author
E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess
1886–1966
Best known as one of the early builders of urban sociology, he helped shape the University of Chicago tradition of studying city life up close. His writing also ranged widely into family life, aging, delinquency, and social organization.
2 Audiobooks
Introduction to the Science of Sociology
by Robert Ezra Park, E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess
The city
by Robert Ezra Park, E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess, Roderick Duncan McKenzie
About the author
Born in Tilbury, Ontario, on May 16, 1886, Ernest Watson Burgess became a Canadian-American sociologist whose career was closely tied to the University of Chicago. He studied at Kingfisher College, earned his Ph.D. at Chicago in 1913, and went on to become one of the best-known figures in the Chicago school of sociology.
Burgess is especially remembered for research on the modern city and for work that treated social life as something that could be observed carefully and studied in detail. He wrote influential books and articles on urban life, family relationships, delinquency, and aging, and he also served as president of the American Sociological Society, now the American Sociological Association.
He died in Chicago on December 27, 1966. For readers meeting his work today, Burgess stands out as a scholar who helped make sociology more empirical, grounded, and attentive to the patterns of everyday life.