Whyte, William Foote, 1914-2000.http://www.news.cornell.edu/general/Sept96/Whyte_award.djg.htmlCornell sociologist
author of Street Corner Society (1943)
autobiography: Participant ObserverEducation:
B.A., Swarthmore, 1936
PhD, University of Chicago
Cornell Professor William Foote Whyte honored with award in his name by American Sociological Association
FOR RELEASE: Sept. 12, 1996
Contact: Darryl Geddes
Office: (607) 255-9735
E-Mail: djg9@cornell.eduITHACA, N.Y. -- William Foote Whyte, the Cornell sociologist who authored an early examination on street gangs culture, has received a newly established award from the American Sociological Association (ASA) for his "significant contribution to the practice of sociology."
The award is a double honor for the Cornell professor emeritus, as it will bear his name and be known as the William Foote Whyte Award. Whyte was honored at a meeting of the ASA in New York City last month. The award was presented by the Sociological Practice Section of the ASA.
Whyte, 82, a professor emeritus in the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations, is the author of numerous works, but he is best known for his book Street Corner Society, which was first published in 1943. Dismissed then as "another good slum study," the book was being hailed as a "sociologic classic" by the 1960s, as respect for Whyte's research methodology -- field work -- grew. The book has been translated into Spanish, Italian, French, German, Chinese and Japanese.
His autobiography, Participant Observer, was published in 1994 by ILR Press.
Whyte taught at Cornell from 1948 to 1980.
http://cornell-magazine.cornell.edu/Archive/Sept2000/SeptFTH.html
WILLIAM WHYTE, 86
William Foote Whyte, a sociology professor known for his work with urban gangs, died July 16. He was eighty-six. A 1936 graduate of Swarthmore, he earned a PhD in sociology from the University of Chicago. He began teaching on the Hill in 1948 as one of the first ILR professors. The title of his autobiography, Participant Observer, reflects his approach to academia--that a researcher can be a positive force for social change. "If there is a common theme in my work, it is my commitment to social exploration," he wrote. "Fieldwork fascinates me. I want to explain what is out there."
Whyte, who became an emeritus professor in 1979, published twenty books, including the ground-breaking Street Corner Society, a 1943 study of Italian gangs in Boston's North End. He is survived by his wife of sixty-two years, Kathleen King Whyte, four children, twelve grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.
Publications:
1 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Creative problem solving in the field : reflections on a career / William Foote Whyte. 1997
2 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Participant observer : an autobiography / William Foote Whyte. 1994
3 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Street corner society : the social structure of an Italian slum / William Foote Whyte. 1
4 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Making Mondragon : the growth and dynamics of the worker cooperative complex / William Foote Whyte, Kathleen King Whyte. 1991
5 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Social theory for action : how individuals and organizations learn to change / William Foote Whyte. 1991
6 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Participatory action research / William Foote Whyte, editor. 1991
7 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Making Mondragón : the growth and dynamics of the worker cooperative complex / William Foote Whyte, Kathleen King Whyte. 1988
8 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Industrial democracy : strategies for community revitalization / edited by Warner Woodworth, Christopher Meek, William Foote Whyte. 1985
9 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Learning from the field : a guide from experience / William Foote Whyte with the collaboration of Kathleen King Whyte. 1984
10 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Worker participation and ownership : cooperative strategies for strengthening local economies / William Foote Whyte ... [et al.]. 1983
11 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Street corner society : the social structure of an Italian slum / William Foote Whyte. 1981
12 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Participatory approaches to agricultural research and development : a state-of-the-art paper / William F. Whyte. 1981
13 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Money and motivation : an analysis of incentives in industry / by William Foote Whyte ... [et al.]. 1977
14 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Power, politics, and progress : social change in rural Peru / by William Foote Whyte and Giorgio Alberti. 1976
15 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Kuyo Chico; applied anthropology in an Indian community [by] Oscar Núñez del Prado, with the collaboration of William Foote Whyte. Translated by Lucy Whyte Russo and Richard Russo. 1973
16 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Ensayo de integracion de la poblacion campesina, el caso de Kuyo Chico (Cuzco) / Con la colaboracion de William F. Whyte. 1970
17 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Organizational behavior: theory and application. 1969
18 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Toward an integrated theory of development, economic and noneconomic variables in rural development / [by] William F. Whyte and Lawrence K. Williams. 1968
19 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Action research for management, a case report on research and action in industry / by William Foote Whyte and Edith Lentz Hamilton, with the collaboration of Meredith C. Wiley. 1964
20 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Men at work. 1961
21 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Men at work. 1961
22 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Man and organization; three problems in human relations in industry. 1959
23 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Man and organization, three problems in human relations in industry. 1959
24 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Money and motivation. 1955
25 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Street corner society; the social structure of an Italian slum. 1955 .
26 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Street corner society; the social structure of an Italian slum. 1955
27 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Money and motivation, an analysis of incentives in industry / by William Foote Whyte and Melville Dalton [and others. 1955
28 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Leadership and group participation, an analysis of the discussion group. 1953
29 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Pattern for industrial peace / by William Foote Whyte. 1951 Book or Microform
Van Pelt Library Call No. 331.1 W629.2 Available30 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Industry and society, edited by William Foote Whyte ... 1946
31 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Industry and society / edited by William Foote Whyte ... 1946
32 Whyte, William Foote, 1914- Street corner society; the social structure of an Italian slum, by William Foote Whyte. 1943
The New York Times
HEADLINE: William Whyte, a Gang Sociologist, Dies at 86
July 20, 2000, Thursday, Late Edition - Final
NAME: William F. Whyte
SECTION: Section B; Page 8; Column 4; National Desk
LENGTH: 1014 words
BYLINE: By STEVEN GREENHOUSEBODY:
William F. Whyte, a sociologist with a passion for reform who wrote "Street Corner Society," the trailblazing 1943 study of Italian-American gangs in the North End of Boston, died last Sunday in Ithaca, N.Y. He was 86. Mr. Whyte was a professor emeritus of sociology at Cornell University. In all, he wrote 20 influential books. But his first, "Street Corner Society," was the keystone of his career. Translated into Chinese, Japanese, German, French, Italian and Spanish, the book sold more than 270,000 copies, making it one of the best-selling sociology books in history.. .
William Foote Whyte was born on June 27, 1914, in Springfield, Mass., the only child of John Whyte, a professor of German, and Caroline Van Sickle. He grew up in the Bronx, Caldwell, N.J., and Bronxville, N.Y. He showed an early proclivity for research while still in high school in Bronxville, reporting for The Bronxville Press and writing numerous columns on the town's elementary schools. After spending a year in Germany with his father, he enrolled in Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, where he majored in economics, graduating in 1936.
