Bernard Carl Rosen

Background

Rosen was born on July 1, 1922 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. He was the son of Morris and Sophie Slaviter Rosen. He was raised in a family that lacked the resources to send him to college.

Education

Bernard Carl studied at Temple University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1948. He also had a Master of Arts from Columbia University in 1950. Finally, he received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1952.

Career

During World War II, Rosen enlisted in the U.S. Army and saw active combat in France and Germany. He remembered entering the Dachau concentration camp soon after it was liberated by the Allies, and taking care of some of the inmates. He said that “one of the more satisfying experiences” of his military career was his capture of a hidden Nazi prison guard, whom he turned over to the military police.

Bernard started as an instructor at Yale University, New Haven during 1952-53. He was an assistant professor at University of Connecticut, Storrs during 1953-61. Next five years he worked at University of Nebraska, Lincoln, as an associate professor, then as a full professor.

From 1966 he worked at Cornell University, Ithaca and held a professorships in the psychology, human development, family studies, and Latin American studies departments, became a professor emeritus in 1993. Rosen has accepted posts as a visiting professor at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Escola Sociologia and Politica (Sao Paolo), the Department of Social Relations at Harvard University, the London School of Economics, and the Institute of Social Psychology at the University of Padua, Italy. He has received research grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Mental Health.

For two years Bernard Carl worked at the London School of Economics and Institute of Social Psychology, University of Padua in Italy.

He worked as a member of an editorial board of Luso- Brazilian Review; consultant to National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health, Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

His book, The Industrial Connection, a cross-cultural study of how industrialization’s effects on the family can influence individual achievement and personality. Critics considered the book well researched and convincingly argued. It received a respectful review in Choice, as well as praise from Robert C. Williamson in Social Forces. David O. Hansen, in Luso-Brazilian Review, called The Industrial Connection “a classic in the comparative family literature and a valuable source book on the Brazilian family.”

Another cross-cultural study, Women, Work and Achievement, dealt with the complex subject of industrialization’s effect on traditional sex roles. Choice reviewer M. M. Ferree found Rosen’s data “impressive,” but pointed out that his emphasis on theory weakened the book’s effectiveness. “Points are selectively emphasized to give a picture of uniform linear change (progress),” wrote Ferree, “even when his asides suggest that he realizes there is more complexity.” The reviewer noted that much of Rosen’s research has been presented more thoroughly in journal articles.

Achievements

• Bernard Rosen was an influential sociologist, professor emeritus at Cornell University. Throughout his work, Rosen has explored issues relating to minorities, class, and achievement - subjects of increasing interest and concern through the 1950s and 1960s as postwar demographic shifts caused great social change throughout the United States and other pails of the world. He has written six books and numerous scholarly articles, which have been reprinted as chapters in over thirty textbooks. His most famous works are Achievement in American Society, The Industrial Connection, Winners and Losers of the Information Revolution: Psychosocial Change and Its Discontents and others.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Industrial Connection: Achievement & the Family in Developing Societies

    (The Industrial Connection, a cross-cultural study of how ...)

    1982
  • Winners and Losers of the Information Revolution: Psychosocial Change and Its Discontents

    (This volume examines how massive social change over the p...)

    1998
  • Women, Work and Achievement:

    (This book examines the impact of the industrial society o...)

    1989
  • Adolescence and Religion 1965
  • Masks and Mirrors 2001
  • Achievement in American Society 1969

Membership

Bernard is a member of Social Psychology Section, Midwest Sociological Society.

Interests

• art collecting, travel, visiting museums, learning other languages

Connections

On September 10, 1950 Bernard Carl married Shirley Rosenbluth. They have a child, Michele Beth.

Father:

Morris Rosen

Mother:

Sophie Slaviter Rosen

Spouse:

Shirley Rosenbluth

child:

Michele Beth Rosen

coworker:

H. Crockett

coworker:

C. Nunn

References

• Contemporary Authors, Vol. 181
  2000