Ronald G. Corwin obtained his Ph.D. degree in sociology from the University of Minnesota and is now a Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Ohio State University, where he taught during most of his career. Dr. Corwin currently resides in Southern California. He has also taught at Teachers College, Columbia University, and for one year he served as director of basic research in the U.S. Department of Education. He has been a vice president of the American Educational Research Association, has held elected positions in the American Sociological Association, and has served as an Associate Editor of the journal, Sociology of Education.
He is author or co-author of nearly 100 publications, including 14 books, 25 contributed chapters, and 29 papers published in professional journals. He has also written 19 research reports and monographs and edited eight books, including a series on educational research. His widely-cited work has appeared in the American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, Administrative Science Quarterly, Sociology of Education, Contemporary Sociology, Phi Delta Kappan, Teachers College Record, Educational Leadership, and Theory Into Practice. Colleagues in the discipline voted him one of the five individuals who have made the greatest contributions to the growth and development of the sociology of education and one of the top contributors to the field of educational administration. A book on educational administration that he co-authored with Willard Lane and W. G. Monahan in 1967 was selected by Alpha Lambda Delta Sorority as one of the ten significant books published that year in education.
He has delivered over two dozen addresses and keynote speeches at the American Sociological Association, American Educational Research Association, and other professional meetings, academic groups, and practitioners—including meetings held at the Washington State Department of Education, The University of Northern Iowa, Rutgers University, The University of California-Riverside, The American School Boards Association (Miami), The National Academy of Science (Myrtle Beach), and conferences held in Washington D.C., Detroit, Colorado State University, and West Virginia University.
In 1993, Corwin and colleagues launched the first major study of charter schools in the nation. After years of closely monitoring their evolution, in 2005 he and co-author E. Joseph Schneider published The School Choice Hoax: Fixing America’s Schools. Originally published with Praeger Press, in 2007 it was re-published in paperback by Rowman and Littlefield Education. The book is an independent analysis of charter schools and school vouchers based on over a decade of research on the topic. Corwin published a brief synoposis in a book edited by Sandra Mathison and E. Wayne Ross: Battleground Schools: An Encyclopedia of Conflict and Controversy. Greenwood, 2007.
In a review for Teacher’s College Recordcomparing this book with several others on the topic, Dick Shutz concluded that
“…[their] book is something altogether different. It is the only one of the books written by individuals who were not institutionally sponsored. And it is the only one that treats school choice as more than a black box…Corwin and Schneider’s terming the notion a ‘hoax’ is borne out by the data…The ‘fix’ that Corwin and Schneider propose is still a very viable route for taking advantage of the potential the movement offers, but whether that change of course will be adopted—anywhere—is an open question.”
While at SWRL/WestEd he authored or co-authored several research monographs and journal articles on educational vouchers and charter schools in California. These publications include What A Voucher Could Buy, Private Schools And Parental Choice, Vision And Reality: A First-Year Look At California's Charter Schools, Freedom And Innovation In California's Charter Schools, From Paper To Practice: Challenges Facing A California Charter School, And Parent Involvement Contracts And Charter Schools.
Professor Corwin’s first book, A Sociology of Education, was for a decade the most widely used text in his field. In 1962, shortly before this nation’s first major teacher strikes, he received a grant to study growing discontent among teachers. The findings were published in several journals and in a book on teacher militancy, published in 1970, soon after a discordant New York City teachers’ strike. For five years, under a Ford Foundation grant, Professor Corwin led a research team studying the national Teacher Corps. The findings, published under the title, Reform and Organizational Survival, were the subject of an American Educational Research Association symposium. He has published two books on organizational theory. In The Logic and Method of Macrosociology, published by Praeger in 1994, he and co-author Krishnan Namboodiri analyzed research models in use, concluding that organizations can be understood better through using network approaches than the competition models that choice enthusiasts are promoting. His most recent
In 1985 Corwin was nominated by his Department for one of five University Distinguished Scholar awards at OSU. The Department's recommendation stated:
"His books helped define the field or educational sociology and organize its contents... He expanded the conceptual horizons of the discipline and added significantly to its methodological repertoire... Professor Corwin's work has had significant methodological influence. In a discipline where measurement is complex and difficult, he introduced a number of scales which measure important concepts such as role conflict, professional, service, and bureaucratic orientations, and a number of dimensions of organizational structure. Not only did these measures serve the purposes of his research well, but they were also widely used by other investigators studying similar phenomena... The impacts of a scholar's contributions can best be assessed by the degree to which it informs the work of others. A revealing indicator of these impacts is the frequency by which an individual's contributions are cited by others. A survey of the index of citations in the social and behavioral sciences, and the humanities, clearly illustrates the pervasive influence of Professor Corwin's work. During the seven year period, 1976-1982, his work was cited three times as often (270) as the average of all full professors in the Department (92)".
His book Reform and Organizational Survival: The Teacher Corps as an Instrument of Educational Change(1973) reported the results of a five-year study of the teacher corps supported by The Ford Foundation and The National Education Association. This book was the subject of a 1974 symposium organized by the U.S. Office of Education. Melvin Tumin, (Princeton University), a major figure in sociology who participated in the symposium and in the edited volume inspired by Corwin' s work, described it as follows:
"Ron Corwin's sociological analysis of the strategies of organizational survival stands out as a luminous clarification of the meaning of complex systems and other interlocking networks of entrenched opposing forces and interests, and deeply habituated resistance to change that virtually define such systems. If I were to pick one extraordinary accomplishment of the Corwin study—it would be precisely that revelation of how a sociological understanding of complex organizational literature introduces a kind of hard-headed and realistic understanding of the nature of the political-social process that no other approach can provide. It is a curiously ironic commentary, indeed, that one should find that sheltered, academic-minded, ivory towered sociologists such as Corwin should prove finally to be the hard-headed realists, as against the dreamy, romantic, illusionary visions of the world, and the corollary practices that characterize so-called 'practical' men of politics. "
His 1970 book Militant Professionalism examines organizational conflict often found in schools between their administrative rules and bureaucratic requirements on the one hand and the norms of the professions on the other. One reviewer called it an "admirable study ". Another said that it is:
"...informed throughout by the literature of organizational theory, and obedient to the requirements of empirical methodology.... Corwin's closely reasoned and generously documented inquiry places all sociologists of education in his debt." ...He provides valuable evidence of the growth of professionalism and the forms it takes when it occurs in a highly bureaucratic setting, ...Not only does his analysis point out the organizational nature of conflict generated over professionalization., but it also points to serious deficiencies in our scientific conceptualization of organizations and organizational change."
Various reviewers said of A Sociology of Education (1965):
"...an excellent new textbook—superior to any other in the fiel...distinguished by an exceptionally high level of scholarship and documentation"... "This book fills a void among textbooks in sociology of education that has been long awaited"... "Corwin provides us with something more than simply a framework by which to understand the organization of the school system. Throughout his work, new ideas crystallize, ideas which give a notably different perspective. "
A sequel text, Education in Crisis(1975), was also widely used during the late 1970's. In 1974 it ranked 1st among texts used in Sociology of Education classes at the undergraduate level.
Some of Corwin’s work has focused on social policy. In addition to editing a book on the topic of policy analysis in education, he is author of a paper or the policy vacuum in educational research. His book Reform and Organizational Survival is a case study of policy compromises and strategies the National Institute of Education used to promote change while struggling to keep its programs alive.
His contributions to organizational theory are developed in The Organization and Society Nexus (1987) and in a 1993 book with Krishnan Namboodiri (The Logic And Method Of Macro Sociology) which examines rival paradigms for studying organizations. These books make a case for focusing research on organizations instead of individuals and demonstrate that organizations can be best understood as members of interdependent organizational networks.
He has been Principal Investigator on six grants and contracts from the Ford Foundation, National Education Association, US Office of Education, National Institute of Education, and the US Public Health Service. Among them is a very large 5-year grant from the Ford Foundation to study the Teacher Corps and a $75,000 grant from the US Office of Education to study what he perceived to be a rising tide of teacher militancy in the early 1960s. The latter study was initiated before the landmark work stoppages by New York City teachers in 1964 and 1968.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS: Ronald G. Corwin
Theory and Analysis
With E. Joeseph Schneider. The School Choice Hoax: Fixing America's Schools. Westport, CT. Praeger, 2005; Rowman and Littlefield, 2007
With K.Namboodiri. The Logic And Method Of Macro Sociology: An Input-Output Approach To Organizational Networks. Westport CT: Praeger, 1993.
The Organization-Society Nexus: A Critical Review of Models and Metaphors. Greenwood Press, 1987.
“Patterns of Organizational Control and Teacher Militancy: Theoretical Continuities In The Idea of Loose Coupling.” In Ronald G. Corwin (Ed.). Research In Sociology of Education And Socialization, 2. Greenwich CT: JAI Press, 1981, 261-291.
“Models of Educational Organizations.” In J. Carroll & F. Kerlinger (Eds.). Review of Research In Education. Itasca, IL: S.E. Peacock. 1974, 247-298.
With Saad Z. Nagi. “The Research Enterprise: An Overview.” In Saad .Z. Nagi And Ronald G. Corwin (Eds.), The Social Contexts Of Research. Wiley-Interscience, 1972, 1-27.
Books Based on Original Research
Militant Professionalism: A Study of Conflict In High Schools. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1970. Reprinted in 1975 by Irving Publishers, Inc.
A Sociology of Education: Emerging Patterns Of Class, Status And Power In The Public Schools. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1965 Reprinted in 1974 by Prentice-Hall, Inc
Education In Crises: A Sociological Analysis Of Schools And Universities In Transition. N.Y.: Wiley-Interscience, 1974.
With K. Namboodiri, and L. Dorsten, “Analyzing Distributions In School Effects Research: An Empirical Illustration.” Sociology of Education 66, 1993, 278-294.
Reprinted in: F. Kast and J. Rosenweig (Eds.). Organization and Management. second edition. McGraw-Hill; Schmidt, P. (Ed &Translator). Innovation: Diffusion Von Neuerungen im Sozialen Bereich, Hamburg: Hofiman and Compe Verlag, 1975, 285-310.
Reprinted in:J.T. Hage & K. Azumi (Eds.), Sociological study of organizations. Washington, D.C.: Heath and Company, 1972; R. Moos & P. Insel (Eds.), Issues in social ecology. National Press, 1973; D. Gerwin (Ed.). The employment of teachers: Some analytical views. Berkeley: McCutchan Publishing Corp., 1974.
With K. Namboodiri, “Have Individuals Been Over-Emphasized In School-Effects Research?” In K. Namboodiri & R. G. Corwin, eds., Sociology of Education And Socialization 8. Greenwich CT: JAI Press, 1989, 141-176.
“Professional Persons In Public Organizations”Educational Administration Quarterly: 1,Autumn 1965, 1-22.
Reprinted In:S.M. Elam, M. Lieberman, & M.H. Moskow (Eds.). Readings On Collective Negotiations In Public Education. Chicago:Rand Mcnally, 1967; J. Belasco & M. Milstein (Eds.), Behavioral Science And Educational Administration. Allyn and Bacon, 1970. F.D. Carver & T.J. Sergiovanni (Eds.). Organizations And Human Behavior. Mcgraw-Hill, 1969.
Reprinted in:J. Skipper & R. Leonard (Eds.), Social Interaction and Patient Care. New York: Lippincott, 1965; R. Pavalko (Ed.), Sociological perspectives on occupations. F. E. Peacock, 1972; T. Luchman & W. Michaell (Eds & Translators.), Berufssoziologie, Herausgegeben Von. Germany: Kupenhuer, Witschkoln.
“What the FBI Crime Numbers Say About Local Cities,” Record Gazette, Friday October 16, 2009, P. 9
“America’s Work Force Can’t Easily Absorb Today’s Less-educated Immigrant Workers,” Press Enterprise, September 16, 2007
“Charter School Editorial Missed Key Points,” Orange County Register Op Ed, Sunday, Jan 2, 2005, Commentary 4
“Likening the GI Bill to School Choice Is Absurd,” Orange County Register, Op Ed, Sunday June 27, 2004, Reader Rebuttals, P 4
“Definition Criticism,” News-Enterprise, Wednesday March 30, 2005, Vol 82, Issue 9, Letters to the Editor, P. 6
“What Headmaster Left Out About Private Schools,” The Orange County Register, Sunday, July 18, 2004, Comentary 4
“Consumers Caught in Strike Crossfire,” News-Enterprise”, Wednesday, January 21, 2004, Vol 81, Issue , P. 7
FORMER GRADUATE STUDENTS--PH.D. ADVISOR FOR:
Theodore C. Wagenaar: Department Chair and Professor of Sociology, Miami University; Research Fellow National Center for Education Statistics; Honors Carnegie Scholar; Distinguished Teaching Awards; Editorial Boards; Research Grants; Publications (books & numerous journal articles)
Kenneth J. Kaiser: Professor of Sociology, Oklahoma State University; Associate Director Virginia Center for Organizational Quality and Productivity; Outstanding Teacher Award; Publications (books and numerous journal articles)
Linda Dorsten: Professor of Sociology and Coordinator, Interdisciplinary Program in Public Health, State University of New York—Fredonia; Publications (books & journal articles)
Richard Salem: Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater; Excellence in Service Award; Internship Coordinator; Publications (numerous journal articles and papers)
John Stephenson: Professor of Sociology, San Diego State University; Outstanding teaching evaluations; University of Texas; BRAC Coordinator, Maryland Higher Education Commission; Marriage Therapist; Lobbyist; Publications (book, journal articles)
Margaret Gresser Anschild (Teuber): Director Women’s Center, University of California—Santa Barbara; Assistant Professor of Sociology, Miami University; Director of Research and Curriculum, Women’s Studies Center, Ohio State University; Metropolitan Learning Community, Columbus Ohio; Research Grants
Marilyn C. Schmidt: Department of Sociology and Student Personnel Administrator, Marquette University—Milwaukee; Publications (journal articles)
Michael Sanow: Professor of Sociology and Chair, Center for Service Learning, Catonsville Campus of the Community College of Baltimore County; Keynote Speaker
Ronald G. Corwin obtained his Ph.D. degree in sociology from the University of Minnesota and is now a Professor Emeritus of Sociology at 