Sorokin, Pitirim Alexandrovitch(1889-1968)
Sorokin, Pitirim Alexandrovitch(1889-1968)
Professor of sociology with special interest in the supraconscious, manifestations of genius, and creativity. He was born January 21, 1889, at Turya, Vologda Province, Russia. He studied at the University of St. Petersburg (M.A. criminal law, 1916; Ph.D. sociology, 1922). He became a lecturer at the University of St. Petersburg but was eventually banished by the Soviet government in 1922.
He moved to the United States and became a professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota (1924-30). In 1930, he moved to Harvard University, where he founded and headed the department of sociology (1930-43). In 1943, he became the director of the Harvard Research Center in Creative Altruism where he remained until his retirement. Sorokin published 30 books on sociology and history.
He contributed an introduction to The Psychic Source Book, edited by Alson J. Smith, which includes an appendix in which Sorokin wrote on the importance of parapsychology. He died February 19, 1968.