Robert Alexander Nisbet (; September 30, 1913 – September 9, 1996) was an American
sociologist, a professor 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 ...
,
Vice-Chancellor
A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system.
In most Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and former Commonwealth n ...
at the
University of California, Riverside
The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...
, and an Albert Schweitzer 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 ...
.
Life
Nisbet was born in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
in 1913. He was raised with his three brothers and one sister
[ Woods, Thomas (2005-12-05]
Twilight of Conservatism
, ''The American Conservative
''The American Conservative'' (''TAC'') is a magazine published by the American Ideas Institute which was founded in 2002. Originally published twice a month, it was reduced to monthly publication in August 2009, and since February 2013, it has ...
'' in the small California community of
Maricopa
Maricopa can refer to:
Places
* Maricopa, Arizona, United States, a city
** Maricopa Freeway, a piece of I-10 in Metropolitan Phoenix
** Maricopa station, an Amtrak station in Maricopa, Arizona
* Maricopa County, Arizona, United States
* Marico ...
,
[McWilliams, Susan (2010-02-01]
"Hometown Hero"
''The American Conservative
''The American Conservative'' (''TAC'') is a magazine published by the American Ideas Institute which was founded in 2002. Originally published twice a month, it was reduced to monthly publication in August 2009, and since February 2013, it has ...
'' where his father managed a lumber yard. His studies at
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 ...
culminated in 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 ...
in 1939. His thesis was supervised by
Frederick J. Teggart. At Berkeley, "Nisbet found a powerful defense of intermediate institutions in the conservative thought of 19th-century Europe. Nisbet saw in thinkers like
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_ NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style"> ...
and
Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (; 29 July 180516 April 1859), colloquially known as Tocqueville (), was a French aristocrat, diplomat, political scientist, political philosopher and historian. He is best known for his works ...
—then all but unknown in American scholarship—an argument on behalf of what he called 'conservative pluralism.'"
[ He joined the faculty there in 1939.][
After serving in the ]United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
during 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 ...
, when he was stationed on Saipan in the Pacific Theatre, Nisbet founded the Department of Sociology at Berkeley, and was briefly Chairman. Nisbet left an embroiled Berkeley in 1953 to become a dean
Dean may refer to:
People
* Dean (given name)
* Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin
* Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk
* Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean
Titles
* ...
at the University of California, Riverside
The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...
, and later a Vice-Chancellor
A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system.
In most Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and former Commonwealth n ...
. Nisbet remained in the University of California system until 1972, when he left for the University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory.
T ...
at Tucson
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
, image_map =
, mapsize = 260px
, map_caption = Interactive map ...
. Soon after, he was appointed to the Albert Schweitzer
Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was an Alsatian-German/French polymath. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. A Lutheran minister, Schwei ...
Chair at Columbia. He was elected to the 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 ...
in 1972 and 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 1973.
On retiring from Columbia in 1978, Nisbet continued his scholarly work for eight years at the American Enterprise Institute
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, known simply as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), is a center-right Washington, D.C.–based think tank that researches government, politics, economics, and social welfare. ...
in 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, ...
In 1988, President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
asked him to deliver the Jefferson Lecture
The Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities is an honorary lecture series established in 1972 by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). According to the NEH, the Lecture is "the highest honor the federal government confers for distinguished ...
in Humanities, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
. He died, at 82, in Washington, DC.
Ideas
Nisbet's first important work, ''The Quest for Community'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 953
Year 953 ( CMLIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Battle of Marash: Emir Sayf al-Dawla marches north into the Byzantine Empire an ...
1969), claimed that modern social science's individualism denied an important human drive toward community as it left people without the aid of their fellows to combat the centralizing power of the nation-state. ''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 d ...
'' columnist Ross Douthat
Ross Gregory Douthat (born 1979) is an American political analyst, blogger, author and ''New York Times'' columnist. He was a senior editor of ''The Atlantic''. He has written on a variety of topics, including the state of Christianity in Americ ...
called it "arguably the 20th century's most important work of conservative sociology."
Nisbet began his career as a leftist but later confessed a conversion to a philosophical conservatism. While he consistently described himself as a conservative, he also "famously defended abortion rights
and publicly attacked the foreign policy of President Ronald Reagan."
He was a contributor to ''Chronicles
Chronicles may refer to:
* ''Books of Chronicles'', in the Bible
* Chronicle, chronological histories
* ''The Chronicles of Narnia'', a novel series by C. S. Lewis
* ''Holinshed's Chronicles'', the collected works of Raphael Holinshed
* ''The Idhu ...
''. He was especially concerned with tracing the history and impact of the Idea of Progress
Progress is the movement towards a refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. In the context of progressivism, it refers to the proposition that advancements in technology, science, and social organization have resulted, and by extension wi ...
. He challenged conventional sociological theories about progress and modernity, insisting on the negative consequences of the loss of traditional forms of community, a process that he believed was greatly accelerated by 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 ...
. According to British sociologist Daniel Chernilo, for Nisbet, "The sociological interest in the formation of modern society lies in whether and how it can re-invigorate forms of communal life and, if not, in understanding what will be the consequences of such failure." Nisbet, thus, "inverts what had been until then the mainstream proposition that society was more important, both historically and normatively, than community." Chernilo also critically observed that Nisbet's "argument on the Great War orld War Ithat marks the transition from community to society offers a one-sided view of the historical process as moving unequivocally towards a decaying condition."[Chernilo, “Social Change,” 329.]
Bibliography
Books
* 1953.
The Quest for Community: A Study in the Ethics of Order and Freedom
'
* 1966.
The Sociological Tradition
'
* 1968. ''Tradition and Revolt: Historical and Sociological Essays''
* 1969. ''Social Change and History: Aspects of the Western Theory of Development''
* 1970. ''The Social Bond: An Introduction to the Study of Society''
* 1971. ''The Degradation of the Academic Dogma: The University in America, 1945–1970''
* 1976. ''Sociology as an Art Form''
* 1973. ''The Social Philosophers: Community and Conflict in Western Thought''
* 1974. ''The Sociology of Emile Durkheim''
* 1975. ''The Twilight of Authority''
* 1980. ''History of the Idea of Progress''
* 1983. ''Prejudices: A Philosophical Dictionary''
* 1986. ''The Making of Modern Society''
* 1986. ''Conservatism: Dream and Reality''
* 1988 ''The Present Age''
* 1988. ''Roosevelt and Stalin: The Failed Courtship''
* 1992. ''Teachers and Scholars: A Memoir of Berkeley in Depression and War''
Articles
"Foreign Policy and the American Mind"
''Commentary'' (September 1961, pp. 194–203).
*
"The New Despotism"
''Commentary'' (July 1976).
*
*
*
*
"Was There an American Revolution?,"
''The American Conservative,'' August 3, 2012.
"social science,"
''Britannica Academic.'' (Primary Contributor)
References
Further reading
* Carey, George W., July 2010
, ''The Imaginative Conservative
''The Imaginative Conservative'' (''TIC'') is an online traditionalist conservative journal published in the United States, founded in 2010.
History
The co-founders of ''TIC'' were Bradley J. Birzer, the holder of the Russell Amos Kirk chair in A ...
''
* Church, Mike, 2012
"Robert Nisbet and the Rise of the Machines,"
''The Imaginative Conservative.''
* Elliott, Winston, III, 2010
, ''The Imaginative Conservative'' (blog).
* Gordon, Daniel. "The Voice of History within Sociology: Robert Nisbet on Structure, Change, and Autonomy," ''Historical Reflections'' (2012) 38#1 pp. 43–63
* Hill, Fred Donovan, 1978
"Robert Nisbet and the Idea of Community,"
''The University Bookman,'' Volume 18, Number 3.
* Mancini, Matthew J
''Journal of the History of Ideas'', Volume 69, Number 2, April 2008, pp. 245–268.
* McWilliams, Susan
Hometown Hero: Robert Nisbet’s conservatism of community against the state
, ''The American Conservative
''The American Conservative'' (''TAC'') is a magazine published by the American Ideas Institute which was founded in 2002. Originally published twice a month, it was reduced to monthly publication in August 2009, and since February 2013, it has ...
'' (Feb. 1, 2010)
* Nagel, Robert F., 2004, "States and Localities: A Comment on Robert Nisbet's Communitarianism," ''Publius,'' Vol. 34, No. 4.
*
* Schrum, Ethan.
The Instrumental University: Education in Service of the National Agenda after World War II
'. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2019.
* Stone, Brad Lowell, 1998 (Spring)
"A True Sociologist: Robert Nisbet"
''The Intercollegiate Review'': 38–42.
*
* Stromberg, Joseph, 2000
"The Under-Appreciated Robert Nisbet"
antiwar.com
* Thomas, Robert McG.
"Robert Nisbet, 82, Sociologist And Conservative Champion"
''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 ...
'', September 12, 1996.
* Wolfe, Alan, 2010,
Remembering Alienation
" ''New Republic.''
External links
Works by Robert Nisbet
at JSTOR
*
Robert Nisbet and Our Continuing Quest for Community
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nisbet, Robert
1913 births
1996 deaths
American Enterprise Institute
American sociologists
Columbia University faculty
People from Los Angeles
People from Maricopa, California
University of California, Riverside faculty
University of California, Berkeley faculty
University of California, Berkeley alumni
United States Army personnel of World War II
Members of the American Philosophical Society