Samuel Andrew Stouffer
June 6, 1900 – August 24, 1960
Samuel A. Stouffer served as the 42nd President of the American Sociological Association. His Presidential Address, “Measurement in Sociology,” was delivered on September 1, 1953 at the Association’s Annual Meeting in Berkeley, California, and was later published in the American Sociological Review (ASR December 1953, 18 No 6, pp 591-597).
Obituary
Written by Philip M. Hauser, published in The American Statistician, 1960.
Death prematurely terminated the outstanding career of Samuel A. Stouffer, Professor of Sociology, and Director of the Laboratory of Social Relations at Harvard University on August 24, 1960. Born on June 6, 1900 in Sac City, Iowa, Stouffer, at 60, was just entering a new and significant area of Research. On a year’s leave of absence from Harvard, he had undertaken on behalf of the Population Council the task of helping to initiate studies on motivation in fertility control in the economically underdeveloped areas of the world.
Stouffer became one of the leading statisticians in sociology even though he acquired an interest in quantitative matters relatively late as a graduate student. But, characteristically, he drove himself into intensive statistical study in 1928 climaxed by a year at the University of London (1931-32) which paved the way for his many important contributions to quantitative sociological research. Stouffer was an important pioneer bridging the gap between speculative and philosophical general sociology and empirical sociology by utilizing statistical and mathematical methods. Although he had a keen interest in methodology, he was primarily concerned with the interplay of theory and empirical investigation well exemplified in much of his work.
It is more than a coincidence that Stouffer’s major research contributions are associated with major national problems. Research opportunities came to him in the form of calls to provide a factual basis for dealing with a number of the acute problems which faced the nation during his lifetime. During the depression 30’s, he was sought out by the Social Science Research Council to direct the preparation of the significant series of monographs on the study of the Social Aspects of the Depression. During World War II, he answered the call of the Department of Defense to direct research activities to provide as scientific a basis as possible for creating, directing and demobilizing the armed forces. The prodigious four-volume work, in three of which Stouffer was directly involved two volumes on THE AMERICAN SOLDIER and the volume. MEASUREMENT AND PREDICTION (Princeton University Press, 1949-50), was the effort of a team in large measure created and directed by Stouffer. It remains as an enduring research monument and a major demonstration of the potentialities of social science. During the post-war 50’s, in the crisis precipitated by the hysteria of the McCarthy era, Stouffer received still another call-this one from the Ford Foundation’s Fund for the Republic to survey the attitudes of Americans on the vital subjects of civil liberties and Communism. This notable study was reported in COMMUNISM, CONFORMITY AND CIVIL LIBER- TIES, (Doubleday & Co., New York, 1955). In each of these instances, Stouffer received the call from agencies concerned with vital national problems whose needs demanded the best in research leadership.
Much of Stouffer’s work led directly, or indirectly, to the improvement of the sample social survey as an instrument of research. His contributions in this area fed directly into the work of commercial survey research organizations, including the public opinion polls, as well as to the survey work of university and noni-commercial research organizations. He made major contributions to the statistical program of the Federal Government in his work with the Central Statistical Board (1934-35) and in his advisory activities over the years to the professional staff of the U. S. Bureau of the Census.
Professor Stouffer had a full share of recognition as a sociologist and a statistician. He served as President of the American Sociological Association (1952-53), and President of the American Association of Public Opinion Research (1953-54). He was a Fellow of A.S.A. and a leading contributor to the Journal of the American Statistical Association; and a member of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. He received an LL.D. from Morningside College in 1939 where he had taken his A.B. degree in 1921. He was the rare social science holder of an Sc.D. from Princeton University, in 1948. Stouffer’s academic career prior to his call to Harvard in 1946 included his serving as Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago (1935-46) Professor of Social Statistics at the University of Wisconsin (1931-35) ; and Instructor in Statistics, University of Chicago (1930-31). His influence as an academic statesman was too wide- spread to permit detailing here.
Although Stouffer himself undoubtedly would prefer to be remembered by his contributions to research, he was an inspiring teacher with unusual ability to fire his students and to transmit his own sense of dedication to the advancement of knowledge as a worthy pursuit. To those who had the privilege of knowing “Sam” he was even more than the superb scientist and inspiring teacher -he was a very special human being. He was a man of great personal magnetism with rare capacity to communicate his own sense of fervor and excitement about research, teaching, people and things.
Hauser, Philip. 1960. “Samuel Andrew Stouffer 1900-1960”. The American Statistician 14(4):36.
