Howard P. Becker

For the symbolic interactionist sociologist, author, and jazz pianist, see Howard S. Becker.

Howard Paul Becker (December 9, 1899 – June 8, 1960) was for many years professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Biography

Becker was the son of Charles Becker, a notoriously corrupt New York police officer who went to the electric chair for murder in July 1915, and Letitia Stenson, of Ontario. His parents divorced six years after his birth and his mother remarried Becker's brother Paul.

Howard P. Becker was brought up in Reno and Winnemucca, Nevada. He is perhaps best remembered as the author of the book Man in Reciprocity. At the time of his death he had just been elected President of the American Sociological Association, and his Presidential Address, entitled "Normative Reactions to Normlessness", was delivered by his son, the historian Christopher Bennett Timmeh Becker.

References

• Biography on the American Sociological Association Website which contains links to several other obituaries and sources