Lewis Coser is a popular American and German sociologist. Known as one of the founders of such a direction of science as the sociology of conflict. His scientific work is highly regarded throughout the world. The most popular works in Russia are: “Masters of Sociological Thought: Ideas in a Historical and Social Context”, “Functions of Social Conflict”.
early years
Lewis Coser was born in Berlin in 1913. His father was a Jew by nationality, worked as a banker, the family lived prosperously. The youth of the young man passed without clouds, problems began only in 1933, when the Nazis led by Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany.
Shortly before that, Lewis Coser graduated from high school, at that time he was fond of politics, he was an active supporter of the left movement. At that time, he was already well versed in the political life that surrounded him, he was a fully formed personality, which allowed him to understand what was going on. Therefore, at the age of 20, he left Germany for Paris.
Life in exile
The first years of Lewis Coser in exile were unusually difficult for him. There wasn’t enough money all the time, all the time I had to spend on searches for earnings and means of subsistence. The hero of our article worked where necessary, having changed several professions during this time. He tried himself as a salesman, engaged in physical labor, there were attempts to find himself in the field of mental work, for some time Coser worked as a secretary for a Swiss writer.
His suffering ended in 1936, when he received the right to permanent work. After that, Lewis was able to get one of the posts in the French representative office of a brokerage firm from the United States of America.
Education
At the same time, he began to attend classes at the Sorbonne to receive additional education. By that time, he had not formed any special scientific preferences, so he made a choice in favor of comparative literature. The decisive role was played by the fact that, in addition to German, Coser also knew English and French, so he was able to quickly penetrate into this area.
Further in the biography of Lewis Coser comes the time for scientific activity. He undertakes to write a dissertation comparing French, English and German short stories devoted to the same time period. It was assumed that the key highlight of this work will be the study of the role of the influence of social culture in society on the formation of the specificity and unique national characteristics of a particular literature in a particular country.
Soon, certain difficulties arose, as his supervisor noted that the issues of the social structure of the structure of society were not included in the study of literary criticism, being the sole prerogative of sociology. Therefore, the student changes his specialization, begins to attend lectures on sociology, he has a new supervisor. That's how his future specialization was determined, and the world received one of the greatest sociologists of our time.
Arrest and emigration
When World War II broke out, Coser still remained in France. In 1941, by order of the local government, he was arrested as a native of Germany, since all Germans were suspected of spies at that time. He was placed in a labor camp located in the south of the country. Coser was shocked by this appeal. This policy of the French government was one of the main points that pushed him to emigrate to America.
On the advice of the French emigration service, he changed the German name Ludwig to a more neutral and English-speaking, becoming Lewis. During the process of completing the migration documents, the hero of our article met an employee of the International Association for Assistance to Refugees, whose name was Rosa Laub. A romantic relationship arose between them, which in the future ended with a wedding, so it can be argued that Coser’s personal life was quite successful.
IN USA
Once in America, the hero of our article for the first time worked in several government commissions, in particular in the Ministry of Defense and the military news department. For a while, Coser was even one of the publishers of the then-popular magazine, Modern Review, which actively promoted leftist ideas. Lewis received a part of his earnings through publishing articles in newspapers.
In 1948, he officially formalizes American citizenship, after which he decides to return to scientific activity. Coser enters Columbia University to pursue research in sociology. Soon after, he receives an offer from a college at the University of Chicago to start working as a teacher. He takes a place at the Department of Sociology and Social Sciences. During the period of work at this College of Chicago, the hero of our article spends most of his free time to deepen his knowledge of sociology, to get acquainted with the existing points of view and approaches that are currently being used.
After two years of work in Chicago, Lewis returns to New York to continue his studies at Columbia University. After his graduation, he teaches at Brandein, where he founded the Faculty of Sociology from scratch. In 1954 he defended his doctoral dissertation at Columbia University. One of the most famous American sociologists of that time, Robert Merton, became its supervisor. Based on this work, the hero of our article publishes his first book, entitled "Functions of Social Conflict." Lewis Coser publishes it in 1956.
Key work
Until now, this work is considered fundamental in the research of the scientist. Considering the functions of conflict, Lewis Coser relies on the fact that there is a position traditional for Western science on the inevitability of conflicts from the social life of people. One of the main points for him is the thesis about the ability to carry out collisions between subjects, performing stabilizing and integrating functions.
In his theory of conflict, Lewis Coser enters into open debate with many sociologists of that time, who considered the conflict exclusively as a dysfunctional phenomenon.
Scientific activity
In the early 1950s, McCarthyism flourished in America. Proponents of leftist views, which include Coser, are among the persecuted. All this greatly reduces his ability to publish. In order not to go underground at all, he, with the support of several dozen influential scientists, begins to publish the journal Dissent, which still remains the mouthpiece of the American left forces.
After 15 years at Brandeis, he was transferred to Stony Brook University, where he worked almost until his retirement.
60-70s became the most productive in his scientific career. He releases a large number of significant works. Among them - "Functions of social conflict" by Lewis Coser, "All-consuming institutions", "Further studies of social conflict."
At the end of life
As you know, in the mid-60s he was the head of the Eastern Sociological Society, and in the 70s - the American Sociological Association.
In 1987, Coser retired, leaving with his family in Massachusetts, settling in a small town - Cambridge. He died in 2003, not having lived only a few months before his 90th birthday.