ESS Merit Award

The ESS Merit Award recognizes an ESS member’s exceptional achievement and a lifetime of scholarly contribution to the discipline and the profession. To submit a nomination for the ESS Merit Award, please send a letter of nomination and a copy of the nominee’s vita. The letter of nomination should emphasize the significance of the nominee’s research and highlight service to the discipline of sociology. Please draw attention to specific contributions to ESS. Self-nominations are accepted. The ESS Merit Committee reserves the right to request follow up documents if deemed necessary. Nominated candidates will be considered for two consecutive years.

Nominations should be sent by November 15, 2021 to the Committee Chair.

Committee Members:
Chair: Daina Cheyenne Harvey, College of the Holy Cross ([email protected])

Marie C. Jipguep-Akhtar, Howard University

Year, Winner 

1960, Maurice Davis
1961, Welman J. Warner & Ray Abrams
1962, Robert S. Lynd
1963, Pitirim Sorokin
1964, Donald Young
1965, Leonard Cottrell Jr
1966, Thorsten Sellin
1967, Talcott Parsons
1968, Robert MacIver
1969, Negley Teeters
1970, Theodore Abel
1971, Jessie Bernard
1972, Everett C. Hughes
1973, Helen MacGill Hughes
1974, Alfred McClung Lee & Elizabeth Briant Lee
1975, Charles H. Page
1976, Paul Lazarsfeld
1977, Mirra Komarovsky
1978, Robert K. Merton
1979, Hylan Lewis
1980, A. B. Hollingshead & David Reisman
1981, William F. Whyte
1982, Robert Bierstedt
1983, Lewis Coser
1984, Robin M. Williams Jr
1985, George Homans
1986, Matilda White Riley
1987, Rose L. Coser
1988, Digby Baltzell
1989, James Blackwell
1990, Morris Rosenberg
1991, S. M. Miller
1992, William J. Goode
1993, Renée C. Fox
1994, Melvin Kohn
1995, Herbert Gans
1996, Charles Tilly
1997, Charles B. Perrow
1998, Harrison C. White
1999, Eliot Freidson
2000, Suzanne Keller
2001, Kai Erikson
2002, Marvin Bressler
2003, Bernard Barber
2004, Cynthia Fuchs Epstein
2005, William A. Gamson & Caroline Hodges Persell
2006, Charles V. Willie
2007, Judith Lorber
2009, Richard Alba
2010, Nancy Denton
2011, Jerry Jacobs
2012, Margaret L. Anderson
2013, Karen Cerulo
2014, Kathleen Gerson
2015, Phil Kasinitz
2016, Robert Zussman
2017, Elijah Anderson
2018, Nancy Foner 
2019, Karen V. Hansen
2020, Not awarded                                                                                                                                                                                                                  2021, Johnny Eric Williams