Campbell, Angus, 1910-1980

Survey researcher, director of the Institute for Social Research of the University of Michigan.

Angus Campbell was born in Leiters, Indiana, on August 10, 1910. He attended public schools in Portland, Oregon, then went on to study psychology at the University of Oregon and Stanford University.

Prior to coming to the University of Michigan Campbell taught at Northwestern University. In addition, he received a postdoctoral fellowship to study in the Department of Anthropology at Cambridge University, then with the coming of war left to spend several months conducting a field study of the black population of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. Early in 1942 he joined Rensis Likert and a staff of social scientists in Washington, D.C., to work providing information to federal agencies on various social and economic problems that had arisen as a result of the war. His title was Assistant Head of the Division of Program Surveys of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics.

Campbell was one of a group of scholars who came out of the Division of Program Surveys dedicated to establishing a new kind of survey research facility in a university setting. Given encouragement by the University of Michigan, Campbell, Likert and others came to Ann Arbor in 1946 to set up the Survey Research Center, one of the units out of which the Institute for Social Research ultimately evolved. He headed the SRC from 1948 to 1970, at which time he succeeded Rensis Likert as ISR director.

Campbell was most closely associated with survey research in three areas: political behavior, racial attitudes, and quality of life studies. He directed a long-time study in political elections that began with the presidential election of 1948. For this and later succeeding studies, Campbell became known as a nationally recognized expert in the field of political surveys.

During the 1960's and at the request of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, the Survey Research Center undertook a study of race problems in fifteen major cities. Campbell and Howard Schuman were directors of the study which was undertaken early in 1968. Periodically thereafter, Campbell continued to monitor trends in racial attitudes by repeating parts of the study (usually every two years).

Campbell's third major interest was finding ways of conceptualizing and measuring the psychological quality of life. He began work in this area in 1968 with support from the Russell Sage Foundation.

In addition to his responsibilities at ISR, Campbell was Professor of Sociology and Psychology at the University and a lecturer in the Law School. He also served on many University committees.

Campbell was active in many professional organizations and served as a consultant to government agencies. He was an author and editor, and much in demand as a speaker. He died on December 15,1980 at his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan.