updated 4/2/03
Born: Brooklyn, New York
Married: Joan Turner Bannister
Children: Four (grown)
Phone: home (610) 543-4775 Fax: (610) 328-8171
Internet: rbannis1@swarthmore.edu
WWW: http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/rbannis1/RCB.html
Vita available at:
http://WWW.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/rbannis1/vita.html
Education
Yale College 1951-55 (Ford Foundation Scholarship) B.A. 1955
Oxford University (Pembroke College), 1955-57, B.A. 1957; M.A.
1961
Yale University Graduate School, Dept. of American Studies, 1957-61,
PhD. 1961
Teaching
Instructor in History, Yale, 1960-62
Tutor in American Politics (part time), Pembroke College, Oxford,
1974-75
Bicentennial Professor of American Studies, University of Helsinki,
Finland, 1977-78
Fulbright Professor, University of Rome, Italy, Spring 1985
Visiting Professor University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia,
March 1988.
Walt Whitman Professor of American Studies, Leiden University, 1992
(January-June)
Assistant to full Professor in History, Swarthmore College,
1962-present. Appointed to Scheuer chair in History and the
Humanities,September, 1987. Professor
emeritus. June 1998.
Courses Taught
Yale: America in the Gilded Age 1865-95; American survey
Swarthmore: United States to 1877; United States since 1877; Britain
and America 1880-1920; America in the
Progressive Era, 1896-1920; American Intellectual History to
1865; American Culture since 1865; Higher Education in America;
Education in America; America in the 1920s.Honors seminars American
Political History, and American Intellectual History: 19th
and 20th
Oxford (tutor '74-75) American Politics for 1st year PPE students
Helsinki ('77-'78): The Liberal Tradition in America; American
Literature Between the Wars (1920-40)
Rome (1985): American Culture and Society 19th-20th Century
(graduate seminar in historiography)
Leiden (1992) Women, gender, and Society in the United States
1776-1920; American Culture since 1880
(lecture course)
Fellowships
Henry Fellowship (Oxford), 1955-56
American Council of Learned Societies, Study Fellowship for Study of
British Intellectual History, 1880-1920, London (1965-66)
National Endowment for the Humanities, Junior Fellowship
(1970-71)
Mellon Fellowship (Swarthmore College) for further work on history of
"social Darwinism"; work done in Oxford, England (1974-75)
National Endowment for the Humanities, Senior Fellowship for project
on the history of American Sociology 1880-1920 (1979-80)
Senior Fulbright Lecturer in American Studies, University of Rome,
1985
A.C.L.S. Travel Grant to Finland, April 1987
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Grant, 1987, for Project
"Gender and Social Science"
National Endowment for the Humanities, Senior Fellowship 1988-89 for
Project "Gender and Social Science," 1988-89.
Professional Service and Activities
Reader in American History, Advanced Placement Program 1963-73
Chief Reader, Essay Project of American History Achievement
Examination (CEEB), Atlantic City, March 1971Chief Reader in American
History, Advanced Placement Program, 1974-77
CEEB Discipline Committee in American History, 1975-77 (chairman,
1976-77)
Consultant Mid-Atlantic CEEB, 1976-present. Group leader in American
History for one or two Advanced Placement Conferences each year. Fall
1985, Conestoga High School, Berwyn, Pa November 9.
Member of American Historical Association, Organization of American
Historians, American Studies Association
Gabriel Prize Committee, American Studies Association, 1976 (chair),
1989 (chair)
Chairman, Advanced Placement Examination Committee in American
History, 1978-81.
Chairman Swarthmore College Department of History , 1981-85.
Consultant on American Studies to American Embassies in Great Britain
(February 1978), and Norway (May 1978)
Director, Commonwealth Partnership History Institute, Haverford
College (July 1986) funded by the National Endowment for the
Humanities
Associate Editor for new Dictionary of American Biography, ed. John
Garraty (Oxford University Press) 1989-present
Committee for International Exchange of Scholars (Fulbright): member
"European Chairs committee," 1992, 1993
National Endowment for the Humanities, Review Panels, Washington,
August 1984, and August 1986, etc Latest: January 2000 (total of
eight panels)
Publications:
BOOKS
Ray Stannard Baker: The Mind and Thought of a Progressive
(Yale University Press 1966; reissued Garland, 1979). Available (for
fee) at QUESTIA:
American Values in Transition (editor), (Harcourt-Brace, 1972).
Social Darwinism: Science and Myth in Anglo-American Social
Thought (Temple University Press, 1979). Reissued in paperback
edition with New
Preface as Social Darwinism:Science and Myth (Temple
Press, 1988).
Sociology and Scientism: The American Search for Objectivity
1880-1940 (University of North Carolina, 1987).Jessie Bernard:
The Making of a Feminist (Rutgers University Press, 1991. For
contents, click here.
On Liberty, Society, and Politics: The
Essential Essays of William Graham Sumner ( Liberty Fund
Press,1992)
ARTICLES, BIBLIOGRAPHIES, ETC.
"'The Survival of the Fittest is our Doctrine': History or
Histrionics," Journal of the History of Ideas 31 (1970),
377-98
"William Graham Sumner's 'Social Darwinism'," History of
Political Economy 5 (Spring 1973), 89-109
"Muckrakers and Race," in Muckraking Past and Present, ed.
Harrison and Stein (Penn State Press, Fall 1973), pp. 45-64
"Howard
Odum," Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement Five
(1977), 519-2l
Neekereiden ja Naisten Historia Yhdysvaltalaisessa Tutkimuksessa
[bibliography on Black and Women's History], with Allan
Winkler and Markku Henriksson (Helsinki, 1978), 11 pp.
Teacher's Guide to Advanced Placement Courses in American
History (Princeton: CEEB, 1983), pp. 1-54.
"Horatio Alger and the Social Darwinists," in Dimensions in American Studies, ed. John Hopkins (University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland 1986), pp. 102-109.
"Edward Bellamy and the Good Life," in Citta e Campagna Nell'Eta
Dorata, a cura di Valeria Gennaro Lerda (Roma, 1986), pp.
127-36.
"Scientism and American Sociology," in Ten Years of American Studies: The Helsinki Experience, pp. 45-65, ed. Markku Henriksson (Helsinki, 1987)
"Principle, Politics, Profession: American Sociology and Fascism",
1930s-1950s, in Sociology Responds to Fascism, ed. Stephen
Turner and Dirk Käsler(Routledge 1992).
"Dorothy Swain Thomas: Soziologischer Objectivismus: Der harte Weg in
die Profession," in Frauen in der Soziologie, ed. Claudia
Honegger und Tersae Wobbe (Oscar Beck, Munchen 1998), pp. 226-57. For
English version click here.
"Adventures in Disconttentment: David Grayson and Women Readers," in
Roots and Renewals, eds Mark Shackleton and Maarika Toivonen
(Renvall Institute: University of Helsinki, 2001), pp. 127-137.
Proceedings of the 8th Maple Leaf and Eagle Conference in North
American Studies, Helsinki Finland, September 2000 (University of
Helsinki Press). [revision of a portion of longer presentation on
"Ray Stannard Baker and the Legacy of
Progressivism"]
BOOK REVIEWS
Acta Sociologica, American Historical Review, Journal of American History, New England Quarterly, Annals of the American Academy, ISIS, Illinois Historical Society Quarterly, New York State Historical Society Quarterly, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Pennsylvania History, Wall Street Review of Books.
Reviews since 1990: General
Barrow, Universities and the Capitalist State, Academe 77 (July-August, 1991)
Cotkin, George William James: Public Philosopher, in American Historical Review 96 (Oct. 1991): 1268
Skocpol, Theda, Social policy in the United States in America 175 (July 6-13 '96): 33-4
Chernow, Ron, The Titan, in America ( November 28,1998):21-22
Tyrrell, Ian Woman's World, Woman's Empire, The Woman;'s Christian Temperance Union in International Perspective , 1988-1930. (1991) in Australian Journal of Politics and History
Burchell, R.A ed. The End of Anglo America (1991), in The International History Review (Fall 1993)
Reviews in the history of science and sociology (by author)
"The Historical Case of Sociological Knowledge," [group review], History of Education Quarterly (Summer 1982), 239-44.
Caudill, Edward, Darwinian myths in The Review of Politics v. 60 no4 (Fall '98)
Conn, Steven, Museums and American intellectual life, 1876-1926 (Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1998). in American Historical Review (April 2000) :553-54
Crook, D. Paul, Darwinism, War and History: The debate over the biology of war from the 'Origin of Species' to the First World War. (Cambridge [Eng.], 1994) Journal of Interdisciplinary History 26 (Spring 1996): 690-92
Curtis, Bruce William Graham Sumner (1981), in Journal of American History 69 (1982), 463-64.
Degler, Carl In Search of Human Nature (1991), in Metascience: An International Review (#4, 1993)
Furner , Mary O., Advocacy and Objectivity: ... American Social Science 1865-1905 in ISIS 67 (1976), 649-50
Gayon, Jean, Darwin's Strugggle For Existence:Heredity and the Hypotesis of Natural Selection (Cambridge University Press, 1998) in Journal of the History of the Bahavioral Sciences 35 (Fall, 1999)
Greenwald , Maurine W. and Margo Anderson, eds., Pittsburgh Surveyed: Social Science and Social Reform in the EarlyTwentieth Century H-NET http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~shgape/reviews/br-greenw.html
Hawkins, Mike, Social Darwinism in European and American thought, 1860-1945 in The Review of Politics v. 60 no4 (Fall '98) p. 815-18
Hutcheon, Pat Duffy, Leaving the Cave: Evolutionary Naturalism in Social-Scientific Thought (1996) in Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 34 (1998): 215-16
Jones, Greta Social Darwinism and English Thought (1979), in Victorian Studies 25 (1982), 250-51.
Lyman, Stanford, Militarism, Imperialism, and Racial Accommodation...The Early Writings of Robert E. Park (Univ. Arkansas Pres, 1992) Social Forces 73:4, (June, 1995): 1640-1641.
Mazlish, Bruce, The Uncertain Sciences (New Haven: Yale Press, 1998) in Journal of Interdisciplinary History 30 (Spring 2000): 640-41
McMahon, Sean H., Social Control and Public Intellect: The Legacy of Edward A. Ross. (1999.), in Isis 9 (2000): 825-26
Mills, C. Wright.. Letters and Autobiographical Writings.. Edited by Kathryn Mills and Pamela Mills. Introduction by Dan Wakefield. ) Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: University of California Press, 2000), in Isis, 2002
Pittinger, Mark American Socialists and Evolutionary Thought 1870-1920 (1993) in ) in American Historical Review (October 1994),:1397-98
Platt, Jennifer, A History of Sociological Research Methods in America in Australian Journal of History and Politics 47 (2001): 457-58
Schwendinger , Herman and Julia, The Sociologists of the Chair (1974) in ISIS 67 (1976), 145-46
Smith, Mark Social Science in the Crucible (Duke University Press, 1994), in Academe: Bulletin of the AAUP (Jan/Feb. 1996)
Young , Robert, Darwin's Metaphor in American Historical Review (Dec. 1988), 1329-30.
Roberts, Jon R., Darwinism and the Divine (1987),
American Historical Review (February 1990), 277-78.
Reference Works:
"Luther Lee Bernard," "Helen M. Lynd," "Emory Bogardus," "William Graham Sumner," in American National Biography (Oxford UP, 1999)
"Talcott Parsons," "Sociology," Oxford Companion to United States History ed Paul S. Boyer (Oxford University Press,2001)
"Evolution," in Encyclopedia of the United States in the Ninteteenth Century , ed Paul Finkelman (Scribners, 2001)
"Evolutionism (inc Social Darwinism," International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, eds Neil J. Smelser and Paul B. Baltes (Elsevier Science: 2001 )"Evolution" [synopsis under "E"], International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences
"Social Darwinism," Encarta Online at: http://encarta.msn.com/find/concise.asp?ti=761579584&sid=1#s1
"Sociology" in Dorothy Ross , Theodore M. Porter, eds. The Modern Social Sciences, vol. 7 in The Cambridge History of Science, 8 vols. (Cambridge University Press, scheduled publication June 2003)
"Swarthmore College," in Dictionary of American history , Stanley I. Kutler, editor inchief. 3rd ed (New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003).
"William Graham Sumner," Dictionary of Literary Biography volume 270, AmericanPhilosophers Before 1950 (2003). pp. 296-303
"F. Stuart Chapin." [5200 word essay] in Encyclopedia of Social Measurement San Diego, CA: Academic Press, (forthcoming).
"Social Darwinism," in Christensen, Karen andDavid Levinson (General Editors). (2003). Encyclopedia of Community: Fromthe Village to the Virtual World. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Current Interests:
History of Sociology with special reference to women in U.S. Sociology 1910s-1950s. For related Web Sites (under construction) see: History of Sociology and Women in Sociology
Participation in Professional Meetings
Organization of American Historians, annual meeting Cleveland,
1965. Paper "Ray Stannard Baker: The Progressive as
Transcendentalist"
American Historical Association, annual meeting, Washington, 1969.
Paper on "Ray Stannard Baker's Following the Color Line"
History of Science Society, annual meeting at San Francisco, 1973.
Comment on paper by John C. Greene on "Defining Darwinism"
American Studies Association, Sub-Regional Meeting, Rider College,
February. 1974. Comments on group of papers on the theme "Americans:
People of Paradox"
American Studies Association, Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting,
Philadelphia, April, 1976. Comments on papers on "Philadelphia and
The Scottish Enlightenment"
Organization of American Historians, Annual Meeting, St. Louis, 1976.
Comment on Stephen Klein, "Essay Testing."
Social Science History Association, First Annual Meeting,
Philadelphia, October 1976. Comment on Stephen Collini, "Idealism and
The Development of Sociological Theory in England 1870-1914"
Colloqium on the History and Sociology of Science, University of
Pennsylvania, November 1979. Paper on "Darwinism and American
Sociology 1880-1920"
Participant in conference on Darwinism, Millersville University,
October 1984
Organization of American Historians, Annual Meeting April 1984. Paper
on "Darwinism and Post-Evolutionary American Sociology."
American Studies Conference, University of Tampere, Finland April
17-20 1985. Papers on "Horatio Alger and the Social Darwinists;"
"Objectivity and Journalism: the Muckrakers Reconsidered;" and
"Teaching American History at the Secondary Level: The Advanced
Placement Program in the U.S."
Conference "Cultura e Societa Nelle Americhe Degli Anni '30,"
University of Rome April 22-24 1985: Paper on "American Sociology and
Fascism: The Case of William Fielding Ogburn," to be published with
Conference proceedings.
University of Palermo, Sicily May 10, 1985. Lecture "Herbert Spencer,
Social Darwinism, and the Transformation of Anglo-American
Liberalism,"
Papers: "Were 19th Century Americans Antiurban?" and "Alternative
America Revisited," for Annual Conference sponsored by the Centro
Studi Americanni, Rome May 13-17, 1985.
University of Bochum/Ruhr and the JFK Institute, W. Berlin, June
10-12, 1985: Lecture/Seminars on social Darwinism
Invited Participant in "Works in Progress" Workshop, Department of
History, University of Delaware, October 1985
Panelist at Liberty Fund Conference on "Historical Precedents of
Unintended Order," November 21-23, 1985 at George Mason
University
Participant Second Tampere Conference , Tampere, Finland April 9-11,
1987. Presented papers "Scientism and Sexism: the Case of American
Sociology," and "Jessie Bernard: from Positivism to Feminism."
Chair and Commentator, session "Women and the Welfare State," Seventh
Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, June 21, 1987.
Panelist at Liberty Fund Conference on "Liberty and the Thought of
William Graham Sumner," Houston, TX June 25-28, 1987.
Panelist at Liberty Fund Conference, July 14-21, 1987. "Wealth,
Liberty, Morality," Fairfax, Virginia
Annual Meeting of American Sociological Association, August 1988,
Atlanta Georgia. Paper: "Sociology
and Scientism: the Case of William Fielding Ogburn."
Invited speaker, Albright College, Reading, Pa. September 25, 1988.
Lecture: "The Role of Scholarship at a Liberal Arts College."
Participant Nordic American Studies Association and Third Tampere
University Conference, Tampere Finland, May 1989 "The
Remasculinization of American Thought: 1910s-1950s"
Participant: American Studies Association, Tampere, Finland April
1991: "The American Academy and War"
Keynote Speaker at conference for Dutch secondary school teachers
sponsored by United States Information Service : "The Diversity
Debate: Multiculturalism in the United States" January 1992
Speaker conference on American reform tradition sponsored by Amerika
Haus, Frankfurt, Germany April 1992. "Progressivism and Its
Legacy."
Commentator conference "By Land, Sea, and Air," Leiden University
June 1992.
Commentator.American Studies Association, Costa Mesa, CA November
1992 on session "Sociology and Literature"
Tampere (Finland) American Studies Conference April 1993:, revised
version of "Diversity Debate" (above)
European American Studies Association Conference, Luxembourg, March
27, 1994, chair session on "Late 19th C. Sporting Isolation"
Penn State University, Altoona, invited speaker in series on Science,
Technology and Society: "Social Darwinism: A perennial American
Myth," September 22, 1994.
Organization of America Historians, annual meeting,Washington D.C.,
March, 1995 chair and commentator on session "Social Science and the
Uses of History"
Tampere (Finland) Biennial American Studies Conference, April 1995,
presentation "The Postmodern Challenge to American Scholarship"
American Studies Association, annual meeting Pittburgh, Pa. November
1995, chair of session on "David Potter's People of Plenty
revisited"
Co-director, Salzburg Seminar,
"Reform Movements in U.S. History," Salzburg, Austria, February
3-16, 1996.
"Ray Stannard Baker and the Legacy of Progressivism," 8th Maple Leaf and Eagle Conference in North American Studies, Helsinki , Finland, September 2000.