William Foote White at home in Cayuga, New York, 1996.

William Foote Whyte (June 27, 1914–July 16, 2000) was a sociologist chiefly known for his ethnological study in urban sociology, Street Corner Society. A pioneer in participant observation, he lived for four years in an Italian community in Boston while a Junior Fellow at Harvard researching social relations of street gangs in Boston's North End. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 428 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (950 × 1330 pixels, file size: 211 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 428 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (950 × 1330 pixels, file size: 211 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Cayuga is a village located in Cayuga County, New York. ... is the 178th day of the year (179th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 197th day of the year (198th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... Sociology (from Latin: socius, companion; and the suffix -ology, the study of, from Greek λόγος, lógos, knowledge [1]) is the systematic and scientific study of society, including patterns of social relationships, social action, and culture[2]. Areas studied in sociology can range from the analysis of brief contacts between anonymous... Ethnology (from the Greek ethnos, meaning people) is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyses the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the racial or national divisions of humanity. ... Urban sociology is the sociological study of the various statistics among the population in cities. ... Street Corner Society is a famous descriptive case study written by William Foote Whyte and published in 1943. ... Participant observation is a major research strategy which aims to gain a close and intimate familiarity with a given group of individuals (such as a religious, occupational, or deviant group) and their practices through an intensive involvement with people in their natural environment. ... Boston redirects here. ... The Harvard Society of Fellows is a collection of luminaries selected by Harvard University to be held close to its bosom, given special honors, thrown elegant dinners, and upon whom various privileges are bestowed. ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and a member of the Ivy League. ... A gang is a group of individuals who share a common identity and, in current usage, engage in illegal activities. ... North End can refer to: North End, the Northern part of the island of Lundy in England. ...

Whyte, from an upper middle class background, showed an early interest in writing, economics and social reform. After graduating from Swarthmore College, he was selected for the Junior Fellows program, where his landmark research was done. After his research in Boston, he entered the sociology doctoral program at the University of Chicago. Street Corner Society was published by the University of Chicago Press in 1943. He spent a year teaching at the University of Oklahoma, but developed polio in 1943 and spent two years in physical therapy at the Warm Springs Foundation. Rehabilitation was only partially successful; Whyte walked with a cane for the rest of his life, and using two arm crutches in his later years. Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,450 students. ... For other uses, see University of Chicago (disambiguation). ... The University of Chicago Press is the largest university press in the U.S. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including The Chicago Manual of Style, dozens of academic journals including Critical Inquiry, and a wide array of texts covering... University of Oklahoma, abbreviated OU, is a coeducational public research university located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma founded in 1890. ... Poliomyelitis (polio), or infantile paralysis, is a viral paralytic disease. ... Physical therapy (or physiotherapy[1]) is the provision of services to people and populations to develop, maintain and restore maximum movement and functional ability throughout the lifespan. ... The Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation is a rehabilitation facility located in Warm Springs, Georgia. ...

He briefly returned to the University of Chicago in 1944, then joined the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University in 1948, remaining at Cornell for the remainder of his career. He worked for social reform and social change, directing his efforts toward "empowering the disenfranchized and narrowing the gap between rich and poor." He studied industrial and agricultural workers and workers' cooperatives in Venezuela, Peru, Guatemala and in the Basque region of Spain, as well as in the United States. He authored hundreds of articles and 20 books including an autobiography. He is considered a pioneer in industrial sociology. The School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) at Cornell University was established in 1944 (first students admitted 1945) as the worlds first school for college-level study in industrial and labor relations. ... Cornell redirects here. ... Reform movement is a kind of social movement that aims to make a change in certain aspects of the society rather than fundamental changes. ... Social change (or Social development) is a general term which refers to: change in the nature, the social institutions, the social behaviour or the social relations of a society, community of people, or other social structures. ... For other uses, see Coop. ... Pays Basque) see Northern Basque Country. ... Cover of the first English edition of 1793 of Benjamin Franklins autobiography. ... Industrial sociology (also known as sociology of industrial relations or sociology of work) is both a study of the interaction of people within industry (e. ...

He served as the president of the American Sociological Association in 1981 and also of the Society for Applied Anthropology in 1964. At his death he was survived by his wife, Kathleen, two sons and two daughters. The American Sociological Association (ASA), founded in 1905, is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology by serving sociologists in their work and promoting their contributions. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Further reading

• William Foote Whyte, Street Corner Society: The Social Structure of an Italian Slum University of Chicago Press (4th edition, 1993), trade paperback, ISBN 0-226-89545-9; hardcover, University of Chicago Press (3rd edition, revised and expanded, 1981, ISBN 0-226-89542-4; earlier editions available on ABE
• William Foote Whyte, Participant Observer: An Autobiography, Cornell University Press (1994), trade paperback, ISBN 0-87546-325-8
• William Foote Whyte, Creative Problem Solving in the Field: Reflections on a Career, Rowman and Littlefield (1997), trade paperback, ISBN 0-7619-8921-8; hardcover, ISBN 0-7619-8920-X
• William Foote Whyte & Kathleen King Whyte, Making Mondragon: The Growth and Dynamics of the Worker Cooperative Complex, ILR Press (an imprint of Cornell University Press), Ithaca & London, 1988, ISBN 0-87546-182-4

Abebooks (ABE) is an international internet based listing service for booksellers based in Victoria, British Columbia. ...

External links

• Picture and Information about Whyte at the American Sociological Association