May 5-7, 2017
CUNY Graduate Center, Dept. of Sociology,
6th Floor, Room 6112
365 Fifth Ave. between 34th & 35th Streets, New York City
**Please bring photo identification each day to show at door at CUNY.**
OPENING EVENT: Friday, May 5, 6:30-9:30 pm
Memories of Vidich and Bensman:
Teachers, Collaborators, Friends, Family
Welcoming Remarks and Moderator: Jerry Levy
Slide show Presentation: Charles Vidich
Family members, collaborators, colleagues, and students will have the opportunity to read
statements, speak extemporaneously, or use audio/visual aids to revisit the lives of these two
thinkers.
NOTE: The conference will start promptly at 6:30 so please arrive by 6.15. We want to give
everyone a chance to speak, so if possible please confine you remarks to no more than 10
minutes.
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Joseph Bensman & Arthur J. Vidich
Commemorative Conference
Schedule for Saturday, May 6th
MORNING SESSION: 10:00-1:00 pm
Opening Remarks by Michael Hughey
The legacy of Joseph Bensman
Beginning with a panel discussion on Robert Jackall and Duffy Graham’s recently published
anthology From Joseph Bensman: Essays on Modern Society, we will explore Bensman’s
legacy as a sociologist and intellectual in relationship to his collaboration with Arthur Vidich,
Maurice Stein, Israel Gerver, Bernard Rosenberg, Robert Lilienfeld, Jack Kamerman, Michael
Givant, and his relationship to Weber, Gerth, and other classical sociologists.
Moderator: CJ Churchill
Panel: Jerry Levy, Robin Goldstein, David Bensman, Michael Givant
Readings
Aside from reviewing Bensman’s writing for your own purposes, we request you read or review:
- From Joseph Bensman: Essays on Modern Society, edited by Robert Jackall & Duffy Graham
- “A Path to the Bensman Legacy” by Gerald E. Levy
[ LUNCH BREAK: 1:15-2:15 ]
AFTERNOON SESSION: 2:30-5:30 pm
The Legacy of Arthur Vidich
Starting with a discussion of Arthur Vidich’s memoir With a Critical Eye: An Intellectual and His
Times, we will explore Vidich’s individual legacy as a sociologist and intellectual, his
collaborative relationships with Joseph Bensman, Stanford Lyman, Guy Oakes, Robert Jackall,
Michael Hughey, Maury Stein, Ronald Glassman, and his relationship to Weber, Gerth, Veblen,
Speier, and other classical and Weimar sociologists.
Moderator: Michael Hughey
Panel: Charles Vidich, CJ Churchill, Laurin Raiken
Readings
Aside from reviewing Vidich’s writing for your own purposes, we request you read or review:
- With a Critical Eye: An Intellectual and His Times, Arthur J. Vidich, edited by Robert Jackall
- The New Middle Classes: Life-Styles, Status Claims, and Political Orientations (Main Trends of the Modern World), edited by Arthur J. Vidich
- “Reading Weber in the Company of Gerth: Arthur Vidich on Intellectuals and Intellectuality,” by Guy Oakes
- Papers not yet titled by Charles Vidich and Charles Simpson
- Charles Vidich’s blog containing short reviews of Vidich’s publications: http://arthurvidich.blogspot.com
- Comments on Arthur J. Vidich's Discussion and Reinterpretation of Veblen's The Higher Learning in America, by Laurin Raiken
[ 7:00 DINNER at a local restaurant, TBA. ]
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Joseph Bensman & Arthur J. Vidich
Commemorative Conference
Schedule for Sunday, May 7th
[ 10:00 am Breakfast at a local restaurant, TBA ]
FINAL SESSION: 12:00pm-3:00 pm
The Collaborative Legacy of Joseph Bensman & Arthur Vidich: Their Contribution to Sociology
Joseph Bensman and Arthur Vidich co-authored two major books on American society, edited
three anthologies, and collaborated on numerous essays and articles. This session will explore
their contribution to American sociology and an understanding of American society in the post
World War II era, their relationship to classical sociology, Gerth and Weimar sociology, and
their influence on other collaborators, colleagues, and students.
Moderator: Laurin Raiken
Panel: Jerry Levy, Michael Hughey, Charles Simpson
Readings
Aside from reviewing Vidich and Bensman’s writing for your own purposes, we request you
read or review:
- “Forward,” by Michael Hughey, to 3rd Edition of Small Town in Mass Society
- “A Theory of the Contemporary American Community”, available as Ch. 12 of 3rd Edition of Small Town in Mass Society, and available in revised form as Ch. 14, “Liberalism and the New Middle Classes,” in The New Middle Classes: Life-Styles, Status Claims, and Political Orientations (Main Trends of the Modern World), edited by Arthur J. Vidich
- American Society: The Welfare State and Beyond
- “The New Middle Classes,” by Gerald E. Levy, International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, Vol. 9, No. 4, 1996: pp.611-621.
- "Arthur Vidich, Joseph Bensman, and the Political Failure of the Middle Classes: The Case of Burlington, Vermont" by Charles R. Simpson
