Philip M. Hauser
The University of Chicago
September 27, 1909 - December 13, 1994
|
Scientific Discipline: Social and Political Sciences Membership Type:
Emeritus
(elected 1976)
|
Philip M. Hauser’s expertise on demographics and social structures and processes established him as a leading figure in 20th century social science. Focusing primarily on population trends, he used carful statistical analysis to provide sociological explanations for issues in urbanization, development, and modernization. His work also dealt with the effects of racial segregation. Hauser improved the U.S. census methods, as well as the techniques involved in voter registration. He was one of the first sociologists to establish a modern approach to the definition and measurement of the labor force. During his tenure as the director of the University of Chicago’s Population Research Center, Hauser educated roughly a hundred doctoral students in sociology, concentrating mostly on demography.
Hauser attended the University of Chicago and received his PhB, MA, and PhD in sociology in 1929, 1933, and 1938, respectively. After graduating, he became the assistant chief statistician to the deputy director at the U.S. Bureau of the Census. He was appointed the acting director from 1949 to 1950. Beginning in 1947, Hauser served as a professor of sociology at his alma mater, as well as the founder and director of the university’s Population Research Center (a position he held until 1979). During this time, he was the U.S. representative for the Population Commission of the United Nations (1947-1951). In 1974, he became the Lucy Flower Professor of Urban Sociology at Chicago. Hauser was also a member of the International Statistical Institute and the American Philosophical Society, and was the president of the following organizations: the Population Association of America (1950), the American Statistical Association (1962), the Sociological Research Association (1962) and the American Sociological Association (1967-1968).
