Charles Tilly
Charles Tilly (May 27, 1929 – April 29, 2008[1]) was an American sociologist, political scientist, and historian who wrote on the relationship between politics and society. He was a professor of history, sociology, and social science at the University of Michigan from 1969 to 1984 before becoming the Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science at Columbia University.
Charles Tilly
May 27, 1929
April 29, 2008 (aged 78)
4
Social Science
Sociology
Political science
History
He has been described as "the founding father of 21st-century sociology"[1] and "one of the world's preeminent sociologists and historians."[2] He published widely across topics such as urban sociology, state formation, democracy, social movements, labor, and inequality.[3] He was an influential proponent of large-scale historical social science research. The title of Tilly's 1984 book Big Structures, Large Processes, Huge Comparisons is characteristic of his particular approach to social science research.
Early life and education[edit]
Tilly was born in Lombard, Illinois (near Chicago). His parents were Naneth and Otto Tilly, Welsh-German immigrants.[3] He graduated from York Community High School in 1946.[3] He graduated from Harvard University in 1950 with a Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude. He served in the U.S. Navy as a paymaster of an amphibious squadron during the Korean War. Tilly completed his Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology at Harvard in 1958.[4][3]
While at Harvard, he was a student in the Department of Social Relations during the "Harvard revolution" in social network analysis.[5][6]
Tilly was a teaching assistant to Pitirim Sorokin, who along with Talcott Parsons and George C. Homans was considered by many in the profession to be among the world's leading sociologists.[7] But every time Sorokin heard Tilly's ideas he would say something like "Very interesting Mr. Tilly but I do think Plato said it better."[8]
Tilly eventually turned to Barrington Moore Jr. and George C. Homans to supervise his dissertation. But Tilly never failed to say that Sorokin was a great person (even though Tilly eschewed any great person theory of history).[7]
Academic career[edit]
Charles Tilly taught at the University of Delaware (1956-1962), Harvard University (1963-1966), the University of Toronto (1965-1969), the University of Michigan (1969-1984), The New School (1984-1996), and Columbia University (1996-2008). At Michigan, Tilly was professor of history 1969–1984, professor of sociology 1969–1981, and the Theodore M. Newcomb Professor of Social Science 1981–1984. At the New School from 1984 to 1996 he was Distinguished Professor of sociology and history 1984-1990 and University Distinguished Professor 1990-1996. in 1996, he was the Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science.[9]
Over the course of his career, Tilly wrote more than 600 articles and 51 books and monographs.[10][11] His most highly cited books are: the edited volume The Formation of National States in Western Europe (1975), From Mobilization to Revolution (1978), Coercion, Capital, and European States, AD 990-1990 (1990), Durable Inequality (1998), and Dynamics of Contention (2001).[12]
Tilly received several awards, including:
He also received honorary doctorates from Erasmus University of Rotterdam in 1983, the Institut d'Etudes Politiques of University of Paris in 1993, the University of Toronto in 1995, the University of Strasbourg in 1996, the University of Geneva in 1999, the University of Crete in 2002, the University of Quebec at Montreal in 2004 and the University of Michigan in 2007.[51]
He was awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques (Knight of the Order of Academic Palms) by the French government.
In 2001, Columbia's sociology graduate students named Tilly the Professor of the Year.
The Charles Tilly Award for Best Book, of the Collective Behavior and Social Movements section of the American Sociological Association was names after Tilly in 1986.[52]
The Charles Tilly Best Article Award has been awarded by the Section on Comparative and Historical Sociology of the American Sociological Association since 2005.[53]
After his death, numerous special journal issues, conferences, awards and obituaries appeared in his honor.[54] The Social Science Research Council hosted a 2008 conference, co-sponsored with Columbia University and the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, in his honor: "A Celebration of the Life and Works of Charles Tilly"[55][56] At this conference the SSRC announced the Charles Tilly and Louise Tilly Fund for Social Science History.[57] The conference had presentations from notable sociologists including: Craig Calhoun, Harrison White, Doug McAdam, Immanuel Wallerstein, William Sewell, Jack Goldstone, Sidney Tarrow, Barry Wellman and Viviana Zelizer. A 2010 special issue of Social Science History was dedicated to (the work of) Charles Tilly,[58] as was a 2010 special issue of The American Sociologist.[59] The latter was edited by Andreas Koller, and included contributions by George Steinmetz, Neil Gross, Jack A. Goldstone, Kim Voss, Rogers Brubaker, Mustafa Emirbayer, and Viviana Zelizer. In 2010, the journal Theory and Society also published a special issue on "Cities, States, Trust, and Rule" dedicated to the work of Tilly.[60]
Death[edit]
Charles Tilly died in the Bronx on April 29, 2008, from lymphoma.[1] As he was fading in the hospital, he got one characteristic sentence out to early student Barry Wellman: "It's a complex situation."[13] In a statement after Tilly's death, Columbia University president Lee C. Bollinger stated that Tilly "literally wrote the book on the contentious dynamics and the ethnographic foundations of political history".[11] Adam Ashforth of The University of Michigan described Tilly as "the founding father of 21st-century sociology".[1]