Nels Anderson

Born in Chicago in 1889, he grew up amid frequent moves and a wide range of communities, experiences that later gave his sociology an unusually grounded feel. He studied at Brigham Young University, earned an M.A. at the University of Chicago, and completed a doctorate at New York University.

His best-known book, The Hobo: The Sociology of the Homeless Man (1923), is widely recognized as an early landmark of the Chicago School and a pioneering work of participant observation. Across his career he wrote about hobos, urban neighborhoods, work, leisure, and marginalized communities, drawing on both research and lived experience.

He also worked for many years outside the university world, including public service and labor-related roles in the United States and abroad, and later led the UNESCO Institute for Social Science at Cologne. In the final part of his career he returned to university teaching, serving at the University of New Brunswick until 1977, and remained intellectually active until shortly before his death in 1986.