One of four young sociologists who joined the faculty at UMass Amherst in the years after the Second World War, John Manfredi carried the entire load of teaching theory from 1948 to 1967. A native of Philadelphia and graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (BA 1942), Manfredi came to Amherst after completing his MA at Harvard in 1948, teaching while simultaneously completing a dissertation on "The Relationship of Class-Structured Pathologies to the Contents of Popular Periodical Fiction, 1936-1940" (Harvard, 1951).
A specialist in social theory and cultural systems, Manfredi taught both sociology and anthropology for several years as his interests evolved from a focus on class and social pathology to Italian sociological theory to the sociology of religion and art. A valued mentor and inspiring teacher, he wrote two monographs: Periodical Resources in Italian Sociology (1977) and his best known work, The Social Limits of Art (1982). Manfredi retired from teaching in 1985 and died in February 1993.
From the guide to the John Manfredi Papers FS 148., 1938-1985, (Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries)
