William Fielding Ogburn

William Fielding Ogburn (June 29, 1886 – April 27, 1959) was an American sociologist who was born in Butler, Georgia and died in Tallahassee, Florida. He was also a statistician and an educator. Ogburn received his B.A. degree from Mercer University and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University. He was a professor of sociology at Columbia from 1919 until 1927, when he became chair of the Sociology Department at the University of Chicago.

He served as the president of American Sociological Society in 1929. He was the editor of the Journal of the American Statistical Association from 1920 to 1926. In 1931, he was elected as the president of American Statistical Association. He was also known for his idea of "culture lag" in society's adjustment to technological and other changes. He played a pivotal role in producing the groundbreaking Recent Social Trends during his research directorship of President Herbert Hoover's Committee on Social Trends from 1930 to 1933.

He was one of the most prolific sociologists of his time, with 175 articles under his name.

Read more about William Fielding Ogburn:  Social Change

Famous quotes containing the word fielding:

    “Some fluctuating notions concerning repentance, virtue, honor, morality ... hovered around Lady Dellwyn’s thoughts but were too wavering to bring her to any fixed determination. She became a constant attendant from one public place to another, where she met with many mortifications. But yet even these were not quite so dreadful to her as to retire and be subjected to her own company alone.”
    —Sarah Fielding (1710–1768)