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Pitirim A. Sorokin
Pitirim Alexandrovich Sorokin (4 February [O.S. 21 January] 1889 - 11 February 1968) was a Russian American sociologist born in modern-day Komi Republic of Russia. An academic and political activis...view morePitirim Alexandrovich Sorokin (4 February [O.S. 21 January] 1889 - 11 February 1968) was a Russian American sociologist born in modern-day Komi Republic of Russia. An academic and political activist, he emigrated from the Soviet Union to the United States in 1923. In 1930, at the age of 40, Sorokin was personally requested by the president of Harvard University to accept a position there. At Harvard, he founded the Department of Sociology. He was a vocal critic of his colleague Talcott Parsons. Sorokin was an ardent opponent of Communism, which he regarded as a “pest of man.” He is best known for his contributions to the social cycle theory.
He was born to a Russian father and Komi mother in the small village of Turja (then in the Yarensk uyezd in the Vologda Governorate, Russian Empire). In the early 1900s, supporting himself as an artisan and clerk, Sorokin attended the Saint Petersburg Imperial University where he earned his graduate degree in criminology and became professor. He was an anti-communist and a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party during the Russian Revolution. During this period, he was a secretary to Prime Minister Alexander Kerensky, who was a leader in the Russian Constituent Assembly. After the October Revolution, Sorokin continued to fight communist leaders, and was arrested by the new regime several times before he was eventually condemned to death by Lenin himself. After six weeks in prison, he was set free and went back to teaching at the University of St. Petersburg.
In 1918, he went on to become the founder of the sociology department at the University of St. Petersburg. In 1922, Sorokin was again arrested and this time exiled by the Soviet Government. He emigrated in 1923 to the United States and was naturalized in 1930. Sorokin was professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota (1924-1930) and at Harvard University (1930-1959).
He died in Winchester, Massachusetts in 1968 at the age of 79.view less
Books by Pitirim A. Sorokin
Leaves from a Russian Diary—and Thirty Years After [Enlarged Edition] Modern Historical and Social Philosophies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings