Edward Shils

{{Infobox philosopher

| main_interests = sociology, social philosophy

| image =

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| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1910|7|1}}[https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JTHG-1ZJ Social Security Death Index]

| birth_place = Springfield, Massachusetts[http://hoogleraren.leidenuniv.nl/id/2238 Edward Shils] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513153420/http://hoogleraren.leidenuniv.nl/id/2238 |date=13 May 2016 }} at the Leiden University "faculty since 1575" site.Ann T. Keene, [http://www.anb.org/articles/14/14-01145.html Shils, Edward Albert] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920212315/http://www.anb.org/articles/14/14-01145.html |date=20 September 2016 }} at American National Biography Online, Sept. 2005

| death_date = {{death date and age|1995|1|23|1910|7|1}}

| death_place = Chicago

| alma_mater = University of Pennsylvania

| institutions = University of Chicago
University of Leiden

| school_tradition =

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}}

Edward Albert Shils (1 July 1910 – 23 January 1995) was a Distinguished Service Professor in the Committee on Social Thought and in Sociology at the University of Chicago and an influential sociologist. He was known for his research on the role of intellectuals and their relations to power and public policy. His work was honored in 1983 when he was awarded the Balzan Prize. In 1979, he was selected by the National Council on the Humanities to give the Jefferson Lecture, the highest award given by the U.S. federal government for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities.[http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/jefflect.html "Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111020121101/http://www.neh.gov///whoweare/jefflect.html |date=20 October 2011 }}, National Endowment for the Humanities website (retrieved January 22, 2009).

Education

Shils grew up in Philadelphia, where he went to high school. Though he taught sociology and social thought, he did not have a formal degree in those fields. His undergraduate degree, from the University of Pennsylvania, was in French literature. He came to the attention of Louis Wirth, a distinguished sociologist at the University of Chicago, who hired Shils as a research assistant. Thereafter, Shils became recognized as an outstanding teacher in the field of sociology. His knowledge of the literatures of numerous cultures and fields was deemed to be impressive. He taught sociology, social philosophy, English literature, history of Chinese science and other subjects.

Career

A specialist in the thought of sociologist Max Weber, he translated works by Weber and by sociologist Karl Mannheim into English. He served with the British Army and the United States Office of Strategic Services during World War II. Upon returning to Chicago, he was appointed Associate Professor in 1947, and Professor in 1950. In 1971, he was named Distinguished Service Professor.

For many years, Shils held joint appointments at Chicago and other universities. He was: reader in sociology at the London School of Economics from 1946 to 1950; a fellow of King's College, Cambridge, from 1961 to 1970; a fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, from 1970 to 1978; and an honorary professor in social anthropology at the University of London from 1971 to 1977. He was named an honorary fellow at the London School of Economics in 1972 and an honorary fellow at Peterhouse in 1979. He was also a professor at the University of Leiden from 1976 to 1977.

He attempted to bridge the research traditions of German and American sociology. At Chicago, he attracted leading European scholars to teach at the University, including Arnaldo Momigliano, Raymond Aron and the British sinologist Michael Loewe, among others. Professor Shils was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.

Edward Shils studied how sacred and ritual elements exist in modern, secular societies. He was influenced by the ideas of Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. Although he worked with Talcott Parsons in the early 1950s, Shils later criticized Parsons’ abstract systems theory and focused more on symbols, values, and emotions. Shils argued that every society has a "sacred center" that represents its main values and collective identity. This center is not geographical but symbolic, often connected to elites, institutions, and cultural traditions. He also developed a broader idea of charisma, suggesting that it can be linked not only to revolutionary leaders but also to established political authority. This “normal charisma” helps to support and legitimize social order. Shils' work is known for combining Weberian and Durkheimian ideas in a unique way.{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Philip |title=Kültürel Kuram |publisher=Babil |year=2007 |isbn= |edition=2nd |location=Istanbul |pages=121-124 |translator-last=Güzelsarı |translator-first=Selime |trans-title=Cultural Theory: An Introduction |translator-last2=Gündoğdu |translator-first2=İbrahim}}

Personal life

Edward Shils married the historian Irene Coltman in England towards the end of 1951.{{Cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=2R7HMXwvIlbSCBPxXVc4Dg&scan=1|title=Index entry|access-date=10 November 2018|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS|archive-date=7 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607193121/https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=2R7HMXwvIlbSCBPxXVc4Dg&scan=1|url-status=live}} Edward Shils and Irene Coltman had a son. They divorced. Shils died in January 1995. He was survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Adam and Carrie Shils of Chicago; a grandson, Sam Shils; and a nephew, Edward Benjamin Shils, professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania[http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/950330/shils.shtml "Service for Edward Shils"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060905220122/http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/950330/shils.shtml |date=5 September 2006 }}, Chicago Chronicle, 30 March 1995 A large photo of Shils hangs in the Shils Reading Room at the University of Chicago's Social Science Research Building.

Shils had a fraught relationship with Saul Bellow, a colleague at the University of Chicago who also served on the Committee on Social Thought. Shils served as his "mentor, character model and editor" and figures prominently in many of Bellow's novels, including Mr. Sammler's Planet (Artur Sammler), Humboldt's Gift (Professor Durnwald), and Ravelstein (Rakhmiel Kogon). Artur Sammler and Professor Durnwald are both described glowingly, but in Ravelstein the Shils character is treated with "animosity [that] reaches lethal proportions" following a falling out between the two.{{cite news|last1=Staples|first1=Brent|title=Mr. Bellow Writes On, Wrestling With the Ghost of Edward Shils|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/22/opinion/editorial-observer-mr-bellow-writes-on-wrestling-with-the-ghost-of-edward-shils.html|work=New York Times|date=22 April 2000|access-date=18 February 2017|archive-date=11 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611013503/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/22/opinion/editorial-observer-mr-bellow-writes-on-wrestling-with-the-ghost-of-edward-shils.html|url-status=live}} He also had a poor relationship with Alfred Kazin, with Joseph Epstein describing how he refused to have anything written by Kazin in his home and saying "I don’t want that Jew in my house" (although Shils himself was also Jewish).{{cite web |last1=Epstein |first1=Joseph |title=Books Do Furnish a Civilization |url=https://www.commentary.org/articles/joseph-epstein/books-libraries-civilization/ |website=Commentary.org |date=11 November 2021 |access-date=1 September 2022 |archive-date=5 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221005050851/https://www.commentary.org/articles/joseph-epstein/books-libraries-civilization/ |url-status=live }}

Bibliography

=Own works=

{{cite book |editor1=Parsons, Talcott |editor2=Edward A. Shils |name-list-style=amp |title=Toward a general theory of action |url=https://archive.org/details/towardgeneralthe00pars |location=Cambridge, Mass. |publisher=Harvard UP |year=1951 }}
{{cite book |author=Shils, Edward A. |title=The torment of secrecy : the background and consequences of American security policies |url=https://archive.org/details/tormentofsecrecy00shil |url-access=registration |location=Glencoe, Ill. |publisher=Free Press |year=1956 }}
{{cite book |title= The Intellectual Between Tradition and Modernity: The Indian Situation |place= The Hague |publisher= Mouton & Co |year= 1961 |url= https://archive.org/details/intellectualbetw0000edwa |url-access= registration |via= Internet Archive}}
Theories of Society: Foundations of Modern Sociological Theory, Two Volumes in One, with Jesse R. Pitts, Talcott Parsons (Editor), & Kaspar D. Naegele, New York: The Free Press (1961)
The Calling of Sociology, and Other Essays on the Pursuit of Learning (1980)
Tradition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981)
{{cite book |title= The Constitution of Society |place = Chicago |publisher= University of Chicago Press |url= https://archive.org/details/constitutionofso0000shil/page/n1/mode/2up?view=theater |url-access= registration |edition= |year= 1982}}
{{cite book |title= The Academic Ethic |year= 1984 |url= https://archive.org/details/academicethic0000shil |url-access= registration |place= Chicago |publisher= University of Chicago Press |via= Internet Archive}}.
{{cite journal |author=Shils, Edward |date=Jan–Feb 1996 |title=Leopold Labedz |department=Intellectuals |journal=Quadrant |volume=40 |issue=1–2 |pages=51–60 |url= }}First published in the American Scholar.
{{cite book |title= Portraits: A Gallery of Intellectuals |editor = Joseph Epstein |place= Chicago |publisher= University of Chicago Press |year= 1997 |url= https://archive.org/details/bwb_P8-ADF-201/page/34/mode/2up?q=hayek|url-access= registration |via= Internet Archive}}

=Critical studies, reviews and biography=

{{cite journal |author=Zubrzycki, Jerzy |author-link=Jerzy Zubrzycki |date=Jan–Feb 1996 |title=Edward Shils – a personal memoir |journal=Quadrant |volume=40 |issue=1–2 |pages=61–63 |url= }}

=Translations=

{{cite book|last=Mannheim|first=Karl|translator-last1=Wirth|translator-first1=Louis|translator-last2=Shils|translator-first2=Edward|title=Ideology and Utopia: an Introduction to the Sociology of Knowledge|location=New York|publisher=Harcourt, Brace & World|date=1936}}
{{cite book|last=Weber|first=Max|translator-last1=Rheinstein|translator-first1=Max|translator-last2=Shils|translator-first2=Edward|title=Max Weber on Law in Economy and Society|location=Cambridge MA|publisher=Harvard U.P.|date=1954}}

Notes

References

Joseph Epstein, My Friend Edward

External links

[http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/950202/shils.shtml Shils Obituary at Chicago Chronicle, 1995]
[http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/In-memoriam--Edward-Shils--1910-1995-4233 In Memoriam by Hugh Trevor-Roper, The New Criterion]
[http://magazine.uchicago.edu/9706/9706Editors.html Editor's Notes re Shils, University of Chicago Magazine, June 1997]
{{Internet Archive author |sname= Edward Shils}}

Category:1910 births

Category:1995 deaths

Category:Academics of the London School of Economics

Category:Academics of the University of London

Category:American expatriates in the United Kingdom

Category:20th-century American Jews

Category:American sociologists

Category:Fellows of King's College, Cambridge

Category:Fellows of Peterhouse, Cambridge

Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Category:Academic staff of Leiden University

Category:People from Springfield, Massachusetts