Edward Alsworth Ross (1866–1951) was a
progressiveIn U.S. history, the term progressivism refers to a broadly-based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th century, generally considered to be left wing in nature. The initial progressive movement arose as a response to the vast changes brought by the Industrial Revolution...
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sociologist, eugenicist, and a major figure of early
criminologyCriminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in the behavioral sciences, drawing especially upon the research of sociologists and psychologists, as well as on...
.
He graduated from
Coe CollegeCoe College is a private, four-year, liberal arts college in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Founded in 1851, the institution is historically affiliated with the Presbyterian Church . Its current president is James R. Phifer. It is one of the smaller universities to have a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa...
in
Cedar Rapids, IowaCedar Rapids is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Iowa and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and east of Des Moines, the largest city and state's capital. City Hall and the County Courthouse are located on Mays...
in 1886. Ross was forced from
Stanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university located in Stanford, California, United States...
for his objection to Chinese immigrant labour. This position was at odds with the university's founding family, the Stanfords who had made their fortune in western rail construction - a major employer of Chinese laborers.
Edward Alsworth Ross (1866–1951) was a
progressiveIn U.S. history, the term progressivism refers to a broadly-based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th century, generally considered to be left wing in nature. The initial progressive movement arose as a response to the vast changes brought by the Industrial Revolution...
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sociologist, eugenicist, and a major figure of early
criminologyCriminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in the behavioral sciences, drawing especially upon the research of sociologists and psychologists, as well as on...
.
Biography
He graduated from
Coe CollegeCoe College is a private, four-year, liberal arts college in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Founded in 1851, the institution is historically affiliated with the Presbyterian Church . Its current president is James R. Phifer. It is one of the smaller universities to have a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa...
in
Cedar Rapids, IowaCedar Rapids is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Iowa and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and east of Des Moines, the largest city and state's capital. City Hall and the County Courthouse are located on Mays...
in 1886. Ross was forced from
Stanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university located in Stanford, California, United States...
for his objection to Chinese immigrant labour. This position was at odds with the university's founding family, the Stanfords who had made their fortune in western rail construction - a major employer of Chinese laborers. Ross left for the University of Nebraska, and later held the position of Professor of Sociology at the
University of Wisconsin–MadisonThe University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
.
Ross' understanding of
AmericanizationAmericanization is the term used for the influence the United States of America has on the culture of other countries.It can also mean:...
and assimilation bore a striking resemblance to that of another Wisconsin professor,
Frederick Jackson TurnerFrederick Jackson Turner was an American historian in the early 20th century. He is best known for The Significance of the Frontier in American History.-Early life, education, and career:...
. Like Turner, Ross believed that American identity was forged in the crucible of the wilderness. The 1890 census' proclamation that the frontier had disappeared, then, posed a significant threat to America's ability to assimilate the mass of immigrants who were arriving from Southern and Eastern Europe. In 1897, just four years after Turner had presented his frontier thesis to the
American Historical AssociationThe American Historical Association is the oldest and largest society of historians and teachers of history in the United States. Founded in 1884, the association promotes historical studies, the teaching of history, and the preservation of and access to historical materials...
, Ross, still a professor at Stanford, argued that the loss of the frontier destroyed the machinery of the melting pot process. Ross supported the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, even as he acknowledged its bloody origins.
Ross was a member of the
Dewey CommissionThe Dewey Commission was initiated in March 1937 by the "American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky." It was named after its Chairman, John Dewey...
which cleared
TrotskyLeon Trotsky , born Leyba Davidov Bronstein , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. He was one of the leaders of the Russian October Revolution, second only to Lenin...
of all charges made during the
Moscow TrialsThe Moscow Trials were a series of trials of political opponents of Joseph Stalin during the Great Purge. Many of the defendants were executed. After Nikita Khrushchev's revelations in the 1950s, the Moscow Trials are today universally acknowledged as show trials in which the verdicts were...
.
Works
- Social Control (1901)
- Sin and Society (1907)
- Social Psychology (1908)
- The Changing Chinese (1911)
- Changing America (1912)
- The Old World in the New: The Significance of Past and Present Immigration to the American People (1914)
- Italians In America (1914)
- The Principles of Sociology (1920)
- The Russian Bolshevik Revolution (1921)
- The Social Trend (1922)
- The Russian Soviet Republic (1923)