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An accidental journey: Becoming a sociologist

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Abstract

This sketch describes how I accidentally became a sociologist. More importantly, it describes undergraduate sociology training at a private liberal arts university during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The University of Maryland began a Ph.D. program in sociology just before World War II began. I report on graduate training there, as well as the social and intellectual life of the department. C. Wright Mills began his academic career at Maryland. I consider his place in the department, my experiences with him as my dissertation director, and how he influenced my lifelong study on the bearing of social stratification to politics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sociology Department, Ohio State University, 300 Bricker Hall, 190 North Oval Mall, 43210, Columbus, Ohio

    William Form (Professor emeritus)

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Form, W. An accidental journey: Becoming a sociologist. Am Soc 28, 31–54 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-997-1019-y

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