Regional Oral History Office University of California the Bancroft Library Berkeley, California

Regional Oral History Office University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Neil Smelser NEIL SMELSER: DISTINGUISHED SOCIOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR AND SERVANT TO THE PUBLIC Interviews conducted by Jess McIntosh and Lisa Rubens in 2011-2012 Copyright © 2013 by The Regents of the University of California This interview was generously funded by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Since 1954 the Regional Oral History Office has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the nation. Oral History is a method of collecting historical information through tape-recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The tape recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is bound with photographs and illustrative materials and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ********************************* All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Neil Smelser, dated March 19, 2012. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Excerpts up to 1000 words from this interview may be quoted for publication without seeking permission as long as the use is non-commercial and properly cited. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to The Bancroft Library, Head of Public Services, Mail Code 6000, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000, and should follow instructions available online at http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/collections/cite.html It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Neil Smelser, “Neil Smelser: Distinguished Sociologist, University Professor and Servant to the Public” conducted by Jess McIntosh and Lisa Rubens 2011- 2012, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2013. NEIL SMELSER v Table of Contents—NEIL SMELSER Interview History by Lisa Rubens xxiii Foreword by Jeffrey Alexander xxv Interview # 1: March 1, 2011 [Audio File 1] 1 Birth in Missouri — German heritage: a family of farmers; importance of an educated mother — Growing up in Phoenix, Arizona: music lessons; relationships with brothers [William] Bill and Phillip — Early affinity for schooling — Impact of Bill’s participation in World War II — Moving homes — Family values and religion — Early work experience — High school journalism, a formative training — Early academic success — Social structure of school and neighborhood life [Audio File 2] 18 An ambitious schedule of work and school — Influence of father’s work as high school drama teacher — Reflecting on impact of the Great Depression and family’s standard of living — More on the value of journalism — Interest in sports, politics and athletics — Particular attraction to literature and philosophy — Special relationships with teachers — Political attitudes in the family — Father as "agrarian radical" and New Dealer — Following the news of World War II : Bill's military service; developing an historical consciousness — Reflecting on prisoner of war and internment camps near Phoenix— Opposing racism in Phoenix — Traveling to California on high school debate team — Developing a cosmopolitan perspective through reading — Establishing distance from father's parochialism and agrarian radicalism — Discusses Bill's studies at UC Berkeley and Harvard — College applications to Harvard, Yale and the University of Arizona — Winning a National Scholarship to Harvard — Recalling romantic interests in high school — Relationship to Phoenix elite — Identified as a diplomat — More on family life Interview # 2: March 8, 2011 [Audio File 3] 41 Parent’s ambivalence about their son going to Harvard — Jealousy among peers and teachers — High school education and relevant coursework — Early exposure to philosophy via father — Arrival at Harvard and freshman year courses — Harvard's over -enrollment problem — Sleeping in the gym and rallying fellow students to protest lack of accommodations — A period of loneliness — Academic success and winning the Detur Prize — Social life freshman year and relationship with roommate — The GI Bill and associating with WWII veterans — Confidence in academic position and feeling of acceptance — Important first-year professors: Raphael Demos, Gordon Allport, Talcott Parson, Crane Brinton — First impressions of the Department of Social Relations — vi Acting out struggles with father and brother via choice of major — Focusing on sociology — Relationship with Henry Murray second year at Harvard — Staying in contact with family, but feeling independent — Financial support from scholarships, family, and academic awards — Membership in the United World Federalists and Social Relations Society — Athletic endeavors freshman year — Negotiating the dress code and associations with young elites — Early political leanings: postwar zeal for world government, and disillusionment with the movement — Early work majoring in the Department of Social Relations — Exposure to George Homans and Clyde Kluckhohn — DSR requirements and emphasis upon interdisciplinarity — Early encouragement from Barrington Moore and Henry Murray — Methodology requirements — Differing methods and political leanings among the DSR faculty — Finding a niche in the DSR — Working with Gardner Lindzey — Competing for a Rhodes Scholarship: interviewed by UC President Robert Sproul and raising the the issue of loyalty oaths — Cold War politics, McCarthyism and being groomed for the CIA — Lack of interest in government service [Audio File 4] 59 More on the Rhodes Scholarship application process — Attending the 1951 Salzburg Seminar and first experience in Europe — Bicycling through France before the Salzburg Seminar — Dynamics of the Seminar — American peers and teachers at Salzburg: George Homans, Henry Steele Commager, David McClelland, Howard Higman, Alfred Kazin — The personal import of the Salzburg Seminar and trip through Europe — Previous summers working as a reporter for the Arizona Republic — First experience in New York City — The Korean War and struggle to receive educational deferment for the Rhodes Scholarship — Moving to England — Relationship with and marriage to Helen Margolis — Reading in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics — Joining the rowing team at Oxford — The ingratiating academic environment at Oxford compared to the alienating social environment — Eschewing rowing to focus on academics — Choosing Magdalen College and the structure of study — Return to Harvard and volunteering for Henry Murray's psychological experiments — Becoming friends with Murray and Gardner Lindzey — Choosing senior thesis topic — Class stratification at Harvard —The reputation of the DSR Interview # 3: March 15, 2011 [Audio File 5] 73 Early 1950s Cold War politics and McCarthy — Being an American at Oxford during McCarthyism — Second year at Oxford — Giving up rowing to focus on studies — Balancing studies and meetings with Helen — The ordeal of the exams — Scoring a first, and its impact on being admitted into the Society of Fellows — Details of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics program at Oxford: tutors and classes — Encouraged to pursue the George Webb Medley Prize in economics — Keynesianism at Oxford — Ordinary language philosophy at Oxford — Attending lectures of Gilbert Ryle and John Austin — Disillusionment with ordinary language philosophy — Corresponding with Talcott Parsons during second year at Oxford — The history of relationship to Parsons to 1953 vii — Parsons' Marshall lectures at Oxford — Parsons asks for help with refining the Marshall lectures — Collaborating with William Moffat on the revisions — Traveling with Parsons to Cambridge and to Salzburg — Asked to co-author what would become Economy and Society — Recruited by Robert Merton to go to Columbia and by Parsons to return to Harvard — Reading of Parsons' work while an undergraduate — Reflections on Parsons' personality — Explanation of early 1950s Parsonian theory — Personal contributions to Parsons: Economic "imperialism" versus social systems "imperialism;" tensions with economists — Critique of rational choice and revisions to the Keynesian model — Work on "family" and "personality" analysis in 1954 — Returning to Harvard in September 1954 — Renominated to the Society of Fellows by Parsons and Moore – Class and work schedule — A privileged relationship with Parson; wreckoning with envy of peers — Other important faculty relationships: Samuel Stouffer, Henry Murray, Clyde Kluckhohn, Barrington Moore, Gardner Lindzey — The humanist focus of the Society of Fellows — Members of oral exam committee: Stauffer, Parsons, James Dusenberry; recounting some questions from the exam — Specializing in economic sociology and class stratification

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