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Lynd, Helen Merrell

Lynd, Helen Merrell (1896–1982) Helen Lynd was an American ethnographer and social theorist whose most famous books, co-authored with her husband Robert S. Lynd, concerned life in a small Midwestern town. The Lynds lived in the community they studied (‘Middletown’–in reality Muncie, Indiana) 1924–6, and published the first volume of the work. Middletown: A Study in Contemporary American Culture, in 1929. Their analysis is organized around major activities for community survival, including making a home, earning a living, training the young, and participating in religious and community activities. The second volume, a longitudinal study entitled Middletown in Transition: A Study in Cultural Conflicts (1935), was published in the middle of the Depression. In this they described class strains and privileges as being more apparent, although there was little evident workers' solidarity: the radical socio-economic changes of the time did not generate radical class movements. Despite the shared research and authorship, it is more often Robert Lynd who is given most credit for these classic studies.

Helen Lynd was also a teacher and political activist and was subject to harassment during the McCarthy witch-hunts. In 1958 she published On Shame and the Search for Identity, a critique of Sigmund Freud and Talcott Parsons, in which she argued that these writers failed to provide either a historical context for or a historical content to their sociological theories. She also published studies of student-teacher interaction in colleges, Field Work in College Education (1945), and a historical study entitled England in the Eighteen Eighties: Toward a Social Basis for Freedom (1944). Central to all her work was the investigation of human meaning and action.

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	Nonviolence in America: A Documentary History. Magazine article from: The Progressive; 10/1/1995; ; 700+ words ; By Staughton Lynd and Alice Lynd Orbis Books. 530 pages. $45.00...can identify these six people: Robert E. Lee, U.S. Grant, Paul Revere...competently as any editors have, Staughton Lynd and Alice Lynd--lawyers who work for the Northeast... Read more
	Industrial unionism as liberator or leash? The limits of "rank-and-filism" in American labor historiography. Magazine article from: Journal of Social History; 3/22/1998; ; 700+ words ; ...widely. In some ways, Robert Zieger's book is a...essays collected by Staughton Lynd, meanwhile, explicitly...CIO in search of what Lynd calls community-based...are equally sharp. Lynd and his colleagues...purpose of his book, Lynd informs readers, is...movement itself. To ... Read more
	(book reviews) Magazine article from: Journal of Social History; 3/22/1998; ; 700+ words ; ...widely. In some ways, Robert Zieger's book is a...essays collected by Staughton Lynd, meanwhile, explicitly...CIO in search of what Lynd calls community-based...are equally sharp. Lynd and his colleagues...purpose of his book, Lynd informs readers, is...movement itself. To ... Read more
	Peace literature, from Ackerman to Zinn. (Paths to Peace).(Bibliography)(Brief Article) Magazine article from: National Catholic Reporter; 4/26/2002; 700+ words ; ...Schocken Books, 1973 Coles, Robert, The Moral Intelligence of...1998 Cornell, Thomas C., Robert Ellsberg and Jim Forest...Macmillan Company, 1963 Holmes, Robert L., Nonviolence in Theory...Boston: Beacon Press, 1996 Lynd, Staughton and Alice Lynd, Non-violence in America...Publishing ... Read more
	WILPF historical resources. Magazine article from: Peace and Freedom; 3/22/2004; ; 700+ words ; ...Nonviolence in America: A Documentary History by Staughton Lynd and Alice Lynd, editors. Orbis Books, 1995. (WILPF is cited...People: Active Nonviolence in the U.S. edited by Robert Cooney & Helen Michalowski, New Society Pub., 1987... Read more

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	Robert Staughton Lynd Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of World Biography ...Lynd The American sociologist Robert Staughton Lynd (1892-1970) greatly influenced...through his "Middletown" studies. Robert S. Lynd was born in Indiana. He wrote...Further Reading For information on Lynd see Robert Bierstedt, The Social Order... Read more
	Staughton Lynd Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of World Biography Staughton Lynd One of the most outspoken opponents...Vietnam War, rebellious historian Staughton Lynd (born 1929) became a leading peace...and turned to the practice of law. Staughton Lynd was the son of two of America's most famous sociologists, Helen Merrell Lynd and ... Read more
	Lynd, Robert S. and Lynd, Helen Merrell 1892-1970, 1896-1982 Book article from: American Decades LYND, ROBERT S. AND LYND, HELEN MERRELL 1892-1970, 1896-1982...Middle-town in Transition (1937), Robert S. and Helen Merrell Lynd helped found the field of modern sociology...lives during the 1920s. Background Robert Staughton Lynd was born in New Albany, Indiana, ... Read more
	Middletown Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition see Lynd, Robert Staughton . Read more

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