Bogdan Denitch
Encyclopedia
Bogdan Denitch is an American sociologist of Yugoslav origin who is an emeritus professor at the City University of New York
(CUNY). He is a leading authority on the political sociology of the former Yugoslavia
. Active in democratic left politics, Denitch is an honorary chairman of the Democratic Socialists of America
, and has served as its representative to the Socialist International
. From 1983 through 2004 he organized the annual Socialist Scholars Conference in New York. Since the 1990s he has been an advocate for human rights
and an opponent of nationalism
in the former Yugoslavia.
’s communist regime after World War II
. He emigrated with his family to the United States in 1946. He enrolled in CUNY (then City College) in 1947, and at age 18 joined the Young People’s Socialist League (YPSL), then the youth affiliate of the Socialist Party of America
, led by Norman Thomas
. He helped lead that organization into a merger with the Socialist Youth League
to form the Young Socialist League in 1954. He learned machinist skills at Metal Trades High School at night while studying at City College, worked as a journeyman machinist and tool and die maker for 13 years, and was an activist in the International Association of Machinists. His machinist union card gave him mobility, and he moved to the San Francisco Bay area in 1958. He was a member of the San Francisco Central Labor Council, and was active in the NAACP and CORE
from 1948 to 1964.
of the University of California at Berkeley. In 1968 Denitch secured a major research position for a study of elites in Yugoslavia, through the Bureau of Applied Social Research
at Columbia University
. He moved back to New York in 1969 to complete work on an MA in sociology at Columbia, awarded in 1970 (the university waived its requirement of a BA degree, which Denitch had never completed). He received a doctorat d'université from University of Paris
in 1972 for research on the new working class with Serge Mallet and Lucien Goldman. He completed his PhD in sociology in 1973 at Columbia with his dissertation on Yugoslavian elites. He taught at Yale University
in 1972, and moved in 1973 to Queens College of CUNY, where he remained until his retirement in 1994. He was executive officer of the PhD Program in Sociology at CUNY Graduate School from 1976 through 1988. He also taught during sabbatical leaves at Birbeck College, University of London
in 1979, at the University of Paris
in Saint Denis in 1982, at Johns Hopkins University
in Bologna
in 1980, and at the University of Zagreb
in 1973, 1977, and 1988. He was also a visiting research professor at UNAM
in Mexico City
in 1986, 1988 and 1990.
, Denitch is a co-founder and an honorary chairman of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). He has had a close relationship with the Swedish Social Democratic Party
and the Mexican Party of the Democratic Revolution
(PRD), and has served as DSA’s representative to the Socialist International. He was a founder in 1983 and chair of the Socialist Scholars Conference, held annually in New York City, until controversy over his leadership led to its suspension and demise in 2005.
In 1991 he created the NGO Transition to Democracy (T.o.D.), which works in the successor states of Yugoslavia for human rights and against nationalism. Since 1991 he has organized an annual conference, the School on Democracy and Social Justice, for human rights activists from these states. He helped found two democratic socialist parties (now defunct) in Croatia in the 1990s, the Social Democratic Union and Social Democratic Action. Denitch serves on the editorial board of the journal Dissent
, and is a sponsor of the journal New Politics
. He is also a member of the Advisory board of Novi Plamen
magazine.
Denitch lived in New York City from 1969 until his retirement. Currently he spends four months of the year in New York, the other eight months in the former Yugoslavia, where he maintains a home on the island of Brač
in Croatia
. He is married and has an adult daughter. His autobiography is in preparation.
Certain of Denitch's books have been translated into French, German, Swedish, Spanish, Slovenian and Serbo-Croat.
City University of New York
The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...
(CUNY). He is a leading authority on the political sociology of the former Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
. Active in democratic left politics, Denitch is an honorary chairman of the Democratic Socialists of America
Democratic Socialists of America
Democratic Socialists of America is a social-democratic organization in the United States and the U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International, an international federation of social-democratic,democratic socialist and labor political parties and organizations.DSA was formed in 1982 by a merger of...
, and has served as its representative to the Socialist International
Socialist International
The Socialist International is a worldwide organization of democratic socialist, social democratic and labour political parties. It was formed in 1951.- History :...
. From 1983 through 2004 he organized the annual Socialist Scholars Conference in New York. Since the 1990s he has been an advocate for human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
and an opponent of nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
in the former Yugoslavia.
Early life
Born Bogdan Denis Denič, in Sofia, Bulgaria, he is the son of a Yugoslav diplomat. His parents were of Serbian background. His father was forced into exile by the Nazis and then by Marshal Josip Broz TitoJosip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
’s communist regime after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He emigrated with his family to the United States in 1946. He enrolled in CUNY (then City College) in 1947, and at age 18 joined the Young People’s Socialist League (YPSL), then the youth affiliate of the Socialist Party of America
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
, led by Norman Thomas
Norman Thomas
Norman Mattoon Thomas was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.-Early years:...
. He helped lead that organization into a merger with the Socialist Youth League
Socialist Youth League (US)
The Socialist Youth League was the youth group affiliated with the Workers Party, a splinter Trotskyist party led by Max Shachtman. The parent group changed its name to the Independent Socialist League in 1950. In February 1954, the Socialist Youth League merged with the a faction of the Young...
to form the Young Socialist League in 1954. He learned machinist skills at Metal Trades High School at night while studying at City College, worked as a journeyman machinist and tool and die maker for 13 years, and was an activist in the International Association of Machinists. His machinist union card gave him mobility, and he moved to the San Francisco Bay area in 1958. He was a member of the San Francisco Central Labor Council, and was active in the NAACP and CORE
Congress of Racial Equality
The Congress of Racial Equality or CORE was a U.S. civil rights organization that originally played a pivotal role for African-Americans in the Civil Rights Movement...
from 1948 to 1964.
Academic career
In 1964 Denitch moved to Yugoslavia for five years, where he did field research for several sociological projects on unions and on students for Seymour Martin LipsetSeymour Martin Lipset
Seymour Martin Lipset was an American political sociologist, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, and the Hazel Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University. His major work was in the fields of political sociology, trade union organization, social stratification, public opinion, and...
of the University of California at Berkeley. In 1968 Denitch secured a major research position for a study of elites in Yugoslavia, through the Bureau of Applied Social Research
Bureau of Applied Social Research
The Bureau of Applied Social Research was a social research institute at Columbia University which specialised in mass communications research. It grew out of the Radio Research Project at Princeton University, beginning in 1937. The Bureau's first director was Austrian sociologist Paul Lazarsfeld...
at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. He moved back to New York in 1969 to complete work on an MA in sociology at Columbia, awarded in 1970 (the university waived its requirement of a BA degree, which Denitch had never completed). He received a doctorat d'université from University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
in 1972 for research on the new working class with Serge Mallet and Lucien Goldman. He completed his PhD in sociology in 1973 at Columbia with his dissertation on Yugoslavian elites. He taught at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1972, and moved in 1973 to Queens College of CUNY, where he remained until his retirement in 1994. He was executive officer of the PhD Program in Sociology at CUNY Graduate School from 1976 through 1988. He also taught during sabbatical leaves at Birbeck College, University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
in 1979, at the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
in Saint Denis in 1982, at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
in Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
in 1980, and at the University of Zagreb
University of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb is the biggest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe...
in 1973, 1977, and 1988. He was also a visiting research professor at UNAM
Unam
UNAM or UNaM may refer to:* National University of Misiones, a National University in Posadas, Argentina*National Autonomous University of Mexico , the large public autonomous university based in Mexico City...
in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
in 1986, 1988 and 1990.
Political and human rights advocate
A long-time associate of the late American socialist leader Michael HarringtonMichael Harrington
Edward Michael "Mike" Harrington was an American democratic socialist, writer, political activist, professor of political science, radio commentator and founder of the Democratic Socialists of America.-Personal life:...
, Denitch is a co-founder and an honorary chairman of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). He has had a close relationship with the Swedish Social Democratic Party
Swedish Social Democratic Party
The Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party, , contesting elections as 'the Workers' Party – the Social Democrats' , or sometimes referred to just as 'the Social Democrats' and most commonly as Sossarna ; is the oldest and largest political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1889...
and the Mexican Party of the Democratic Revolution
Party of the Democratic Revolution
The Party of the Democratic Revolution is a democratic socialist party in Mexico and one of 2 Mexican affiliates of the Socialist International...
(PRD), and has served as DSA’s representative to the Socialist International. He was a founder in 1983 and chair of the Socialist Scholars Conference, held annually in New York City, until controversy over his leadership led to its suspension and demise in 2005.
In 1991 he created the NGO Transition to Democracy (T.o.D.), which works in the successor states of Yugoslavia for human rights and against nationalism. Since 1991 he has organized an annual conference, the School on Democracy and Social Justice, for human rights activists from these states. He helped found two democratic socialist parties (now defunct) in Croatia in the 1990s, the Social Democratic Union and Social Democratic Action. Denitch serves on the editorial board of the journal Dissent
Dissent (magazine)
Dissent is a quarterly magazine focusing on politics and culture edited by Michael Walzer and Michael Kazin. The magazine is published for the Foundation for the Study of Independent Social Ideas, Inc by the University of Pennsylvania Press....
, and is a sponsor of the journal New Politics
New Politics (magazine)
New Politics is an independent socialist journal founded in 1961 and still published in the United States today. While it is inclusive of articles from a variety of left-of-center positions, the publication leans strongly toward a Third camp, democratic Marxist perspective, placing it typically to...
. He is also a member of the Advisory board of Novi Plamen
Novi Plamen
Novi Plamen is a left-wing magazine for political, social and cultural issues primarily aimed at intellectual audiences on the territory of the former Yugoslavia and the related diaspora. It is a leading publication of its kind in the region, published by the Demokratska misao publishing company...
magazine.
Denitch lived in New York City from 1969 until his retirement. Currently he spends four months of the year in New York, the other eight months in the former Yugoslavia, where he maintains a home on the island of Brač
Brac
Brač is an island in the Adriatic Sea within Croatia, with an area of 396 km², making it the largest island in Dalmatia, and the third largest in the Adriatic. Its tallest peak, Vidova Gora, or Mount St. Vid, stands at 778 m, making it the highest island point in the Adriatic...
in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
. He is married and has an adult daughter. His autobiography is in preparation.
Books authored
- Opinion-Making Elites in Yugoslavia. Co-authored with Allen H. Barton and Charles Kadushin (Praeger, 1973). ISBN 978-0275286927
- The Legitimation of a Revolution: The Yugoslav case (Yale University Press, 1976).
- Society and Social Change in Eastern Europe (Cliff Notes, 1978). ISBN 978-0822019152
- Legitimation of Regimes: International Frameworks for Analysis (Sage Publications, 1979). ISBN 978-0803998988
- Democratic Socialism: The Mass Left in Advanced Industrial Societies (Allanheld, Osmun, 1981).
- A New Foreign and Defense Policy for the United States (Rowman and Littlefield, 1988). ISBN 978-0822019152
- The End of the Cold War: European Unity, Socialism, and the Shift in Global Power (University of Minnesota Press, 1990). ISBN 978-0816618750
- Limits and Possibilities: The Crisis of Yugoslav Socialism and State Socialist Systems (University of Minnesota Press, 1990). ISBN 978-0816618446
- The Socialist Debate: Beyond Red and Green (Pluto Press, 1990). ISBN 978-0745303819
- After the Flood: World Politics and Democracy in the Wake of Communism (Wesleyan, 1992). ISBN 978-0819562562
- Ethnic Nationalism: The Tragic Death of Yugoslavia (University of Minnesota Press, 1994). ISBN 978-0816624584
Certain of Denitch's books have been translated into French, German, Swedish, Spanish, Slovenian and Serbo-Croat.