Gans, Herbert J., 1927-sociologist
University of Pennsylvania. Doctor of Science, honoris causa.
Biography from Penn Commencement honorary doctoratesHerbert J. Gans, the first graduate of Penn's doctoral program in City Planning, whose research and commentary on urban sociology and planning has served as a national standard for more than 50 years.
Herbert J. Gans’ decisive commentary on urban sociology and planning has served as a national standard for more than 50 years while American society tried to address the consequences of poverty, social stratification, and race in its cities and towns.
Fleeing Nazi Germany in 1938 for England and arriving in the US in 1940, he earned his undergraduate and master’s degree from the University of Chicago, and his Ph.D. in planning and sociology from Penn in 1957. He was the first graduate of Penn’s Ph.D. program in City Planning.
Between 1950 and 1953, he worked at several public and private agencies, including the federal agency that preceded the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. His social research for an architectural firm supported plans for developing two new towns.
From 1953 until 1971 he was affiliated with Penn’s Institute of Urban Studies, the Center for Urban Education, and the MIT-Harvard Joint Center for Urban Studies. He also taught sociology and urban planning at Penn, Teachers College of Columbia University and MIT. In 1971, he joined Columbia’s faculty, and in 1985 he was appointed the Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology.
He has consulted for the Ford Foundation, the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and HUD, and the National Commission on Civil Disorders.
He is the author of a dozen books, including The Urban Villagers in 1962, and The Levittowners in 1967. He has also published over 170 articles and book chapters.
Dr. Gans’ honors include election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Robert and Helen Lynd Award for Lifetime Contributions to Research in Community and Urban Sociology, and the Freedom Forum Media Study Center’s Award for Distinguished Contribution to Media Studies. He has served as president of the Eastern Sociological Society and of the American Sociological Association.
