American sociologist is awarded honorary doctorate at UiB
The distuingished American sociologist Arthur L. Stinchcombe has been appointed a honorary doctor at the University of Bergen.
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On 5 May 2017, there will be a special doctor ceremony to celebrate seven new honorary doctorates at the University of Bergen (UiB), one each for聽the university's seven faculties.
A focus on social structures
Professor emeritus Arthur L. Stinchcombe has been the choice for the honorary PhD from the Faculty of Social Sciences. His research achieved the major breakthrough with the 1965 publication of the book, Social Structure and Organizations. In the book,聽Stinchcombe compared the American textile industry, one of the oldest industries in the country, with the newer automotive industry to argue that the key features of organizations in any industry are related to the era in which the industry emerges. Stinchcombe called this relation a 鈥渃orrelation of age and social structure鈥�.
He has been a researcher who has actively sought out different methods to approach different subjects within the field of sociology, something which has made him a researcher with great variety and who kept pushing the boundaries of research in his field.
In one of his many groundbreaking books, Rebellion in a High School, he聽used quantitative methods.聽In another聽book,聽Theoretical Methods in Social History and Economic Sociology, he used historical methods.聽When co-authoring the book聽Organization Theory and Project Management,聽with Carol Heimer, he based his report on聽field methods in the studies of organizations. His last book, The Logic of Social Research, was an聽outline of聽how to use historical, ethnographic, quantitative, and experimental methods to develop and text causal theories in sociology and other social sciences.
A long and distinguished career
Stinchcombe is professor emeritus from the Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences聽at Northwestern University in the United States. In 1960, he聽received his聽PhD from the聽University of California, Berkeley and quickly established himself in the field of sociology.聽Areas of interest have聽included law and society plus聽science and technology as well as a look at聽economy and society.
Before coming to Northwestern, Stinchcombe taught at Johns Hopkins, Berkeley, the University of Chicago and the University of Arizona. He was also a visiting professor in Chile, England, the Netherlands, Norway, Australia, and the Stanford School of Business.