Andrew Abbott

Andrew Delano Abbott (born November 1948) is an American sociologist and social theorist working at the University of Chicago. His research topics range from occupations and professions to the philosophy of methods, the history of academic disciplines, to the sociology of knowledge. He is also the editor of the American Journal of Sociology.

Abbott attended Phillips Academy at Andover, and majored in history and literature at Harvard University. During the studying (1967-1971) he also worked as Research Assistant for Roger Revelle at Harvard University Center for Population Studies.

From 1971 to 1982, he was a graduate student in the Department of Sociology of the University of Chicago. He defended his dissertation in 1982, written under the supervision of Morris Janowitz. The dissertation, never published, was a study of the emergence of psychiatry as a profession.

During 1973-1978 worked at Research and Evaluation Department, Manteno State Hospital.

From 1978 to 1991, he was on the faculty at Rutgers University and became an Instructor to Associate Professor in 1986. He then returned to the University of Chicago, worked as a Professor of the Department of Sociology and the College from 1991 to 1997, then became Ralph Lewis Professor in 1997 continuing up to 2000.

Abbott was Master of the Social Science Division (1993-1996) and Chair of the Department of Sociology (1999-2002). Until recently, he was also the chair of the University's library board, where he spearheaded the development of the Mansueto library, an innovative structure aimed at making the ever growing amount of print material more easily accessible to researchers.

Abbott edited Work and Occupations from 1991 to 1994. Prior to that, he has also been the editor of the leading journal in U.S. Sociology, the American Journal of Sociology, since 2000.

His present positions are both at University of Chicago. Abbott became the Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor in Sociology in 2001. He is occupied as a Senior Fellow at Argonne National Laboratory since 2005.

...
Wikipedia