Thornton, Arland 1944-

PERSONAL:

Born July 18, 1944. Education: Brigham Young University, B.S., 1968; University of Michigan, M.A., 1973, Ph.D., 1975.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 426 Thompson St., Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248; Department of Sociology, University of Michigan, 3012 LS&A Bldg., Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1382. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Academic and writer. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, assistant research scientist to research professor, 1975—, department of sociology, lecturer, then professor, 1977—, associate chair, 1986-87, Population Studies Center, research affiliate to research professor, 1983—, associate director, 1995-1997, acting director, 1997-98, director, 2003-08, Center for Chinese Studies, faculty associate, 2005—, department of sociology executive committee member, 1985-87, 1994-95, 1997-99, 2007-08; member of the Family and Child Well-Being Research Network, 1993-99.

MEMBER:

American Sociological Association, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Population Association of America (president, 2001—), National Council on Family Relations, International Union for the Scientific Study of Population, European Association of Population Studies, Asian Population Association.

AWARDS, HONORS:

National Science Foundation Fellowship, 1971-75; National Institutes of Health, Social Sciences and Population Study Section, review of research grants, 1987-91; Excellence in Research Award, University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, 1995; Population Research Subcommittee, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, review of research grants, 1996-2000; Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2001-11.Otis Dudley Duncan Book Award, American Sociological Association (ASA) Population Section, and Goode Distinguished Book Award, ASA Family Section, both 1995, both for Social Change and the Family in Taiwan; Distinguished Career Award, ASA Family Section, 2000; Goode Distinguished Book Award, ASA Family Section, 2007, for Reading History Sideways; Outstanding Publication Award, ASA Aging and the Life Course Section, 2008, for Marriage and Cohabitation, 2008.

WRITINGS:

(With Hui-Sheng Lin and others) Social Change and the Family in Taiwan, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 1994.

(Editor, with Linda Waite, Christine Bachrach, Michelle Hindin, and Elizabeth Thomson) Ties That Bind: Perspectives on Marriage and Cohabitation, Aldine de Gruyter (Hawthorne, NY), 2000.

(Editor) The Well-Being of Children and Families: Research and Data Needs, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 2001.

Reading History Sideways: The Fallacy and Enduring Impact of the Developmental Paradigm on Family Life, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 2005.

(With William G. Axinn and Yu Xie) Marriage and Cohabitation, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 2007.

(Editor, with Rukmalie Jayakody and William Axinn) International Family Change: Ideational Perspectives, L. Erlbaum Associates (New York, NY), 2008.

SIDELIGHTS:

Arland Thornton was born on July 18, 1944. He received his bachelor of science degree from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, in 1968, and his master of arts and doctoral degrees in sociology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1973 and 1975 respectively. In 1975 he began working at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research in the Survey Research Center as an assistant research scientist. Since that time he has also served as a professor in the department of sociology, as director of the Population Studies Center, and as a faculty associate in the Center for Chinese Studies.

Thornton's research focuses on issues surrounding the sociology and demography of marital and family relationships, with studies conducted in Nepal, Taiwan, Argentina, and the United States. One of his central areas of research centers on developmental idealism studies, which is a research program that measures and investigates the ideas and theories of social and economic development held by people in everyday life. This research program is motivated by the argument that the ideas and theories of development have for centuries been powerful forces for social and economic change. With a team of collaborators from around the world, Thornton is currently pursuing three main research goals: first, to estimate the extent to which developmental ideas are known and believed around the world; second, to evaluate the factors influencing the spread and acceptance of developmental ideas; and third, to study the consequences of holding or rejecting these ideas for a range of health and demographic behaviors.

Thornton wrote Social Change and the Family in Taiwan with Hui-Sheng Lin and with contributions from academics from both Taiwan and the United States. It examines the changes that have taken place in Taiwan since World War II, with the impacts of industrialization, advances in educational opportunities, movement of the population from rural to urban settings, increased standards of living, and the expansion of mass media that provides the populace with a greater view of worldwide issues, ideas, and lifestyles. These influences have caused Taiwanese society to change from a strongly family-oriented way of life to one that looks outside the family for relationships, work, and entertainment. Social Change and the Family in Taiwan explores how these changes have affected different aspects of the culture, such as increased independence in matters of dating, sex, and marriage among young people, and the resulting weakening of familial links. It also shows, however, that some values remain constant, such as the desire for children, especially sons, and family support for the elderly.

The data used for the book was collected from a series of surveys conducted throughout Taiwan by the Taiwan Population Studies Centre and the Taiwan Provincial Institute for Family Planning, as well as from registration and census results. In a review of Social Change and the Family in Taiwan for the Journal of Contemporary Asia, Jurgen Rudolph commented, "The volume is a treasure chest of hitherto unavailable statistical data on the Taiwanese family in the English medium." The book won both the Otis Dudley Duncan Book Award from the American Sociological Association (ASA) Population Section and the Goode Distinguished Book Award from the ASA Family Section in 1995.

In 2007, Thornton received another Goode Distinguished Book Award from the ASA Family Section for Reading History Sideways: The Fallacy and Enduring Impact of the Developmental Paradigm on Family Life. In the book, he describes how scholars of the late 1700s and 1800s used developmental thinking and methods to reach conclusions about family life and changes in family life in Europe prior to 1800. Thornton next looks at how developmental thinking and methods became a powerful force for worldwide family change during the 1800s and 1900s. He argues that developmental ideas concerning the value of modern family life, the causal connections between family and socioeconomic matters, and a commitment to freedom and equality have been central elements in worldwide family change during the past two centuries.

According to a reviewer on the Emory Center for Myth and Ritual in American Life Web site, in Reading History Sideways, Thornton "critically examines the long discredited notion of a universal linear development of societies along primitive to more advanced stages." He "brings in evidence to dispel the myth of the great family transition" and argues that such inaccurate assumptions about Western societal development have in turn driven fundamental changes in family life elsewhere in the world. John C. Caldwell, in a review for the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, wrote that "there are provocative ideas in the book which may provide an agenda for anthropological research." However, in the Population and Development Review, Steven Ruggles wrote: "If the world's people knew that Europe was actually exceptional from the outset, Thornton implies, they would maintain more of their traditional family patterns and values. Few social scientists of any sort will be convinced by this interpretation." Likewise, Canadian Journal of Sociology Online contributor Gerald Cradock declared, "Readers seeking a broad treatment of the history and philosophy of developmentalism and its influence on European and global practices will find themselves disappointed."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, December 1, 2006, Susannah Ottaway, review of Reading History Sideways: The Fallacy and Enduring Impact of the Developmental Paradigm on Family Life, p. 1465.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, September 1, 1995, J.W. Salaff, review of Social Change and the Family in Taiwan, p. 224; March 1, 2006, K.M. McKinley, review of Reading History Sideways, p. 1312.

Contemporary Sociology, January 1, 1997, review of Social Change and the Family in Taiwan, p. 76; September 1, 2002, Robert Crosnoe, review of The Well-Being of Children and Families: Research and Data Needs, p. 539; May 1, 2006, Tim Futing Liao, review of Reading History Sideways, p. 260.

Current Anthropology, April 1, 2007, "Rethinking the Politics of Family Studies," review of Reading History Sideways, p. 338.

International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, April 1, 2006, Rebecca Jane Probert, review of Reading History Sideways, p. 127.

International Review of Social History, August 1, 2006, Daniel Scott Smith, review of Reading History Sideways, p. 301; August 1, 2006, review of Reading History Sideways, p. 322.

Journal of Asian Studies, May 1, 1996, Stevan Harrell, review of Social Change and the Family in Taiwan, p. 451.

Journal of Contemporary Asia, May 1, 1998, Jurgen Rudolph, review of Social Change and the Family in Taiwan, p. 264.

Journal of Economic Literature, September 1, 1995, review of Social Change and the Family in Taiwan, p. 1459; June 1, 2002, review of The Well-Being of Children and Families, p. 637.

Journal of Interdisciplinary History, June 22, 2006, Etienne Van de Walle, review of Reading History Sideways, p. 103.

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, March 1, 2006, John C. Caldwell, review of Reading History Sideways, p. 222.

Population and Development Review, March 1, 2006, Steven Ruggles, review of Reading History Sideways, p. 174.

Social Service Review, December 1, 2006, review of Reading History Sideways, p. 764.

ONLINE

Canadian Journal of Sociology Online,http://www.cjsonline.ca/ (September, 2006), Gerald Cradock, review of Reading History Sideways.

Developmental Idealism Web site,http://www.developmentalidealism.org/ (September 15, 2008), author profile.

Emory Center for Myth and Ritual in American Life Web site,http://www.marial.emory.edu/ (December 6, 2006), author profile and review of Reading History Sideways.

University of Michigan Population Studies Center Web site,http://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/ (July 31, 2008), author profile and curriculum vitae.

University of Minnesota Department of History Web site,http://www.hist.umn.edu/ (July 31, 2008), David Scott Smith, review of Reading History Sideways.