Coleman, James Samuel

▪ 1996

      U.S. sociologist (b. May 12, 1926, Bedford, Ind.—d. March 25, 1995, Chicago, Ill.), conducted landmark scientific studies that significantly influenced U.S. education policies. After earning a Ph.D. (1955) in sociology from Columbia University, New York City, he held a fellowship (1955-56) at the Center for Advanced Study of Behavioral Science, Palo Alto, Calif.; assistant professor of sociology (1956-59) at the University of Chicago; professor (1959-73) at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.; and senior study director (from 1973) of the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center. Coleman's controversial findings—that disadvantaged black children learned better in integrated classes when mixed with a majority of middle-class children—provided the impetus for busing during the 1960s and '70s, a practice that created a furor and led to violent confrontations in some cities. When Coleman claimed in 1975 that busing had been a failure because it had contributed to white flight from public schools, critics assailed him for seemingly reversing himself. Some members of the American Sociological Association launched proceedings to revoke Coleman's membership, but the move was not successful, and Coleman eventually became president of the association in 1991. Another study by Coleman in 1981 caused a stir when he concluded that private and Roman Catholic schools provided a superior education to public schools, but he soon retracted his findings, citing flaws in the data. Among his writings are The Adolescent Society (1961), Youth, Transition to Adulthood (1975), The Asymmetric Society (1982), and Foundations of Social Theory (1990), which he viewed as his most important sociological work.

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