continued to write in his later years, including two published essays, "Power in the United States" (1956), and "Power in American Society as Resource and Problem" (1957).Hoover, p. 16. He retired from teaching at Columbia University in 1960.


Death and legacy

Lynd died at
Warren, Connecticut Warren is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,351 at the 2020 census. The town was named for Revolutionary War General Joseph Warren. On July 1, 2006, businessman Joseph Cicio placed most of Warren's com ...
, on November 1, 1970, at the age of seventy-eight. Robert and
Helen Lynd Helen Merrell Lynd (March 17, 1896 – January 30, 1982) was an American sociologist, social philosopher, educator, and author. She is best known for conducting the first Middletown studies of Muncie, Indiana, with her husband, Robert Staughto ...
are best known for their research and descriptions of small-town life during the groundbreaking "
Middletown studies The Middletown studies were sociological case studies of the white residents of the city of Muncie in Indiana initially conducted by Robert Staughton Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd, husband-and-wife sociologists. The Lynds' findings were detailed in ...
of
Muncie, Indiana Muncie ( ) is an incorporated city and the county seat, seat of Delaware County, Indiana, Delaware County, Indiana. Previously known as Buckongahelas Town, named after the legendary Delaware Chief.http://www.delawarecountyhistory.org/history/docs ...
, the first systematical, sociological study of a community in the United States. The Lynds were also pioneers in the use of social surveys in their research. Their detailed observations were documented in two books they coauthored, ''Middletown: A Study in Contemporary American Culture'' (1929) and ''Middletown in Transition'' (1937). Both book became classics of American
sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
. The Lynds' pioneering sociological work began a legacy of continued studies of Muncie, including the establishment of the Center for Middletown Studies in 1980. (The Center became affiliated with
Ball State University Ball State University (Ball State, State or BSU) is a public university, public research university in Muncie, Indiana. It has two satellite facilities in Fishers, Indiana, Fishers and Indianapolis. On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, indust ...
in 1984.) Beginning with
Frederick Lewis Allen Frederick Lewis Allen (July 5, 1890 – February 13, 1954) was the editor of ''Harper's Magazine'' and also notable as an American historian of the first half of the twentieth century. His specialty was writing about recent and popular histo ...
in the 1930s, scholars have followed the Lynds' efforts, producing "hundreds of books, articles, and films examining life in one small city in Indiana" with the hope that their studies provide a "better understanding of modern American life." Subsequent Middletown studies resulted in the publication of additional books, most notably ''Middletown Families'' (1982) and ''All Faithful People'' (1983). Other studies were filmed: the six-part documentary, ''Middletown'', that aired on
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
in 1982, and ''The First Measured Century'', first broadcast on PBS in 2000. A seventh part of ''Middletown'', "Seventeen" (1982), was judged too controversial to broadcast, as it focused on the world of high school seniors, portraying changing mores, language and sexuality. It was later released on the independent circuit and widely praised.


Lynd's thought

''In Knowledge for What?'' , he argues that American culture holds outstanding and contradictory assumptions such as women being both "the finest of God's creatures" while also considered inferior to men in term of reasoning power.


Selected published works

* "Crude Oil Religion" (''Harpers'', 1922) * "Done in Oil" (''Survey'', 1922) * ''Middletown: A Study in Contemporary American Culture'' (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1929), coauthored with Helen Lynd * "The Consumer Becomes a 'Problem'" (''Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science,'' 1934) * ''Middletown in Transition'' (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1937), coauthored with Helen Lynd *''Knowledge for What? The Place of the Social Sciences in American Culture'' (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1939) * "Power in the United States" (''The Nation'', May 12, 1956)Hoover, p. 16. * "Power in American Society as Resource and Problem" in Arthur W. Kornhauser, eds., ''Problems of Power in American Society'' (Detroit, Wayne State University Press, 1957)


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


"Series 1 - Robert & Helen Lynd"
Staughton Lynd Collection,
Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in As ...

Center for Middletown Studies
Ball State University Ball State University (Ball State, State or BSU) is a public university, public research university in Muncie, Indiana. It has two satellite facilities in Fishers, Indiana, Fishers and Indianapolis. On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, indust ...

Robert Staughton Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd Papers
finding aid,
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
,
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

"Subject: Robert S Lynd" file
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
, Washington, D.C. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lynd, Robert Staughton American sociologists People from New Albany, Indiana Lynd family 1892 births 1970 deaths Deaths in Connecticut Columbia University faculty Columbia University alumni Princeton University alumni Union Theological Seminary (New York City) alumni