BOSKOFF, ALVIN

BOSKOFF, ALVIN (1927– ), U.S. sociologist. Born in New York, Boskoff received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina in 1950. He taught sociology at several universities and from 1964 was professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Boskoff's main interest was the application of general sociological theories to specialized studies with particular emphasis on power, decision-making, and processes of social change. His theoretical work is embodied in Modern Sociological Theory in Continuity and Change (with Howard Becker, 1957), Sociology and History (with Werner J. Cahnman, 1964), and in his paper, "Functional Analysis as a Source of a Theoretical Repertory and Research Tasks in the Study of Social Change," in G.K. Zollschan and W. Hirsh (eds.), Explorations in Social Change (1964). Boskoff 's own specialized research was concerned chiefly with problems of the urban community and with political sociology. He also wrote The Sociology of Urban Regions: Juvenile Delinquency in Norfolk, Virginia (1962), Theory in American Sociology (1969), The Mosaic of Sociological Theory (1972), and Sociology: The Study of Man in Adaptation (with John T. Doby and William W. Pendleton, 1973). Boskoff was an associate editor of the American Sociological Review. In 1979 he served as chair of the Theory Council of the American Sociological Association. As professor emeritus at Emory University, his realms of interest encompassed sociological theory, comparative urban structures, stratification, social change, mass media, and lifestyle.

[Werner J. Cahnman /

Ruth Beloff (2^nd ed.)]