Bernard, L. L. (Luther Lee), 1881-1951

Luther Lee Bernard was a professor of history and social sciences at the University of Florida, 1911-1914, and professor of sociology at the University of Missouri, 1914-1917, University of Minnesota, 1917-1925, Cornell University, 1925-1926, Tulane University, 1927-1928, University of North Carolina, 1928-1929, Washington University, 1929-1947, and Pennsylvania State College, 1947-1951. He wrote more than 200 articles, edited the American Sociologist and Social Forces, and wrote over a dozen books.

From the description of Luther Bernard collection, 1854-1961. (Pennsylvania State University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 32075549

The sociologist Luther Lee Bernard (29 Oct. 1881-23 Jan. 1951) was born in Russell County, Kentucky to the farmer Hiram H. Bernard and his wife Julia Wilson. Hiram H. Bernard, a former Union solider treated Luther tyrannically and that led to a bitter and antagonistic relationship between them. The family moved to West Texas in 1891 where Luther enrolled with teachers who introduced him to the subject of modern science and the writings of Charles Darwin.

After attending a high school which offered no grades Bernard entered Pierce Baptist College in Missouri. Graduating in1900, Bernard stayed on to teach science for two years; two more years teaching languages at Lamar College followed. After that Bernard entered the University of Missouri to complete his BA degree in 1907.

While Bernard earned his BA he studied with the sociologist, Charles A. Ellwood, a PhD from the University of Chicago. Ellwood’s reputation rested on the theory that society was bound by a “physic” rather than “real” bond. Bernard, in becoming a confrontational scholar would later critique these ideas.

Bernard earned his PhD at the University of Chicago under Albion Small. His thesis, “An objective standard of social control,” promoted the study of society as a whole over the study of the individual representative. He used the work of Emile Durkheim to critique the tradition of psychological sociology. Studying the whole of society would give a better scientific “social control.” This thesis involved a harsh critique on the work of Albion Small and thus the two scholars parted ways. In leaving the University of Chicago Bernard delivered a scathing six page letter in which he condemned the University of Chicago’s Department of Sociology for it’s approach toward education and which involved a heavy use of theory and abstraction rather than application and an aloofness towards student that hurt the students in their job searches. This was the first of the many confrontations he would provoke during his career.

Bernard was unsatisfied with his first job placement after his degree and viewed his position at the University of Florida as a form of exile from the academy. He moved on to the Universities of Minnesota (1918-1925) and North Carolina (1928-1929), Washington University in St. Louis (1929-1946), and Pennsylvania State (1947-1950). His frequent moving was viewed by his colleagues as reflective of his hypersensitive and prickly personality in addition to scandals that arose when his adulterous affairs began shortly after he married Francis Fenton, his fellow graduate student, in 1911. The marriage produced one child and Bernard and Fenton divorced in 1922. While teaching in Minnesota, the administrators forced Bernard’s resignation when he was charged with “common-law-marriage” which was then illegal in that state. Before moving on to Cornell in September 1925, Bernard married the gifted graduate student, Jessie Ravitch (more than twenty years his junior), whose scholastic work as Jessie Bernard surpassed his own. They had three children and remained married until his death but his philanderous practices made their marriage a stormy one. All in all, Bernard’s confrontational personality and rumors of his personal life subdued his academic achievements.

Despite his personal and professional troubles and the third rate universities that employed him Bernard grew to be “leading proponent of a radical variant of objectivist sociology”. He stated that positivistic sociology requires “projective logic,” which was later compounded by C. Wright Mill’s call for a “sociological imagination”.

Bernard argued that the ideal situation was one in which the individual adjusted perfectly to his surrounding environment. In Instinct he argued that instincts were learned customs and traditions, the way to social progress was through a manipulation of the environment.

In the 1930’s Bernard began collecting “life histories” in preparation for a history of sociology. He also collaborated with his wife Jessie Bernard in researching and published the history of positivism which they presented in 1943 as Origins of American Sociology. Extremely active within his profession, Bernard corresponded frequently with his “life history” interview subjects and with potential allies in his sociological debates. His letters became widely known as “L.L.B.’s onion skins.”

Considered a rebel within the field of Sociology Bernard, decided to take a more dominant role within professional organizations and organized a group to oppose the interpretive policies of the American Sociological Society (ASS). Successful in his opposition, Bernard was elected president in 1932. He emphasized research on contemporary social issues and recruiting women into the field. In Bernard’s presidential address he alienated many colleagues by attacking the existing research establishments. The Sociological Research Association was founded as a response and Bernard viewed his exclusion as an “elitist plot.” Bernard continued his struggle against the sociological establishment and resigned from the ASS in 1938. He then undertook editing American Sociologists which became the outlet for his professional opinions until 1947.

Concerned with the sociological position of the “little man” and not assured that New Deal focus on business was the only answer to the Depression, Bernard spoke out against Roosevelt and called for an “objective standard” that would balance the focus of the profession of sociology. Concerned with international issues since before his Argentinean fellowship (1926-1927) he spoke out against Fascism. Before the war ended Bernard published his critique, War and Its Causes and rejected the barbarity of war throughout history.

Although he perceived himself as marginalized from the sociological profession Bernard influenced his student George Lunberg who brought Bernard’s focus on “sociological objectivism” into the post war debate.

Bernard passed away in State College, Pennsylvania in 1951.

From the guide to the Bernard, Luther Lee. Papers, 1928-1938, (Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.)