Edward Alsworth Ross (December 12, 1866 – July 22, 1951) was a progressive American sociologist,

eugenicist Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...

, economist, and major figure of early criminology.

Early life

He was born in

Virden, Illinois Virden is a city in Macoupin and Sangamon counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The population was 3,425 at the 2010 census, and 3,354 at a 2018 estimate. The Macoupin County portion of Virden is part of the St. Louis, Missouri–Illinois ...

. His father was a farmer. He attended

Coe College Coe College is a private liberal arts college in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was founded in 1851 and is historically affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). The college is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest and the Associatio ...

and graduated in 1887. After two years as an instructor at a business school, the Fort Dodge Commercial Institute, he went to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

for graduate study at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

. He returned to the U.S., and in 1891 he received his PhD from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

in political economy under

Richard T. Ely Richard Theodore Ely (April 13, 1854 – October 4, 1943) was an American economist, author, and leader of the Progressive movement who called for more government intervention to reform what they perceived as the injustices of capitalism, especial ...

, with minors in philosophy and ethics.Encyclopedia of World Biography on Edward Alsworth Ross
/ref> Ross was a professor at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

(1891–1892), secretary of the American Economic Association (1892), professor at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

(1892–1893), and professor at Stanford University (1893–1900). He was then a professor at University of Nebraska (1900-1904) and University of Wisconsin-Madison (1905-1937). In the field of economics, he made contributions to the study of taxation, debt management, value theory, uncertainty, and location theory.

Ross affair and departure from Stanford

In Stanford's "first academic freedom controversy", Ross was fired from Stanford because of his political views on eugenics. He objected to Chinese immigrant labor (on both economic and racial grounds: he was an early supporter of the "

race suicide Race suicide was an alarmist term used in eugenics, coined in 1900 by the sociologist Edward A. Ross. Racial suicide rhetoric suggested a differential birth rate between native-born Protestant and immigrant Catholic women, or more generally betw ...

" doctrine and expressed his wish to restrict entry of other races in strong and crude language in public speeches) and Japanese immigration altogether. In the speech that was the catalyst for his potential firing and ultimate resignation, he was quoted as declaring, "And should the worst come to the worst it would be better for us if we were to turn our guns upon every vessel bringing Japanese to our shores rather than to permit them to land." In response,

Jane Stanford Jane Elizabeth Lathrop Stanford (August 25, 1828 – February 28, 1905) was an American philanthropist, co-founder of Stanford University in 1885 (opened 1891) along with her husband, Leland Stanford, as a memorial to their only child, Leland ...

called for his resignation. In Ross' public statement as to his resignation, he wrote that his friend David Starr Jordan had asked him to make the speech. Jordan managed to keep Ross from being fired, but Ross resigned shortly after. The position was at odds with the university's founding family, the Stanfords, who had made their fortune in Western rail construction, a major employer of

coolie A coolie (also spelled koelie, kuli, khuli, khulie, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a term for a low-wage labourer, typically of South Asian or East Asian descent. The word ''coolie'' was first popularized in the 16th century by European traders acros ...

laborers. Ross had also made critical remarks about the railroad industry in his classes: "A railroad deal is a railroad steal." This was too much for

, Leland Stanford's widow, who was on the board of trustees of the university. Numerous professors at Stanford resigned after protests of his dismissal, sparking "a national debate... concerning the freedom of expression and control of universities by private interests." The

American Association of University Professors The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is an organization of professors and other academics in the United States. AAUP membership includes over 500 local campus chapters and 39 state organizations. The AAUP's stated mission is ...

was founded largely in response to this incident.

Nebraska, Wisconsin, and later life

Ross left for the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

, where he taught until 1905. In 1906, he moved to the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

, where he became Professor of Sociology, and eventually chairman of the department. He retired in 1937. His understanding of

Americanization Americanization or Americanisation (see spelling differences) is the influence of American culture and business on other countries outside the United States of America, including their media, cuisine, business practices, popular culture, te ...

and assimilation bore a striking resemblance to that of another Wisconsin professor,

Frederick Jackson Turner Frederick Jackson Turner (November 14, 1861 – March 14, 1932) was an American historian during the early 20th century, based at the University of Wisconsin until 1910, and then Harvard University. He was known primarily for his frontier thes ...

. Like Turner, Ross believed that American identity was forged in the crucible of the wilderness. The 1890 census's proclamation that the frontier had disappeared, then, posed a significant threat to America's ability to assimilate the mass of immigrants who were arriving from southern and eastern Europe. In 1897, just four years after Turner had presented his frontier thesis to the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...

, Ross, then at Stanford, argued that the loss of the frontier destroyed the machinery of the melting pot process. In 1913, the State of Wisconsin passed its first sterilization law. Ross, who lived in Wisconsin at the time, was a reserved proponent of sterilization and indicated his support for the measure. He qualified his support by contrasting it with the greater harm of hanging a man and advocated its initial use "only to extreme cases, where the commitments and the record pile up an overwhelming case." Involuntary sterilization remained legal in Wisconsin until July 1978. Ross visited

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

after the

Bolshevik Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

in 1917. He endorsed the revolution even as he acknowledged its bloody origins. He was subsequently a leading advocate of US recognition of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. However, he later served on the

Dewey Commission The Dewey Commission (officially the "Commission of Inquiry into the Charges Made against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials") was initiated in March 1937 by the American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky. It was named after its chairman, th ...

, which cleared

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...

of the charges made against him by the Soviet government during the Moscow Trials.Dewey Commission Report
/ref> From 1900 to the 1920s, Ross supported the alcohol

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...

movement as well as continuing to support eugenics and immigration restriction.McMahon, Sean H. (1999). ''Social Control and Public Intellect: The Legacy of Edward A. Ross'', Transaction Publishers. By 1930, he had moved away from those views, however. In the 1930s, he was a supporter of the New Deal programs of President Franklin Roosevelt. In 1940, he became chairman of the national committee of the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

, serving until 1950. He died in 1951.

Works

''Honest Dollars''
Chicago: C. H. Kerr & Co., 1896.
''Social Control: A Survey of the Foundations of Order''
The Macmillan Company, 1901
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with a new introduction by Matthias Gross">ast reprint 2009 b

with a new introduction by Matthias Gross
''Foundations of Sociology''
The Macmillan Company, 1905. *
Sin and Society: An Analysis of Latter-Day Iniquity
' (with a letter from President Roosevelt), Houghton, Mifflin & Company, 1907. *
Social Psychology: An Outline and Source Book
', The Macmillan Company, 1908.
''Latter Day Sinners and Saints''
B. W. Huebsch, 1910. *
The Changing Chinese: The Conflict of Oriental and Western Cultures in China
', The Century Co., 1911.
''Changing America: Studies in Contemporary Society''
The Century Co., 1912.
''The Old World in the New: The Significance of Past and Present Immigration to the American People''
The Century Co., 1914. *
South of Panama
', The Century Co., 1915.
''Russia in Upheaval''
The Century Co., 1918. *
What is America?
', The Century Co., 1919.
''The Principles of Sociology''
The Century Co., 1920.
''The Russian Bolshevik Revolution''
The Century Co., 1921.
''The Social Trend''
The Century Co., 1922. * ''The Outlines of Sociology'', The Century Co., 1923. * ''The Russian Soviet Republic'', The Century Co., 1923. *
The Social Revolution in Mexico
', The Century Co., 1923.
''Changes in the Size of American Families in One Generation''
University of Wisconsin Studies, 1924 ith R. E. Baber * ''Roads to Social Peace'', The University of North Carolina Press, 1924.
''Civic Sociology: A Textbook in Social and Civic Problems for Young Americans''
World Book Company, 1926 st Pub. 1925 * ''Report on the Employment of Native Labor in Portuguese Africa'', Abbott Press, 1925. * ''Standing Room Only?'', The Century Co., 1927.
''World Drift''
The Century Co., 1928. * ''Tests and Challenges in Sociology'', The Century Co., 1931. * ''Seventy Years of It: An Autobiography'', D. Appleton-Century Company, 1936. *'' La libertad en el Mundo Moderno'', In: Letras (Lima), Vol. 2, Iss. 5, 1936. Doi: https://doi.org/10.30920/letras.2.5.3 * ''New-Age Sociology'', D. Appleton-Century Company, 1940.

Selected articles

"Sinking Funds,"
''Publications of the American Economic Association'', Vol. 7, No. 4/5, Jul./Sep. 1892.
"The Standard of Deferred Payments,"
''Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science'', Vol. 3, Nov. 1892.
"A New Canon of Taxation,"
''Political Science Quarterly'', Vol. 7, No. 4, Dec. 1892.
"Seligman's 'Shifting and Incidence of Taxation',"
''Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science'', Vol. 3, Jan. 1893.
"The Total Utility Standard of Deferred Payments,"
''Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science'', Vol. 4, Nov. 1893.
"The Unseen Foundations of Society,"
''Political Science Quarterly'', Vol. 8, No. 4, Dec. 1893.
"The Location of Industries,"
''The Quarterly Journal of Economics'', Vol. 10, No. 3, Apr. 1896.
"Uncertainty as a Factor in Production,"
''Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science'', Vol. 8, Sep. 1896.
"The Sociological Frontier of Economics,"
''The Quarterly Journal of Economics'', Vol. 13, No. 4, Jul. 1899.
"The Genesis of Ethical Elements,"
''American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 5, No. 6, May 1900.
"The Causes of Race Superiority,"
''Annals of the American Academy of Politics'', Vol. 18, Jul. 1901.
"Recent Tendencies in Sociology,"Part IIPart III
''The Quarterly Journal of Economics'', Vol. 16, No. 4, Aug. 1902; Vol. 17, No. 1, Nov. 1902; Vol. 17, No. 3, May 1903.
"Moot Points in Sociology,"Part IIPart IIIPart IVPart VPart VIPart VIIPart VIII
''American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 8, No. 6, May 1903; Vol. 9, No. 1, Jul. 1903; Vol. 9, No. 2, Sep. 1903; Vol. 9, No. 3, Nov. 1903; Vol. 9, No. 4, Jan. 1904; Vol. 9, No. 6, May 1904; Vol. 10, No. 1, Jul. 1904; Vol. 10, No. 2, Sep. 1904.
"The Present Problems of Social Psychology,"
''American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 10, No. 4, Jan. 1905.
"Western Civilization and the Birth-Rate,"
''Publications of the American Economic Association'', 3rd Series, Vol. 8, No. 1, Papers and Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Meeting, December 26–28, 1906, Feb. 1907.
"The Nature and Scope of Social Psychology,"
''American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 13, No. 5, Mar. 1908.
"Rational Imitation,"
''American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 13, No. 6, May 1908.
"The Significance of Increasing Divorce,"
''The Century Magazine'', Vol. LVI, May/October 1909. * "Christianity in China," ''The Century Magazine'', March 1911.
"Sociological Observations in Inner China,"
''American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 16, No. 6, May 1911.
"The Industrial Future of China,"
''The Century Magazine'', Vol. LXXXII, May/October 1911.
"The Struggle for Existence in China,"
''The Century Magazine'', Vol. LXXXII, May/October 1911. * "The Middle West," ''The Century Magazine'', February/April 1912. * "American and Immigrant Blood," ''The Century Magazine'', December 1913. * "Immigrant in Politics," ''The Century Magazine'', January 1914. * "Origins of the American People," ''The Century Magazine'', March 1914. * "The Celtic Tide," ''The Century Magazine'', April 1914.
"Philanthropy With Strings,"
''The Atlantic'', September 1, 1914.
"Folk Depletion as a Cause of Rural Decline,"
''Papers and Proceedings by American Sociological Society'', 1916.
"The National Spirit in Education,"
''Papers and Proceedings by American Sociological Society'', 1916.
"Acquisitive Mimicry,"
''American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 21, No. 4, Jan. 1916.
"The Principle of Anticipation,"
''American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 21, No. 5, Mar. 1916.
"The Organization of Effort,"
''American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 22, No. 1, Jul. 1916.
"The Organization of Will,"
''American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 22, No. 2, Sep. 1916.
"The Making of the Professions,"
''International Journal of Ethics'', Vol. 27, No. 1, Oct. 1916.
"The Organization of Thought,"
''American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 22, No. 3, Nov. 1916.
"Class and Caste,"Part IIPart IIIPart IV
''American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 22, No. 4, Jan. 1917; Vol. 22, No. 5, Mar. 1917; Vol. 22, No. 6, May 1917; Vol. 23, No. 1, Jul. 1917.
"Estrangement in Society,"
''American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 23, No. 3, Nov. 1917.
"Social Decadence,"
''American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 23, No. 5, Mar. 1918.
"The Roots of the Russian Revolution,"
''The Century Magazine'', Vol. XCV, November 1917/April 1918.
"Soil Hunger in Russia,"
''The Century Magazine'', Vol. XCV, November 1917/April 1918.
"The Principle of Balance,"
''American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 23, No. 6, May 1918.
"The Diseases of Social Structures,"
''American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 24, No. 2, Sep. 1918.
"Labor and Capital in Russia,"
''The Century Magazine'', Vol. XCVI, May/October 1918.
"Russian Women and their Outlook,"
''The Century Magazine'', Vol. XCVI, May/October 1918.
"The Rug Market at Merv,"
''The Century Magazine'', Vol. XCVI, May/October 1918.
"The Legal Dismal Wage,"
''The American Economic Review'', Vol. IX, No. 1, March 1919.
"Association,"
''American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 24, No. 5, Mar. 1919.
"Institutional Competition,"
''American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 25, No. 2, Sep. 1919.
"Lumping Versus Individualization,"
''International Journal of Ethics'', Vol. 30, No. 1, Oct. 1919.
"Individuation,"
''American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 25, No. 4, Jan. 1920.
"Ossification,"
''American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 25, No. 5, Mar. 1920.
"Commercialization-Increasing or Decreasing?,"
''International Journal of Ethics'', Vol. 30, No. 3, Apr. 1920. * "The Menace of Migrating Peoples," ''The Century Magazine'', May 1921. * "Slow Suicide Among Our Native Stock," ''The Century Magazine'', February 1924. * "The United States of India," ''The Century Magazine'', December 1925. * "The Man-Stifled Orient," ''The Century Magazine'', July 1927. * "Dulling the Scythes of Azrael," ''The Century Magazine'', August 1927. * "The Old Woman Who Lived In a Shoe," ''The Century Magazine'', September 1927. * "Population Pressure and War," ''Scribner's Magazine'', September 1927.

Miscellany

* Schweinitz Brunner, Edmund de (1923)
''Churches of Distinction in Town and Country,''
with a Foreword by Edward Alsworth Ross, George H. Doran Company.

References

External links

* * *
Works by E. A. Ross
at JSTOR * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Edward A. 1866 births 1951 deaths American eugenicists American sociologists American economists Coe College alumni Economic sociologists American demographers Johns Hopkins University alumni People from Virden, Illinois Presidents of the American Sociological Association American Civil Liberties Union people Mathematicians from Illinois