Thomas theorem
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The name Thomas theorem refers to a fundamental principle in sociology formulated by William I. Thomas. It was formulated in the 1928 book The child in America: Behavior problems and programs. The theorem in question is as follows:
"If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences." [#endnote_quote]
Moreover, W. I. Thomas precisely stated (in 1923) that particularly within every-day-life social worlds any definition of the situation will not only influence the present but - whenever following a series of definitions the individual is involved in - also "gradually a whole life-policy and the personality of the individual himself" [#endnote_quote2]. Consequently, it was no surprise that W. I. Thomas whenever investigating societal problems like, e.g., intimacy, family, education, basically stressed the rôle of the situation when detecting a social world "in which subjective impressions can be projected on to life and thereby become real to projectors."[#endnote_quote3]
Thomas and Thomas
Recently, the Thomas theorem has been attributed to both William I. Thomas and Dorothy Swain Thomas because they both appear as authors on the cover of the book. However, Dorothy Swain Thomas specified in a letter she wrote in 1973 that she was an assistant to William I. Thomas on the paper in question. She went on to say that she was hired at the request of the Rockefeller group to do the book's statistical work, implying that all written text are solely by William I. Thomas. [#endnote_quote4]See also
Notes
- ↑ The child in America: Behavior problems and programs (New York: Knopf, pp. 571-572).
- ↑ The Unadjusted Girl. With Cases and Standpoint for Behavioral Analysis N.Y.: Evanston; London: Harper & Row, ³1967: 42)
- ↑ Social Behavior and Personality. Contribution of W.I.Thomas to Theory and Social Research. Edmond H. Volkart [ed.] N.Y.: Social Research Council, 1951: 14
- ↑ The Thomas Theorem and The Matthew Effect. Robert K. Merton. Social Forces, December 1995, 74(2):379-424. (Page 401 shows a copy of the letter by Dorothy Swain Thomas.) For more information check [http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/merton/thomastheorem.pdf] - Robert K. Merton on the intellectual history of the Thomas theorem
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