William Hamilton Sewell
November 27, 1909 – June 24, 2001
William H. Sewell was elected to serve as the 62nd President of the American Sociological Association. His Presidential Address entitled “Inequality of Opportunity for Higher Education,” was delivered at the Association’s Annual Meeting on August 31, 1971 in Denver, CO. Following the meeting, his address was published in the October 1971 issue of the American Sociological Review (ASR Vol 36 No 5, pp 793-809).
Obituary
The following obituary was originally published in the New York Times on June 30, 2001.
Dr. William H. Sewell, a sociologist who guided a study that looked at the underpinnings of success by following more than 10,000 people over 40 years, died on Sunday in Madison, Wis., where he lived. He was 91.
Colleagues credit Dr. Sewell, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, with helping to elevate the status of sociology.
”From the very beginning he was a major force in the development of the discipline,” said Dr. Robert M. Hauser, a professor at the University of Wisconsin and a collaborator in the study.
The study grew from a survey authorized by the State Legislature, which wanted to measure the adequacy of the public university system, and financed a four-page questionnaire that was given to all 30,000 students who graduated from high school in Wisconsin in 1957. The survey contained questions about family background and educational and occupational aspirations.
After the data had been compiled, the forms lay forgotten in a basement until Dr. Sewell found them in the early 1960’s. That was the start of Dr. Sewell’s biggest project, the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.
Working with his colleagues at the university, Dr. Sewell arranged for further contact with a random sample of the original respondents and some of their siblings, or more than 10,000 people. Based on follow-up surveys and interviews, the study contains data on the participants’ socioeconomic backgrounds, education and careers, and links those factors to their success later in life.
A person’s family and social origins greatly affect ambitions, Dr. Sewell found, and those factors correlate strongly with schooling and later accomplishments. The study has spawned many inquiries into the relationship between background and achievement.
William Hamilton Sewell II was born on Nov. 27, 1909, in Perrinton, Mich. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology at Michigan State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.
He has been president of the American Sociological Association and the Rural Sociological Society and chairman of the National Commission on Research. He was also the University of Wisconsin’s chancellor, from 1967 to 1968.
He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; a daughter, Mary Sewell Cooper, of LaVeta, Colo.; two sons, William H. III of Chicago and Robert G. of Metuchen, N.J.; five grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.
Chiu, J. (2001, June 30). William Sewell, 91, Sociologist Famed for Study of Wisconsinites. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/30/us/william-sewell-91-sociologist-famed-for-study-of-wisconsinites.html
