Emory S. (Emory Stephen) Bogardus

Born in 1882 and active through much of the twentieth century, Emory S. Bogardus was an American sociologist whose work focused on race relations, immigration, and social attitudes. He is most closely associated with the Bogardus Social Distance Scale, a tool that became widely used in social research to measure people’s willingness to accept members of other groups in different kinds of social relationships.

Bogardus taught at the University of Southern California, where he played an important role in developing the sociology program. His career also included national recognition in the field: he served as president of the American Sociological Association in 1931.

Remembered as one of the early builders of American sociology, he wrote extensively and helped bring the study of prejudice and intergroup relations into a more systematic, research-based form.