BOTTOMORE, Professor Thomas Burton, 1920-1992, sociologist

Scope and Content

Papers relating to the life and career of Professor Thomas Burton Bottomore, including material relating to his early life, 1930s-1949, such as his Phd thesis; working and research materials, 1950s-1992, comprising notes, articles, press cuttings, translations and offprints of material on subjects including socialist theory, modernism, world systems, radical movements, and Rudolf Herferding; material on the French civil service and students at the Ecole Nationale d'Administration, [1952-1969], possibly for a thesis by Bottomore on the subject; correspondence, 1953-1992, with students, publishers, colleagues and friends, as well as contacts in Greece, Spain, the USA, Canada, India, China, Japan, Africa, Australia, Latin America, and Pakistan; papers concerning conferences, 1960-1981, including correspondence, programmes and texts of lectures and seminars; material relating to campaigns, 1972-1989, notably against Cruise missiles; teaching papers, 1968-1992, mainly comprising course outlines, references, material relating to Sussex University and Sussex Sociology Group; correspondence, committee papers and circulars relating to organisations, 1950-1977, including the Praxis Educational Board, the International Sociological Association (ISA), and the International Society for Socialist Studies (ISSS); material relating to his time in Canada, 1963-1987, including papers concerning work at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver; papers relating to writings and publications, 1957-1992, including correspondence, royalty statements and notes concerning books written by Bottomore, copies of articles on sociological subjects, texts of interviews and radio talks, and reviews; material concerning journals, 1956-1992, such as Current Sociology, Socialism of the Future, and Praxis ; transcript of Bottomore's personal diary, 1949-1992.

Administrative / Biographical History

Born 1920; educated London School of Economics (BSc, MSc); served British Army, 1943-1947, as part of The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment); Staff Capt, General Headquarters, India, 1945-1946; Rockefeller Foundation Fellow, University of Paris, 1951-1952; Reader in Sociology, London School of Economics, 1952-1964; Editor, Current Sociology , 1953-1962; English Editor, European Journal of Sociology , 1960-1973; Professor of Sociology and Head of the Department of Anthropology, Political Science and Sociology, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia, 1965-1967; Professor of Sociology, University of Sussex, 1968-1985; Emeritus Professor, 1985-1992; Executive Secretary, 1953-1959, Vice-President, 1970-1974, and President, 1974-1978, International Sociological Association; President, British Sociological Association, 1969-1971; retired, 1985; British Language Editor, Socialism in the Future ; died 1992.
Publications: translator of German Sociology (William Heinemann, London, 1957); Classes in modern societ y (Ampersand, London, 1955); Critics of society: radical thought in North America (George Allen and Unwin, London, 1967); Élites and society (Watts and Co, London, 1964); Sociology: a guide to problems and literature (George Allen and Unwin, London, 1962); Sociology as social criticism (Allen and Unwin, London, 1975); translator and editor of Marx's Early writings (Watts and Co, London, 1963); editor Selected writings in Sociology and Social Philosophy (Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1963); Citizenship and social class (Pluto Press, London, 1992); A history of sociological analysis (Heinemann Educational, London, 1979); Marxist Sociology (Macmillan, London, 1975); editor Readings in Marxist Sociology (Clarendon, Oxford, 1983); translator and editor Austro-Marxism (Clarendon, Oxford, 1978); Theories of modern capitalism (Allen and Unwin, London, 1985); editor Max Weber and Karl Marx (Allen and Unwin, London, 1982); editor Karl Marx (Blackwood, Oxford, 1979); The Frankfurt School (Horwood, Chichester, 1984); editor Crisis and contention in sociology (Sage, London, 1975); editor Sociology, the state of the art (Sage, London, 1982); Sociology and socialism (Wheatsheaf, Brighton, 1984); translator The philosophy of money (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1981); editor Finance capital: a study of the latest phase of capitalist development (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1981); editor Modern interpretations of Marx (Blackwell, Oxford, 1981); editor A dictionary of Marxist thought (Blackwell, Oxford, 1983); Between marginalism and Marxism (St Martins, New York, 1992); Political sociology (Pluto, London, 1993); editor The Blackwell dictionary of twentieth century social thought (Blackwell, Oxford, 1993); Economic Sociology of J A Schumpter (Harvester Wheatsheaf, London, 1992); The socialist economy; theory and practice (Harvester Wheatsheaf, London, 1990); editor The capitalist class; an international study (Harvester Wheatsheaf, London, 1989); editor Interpretations of Marx (Blackwell, Oxford, 1988).

Arrangement

Arranged in files according to subject.

Access Information

Closed until listed.

Other Finding Aids

Unlisted.

Archivist's Note

Sources: Who's Who 1897-1996 (A & C Black, 1996); British Library On-Line Public Access Catalogue 97; Historical Manuscripts Commission National Register of Archives. Compiled by Sarah Aitchison as part of the RSLP AIM25 project.

Conditions Governing Use

Apply to Archivist for copyright details.

Custodial History

Deposited by the family, via Dr William Outhwaite, in 1993.

Related Material

The BLPES also holds papers of Thomas Bottomore relating to the British Sociological Association, 1967-1977 (Ref: BSA/Bottomore), and a Chinese translation of Marxist Sociology by Bottomore (Ref: Bottomore Additional 1).