Sociological Association Honors Life's Work of J. Milton Yinger '37 With New Award

June 25, 2007

June 25, 2007, Greencastle, Ind. - J. Milton Yinger, founding member and former president of the North Central Sociological Association (NCSA) and 1937 graduate of DePauw University, is being honored by the NCSA for his long career and his many contributions to the field of sociology. The Association has announced the creation of the J. Milton Yinger Distinguished Lifelong Career Award, which will be awarded annually.

"Each area where he did work, he left a legacy,” says Keith A. Roberts, chair of the department of sociology and anthropology at Hanover College and a member of the committee responsible for creating the award.

Now 90 years old, Dr. Yinger served on the faculty of Oberlin College for 40 years. He was the only NCSA regional president to be elected president of the American Sociological Association (ASA), and the only person to do so while serving on the faculty of a teaching-oriented liberal arts college.

Yinger is credited with making major contributions to race and ethnic relations, sociological theory, the theory of religion, and the sociology of countercultures. His books include Racial and Cultural Minorities: An Analysis of Prejudice and Discrimination, The Field Theory of Behavior and The Scientific Study of Religion. Yinger also introduced the term "counterculture" in a 1960 article in American Sociological Review. He also had a working relationship with Martin Luther King Jr. and presented an honorary degree to Dr. King at Oberlin's commencement in 1965.

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