Frank Tannenbaum | |
|---|---|
 Tannenbaum, c. 1915 | |
| Born | (1893-03-04)March 4, 1893 |
| Died | June 1, 1969(1969-06-01) (aged 76) |
| Alma mater | Columbia University,Brookings Institution |
| Occupation(s) | historian,sociologist,criminologist |
| Years active | 1931–1965 |
| Known for | Farm Security Administration |
Frank Tannenbaum (March 4, 1893 – June 1, 1969) was an Austrian-Americanhistorian,sociologist andcriminologist, who made significant contributions to modern Mexican history during his career at Columbia University.
Tannenbaum was born in Austria on 4 March 1893. His Eastern European Jewish family immigrated to the United States in 1905. He ran away from home as an adolescent and never finished high school. He worked at a number of menial jobs and became involved in radical labor politics of the era.[1]
As a young man, he worked abusboy. During the economic crisis of 1913–1915, he became a leader of theIndustrial Workers of the World. In January 1914, Tannenbaum, then 21 years old and a member of the IWW-affiliated Waiter's Industrial Union, proposed a campaign of demanding relief fromNew York City churches. Starting in February, he led masses of workers to churches, disrupted services, and demanded that they be given food and shelter. Although most churches complied, the New York press, notablyThe New York Times, decried Tannenbaum and the Wobblies. On March 4, Tannenbaum led a group of unemployed workers fromRutgers Square to the CatholicSt. Alphonsus Church on West Broadway. There, they were met by a phalanx of police and the parish rector, who refused their demands. Tannenbaum and 190 other protesters were arrested; Tannenbaum was charged withinciting to riot and given an extraordinary $5,000 bail. At trial one protester received 60 days in jail, four 30 days, three 15 days, and the rest were let go; Tannenbaum was sent to jail for a year and fined $500. He spent the year onBlackwell's Island.[2][3][4] When he got out of jail, Tannenbaum remained active in the IWW, and he was arrested alongsideElizabeth Gurley Flynn andAlexander Berkman during theBayonne refinery strikes of 1915–1916, inBayonne, New Jersey.[5][6]
Emma Goldman described his arrest and imprisonment in her memoirs,Living My Life (1931):
We all had loved Frank for his wide-awakeness and his unassuming ways. He had spent much of his free time in our office, reading and helping in the work connected withMother Earth. His fine qualities held out the hope that Frank would some day play an important part in the labour struggle. None of us had expected however that our studious, quiet friend would so quickly respond to the call of the hour.[7]
After Bayonne, Tannenbaum soon abandoned his youthful radicalism.[citation needed]
With the help of several philanthropists, he attendedColumbia University, where classmates includedSamuel Roth.[6] In 1921, Tannenbaum received hisbachelor's degree from Columbia. He received hisPh.D. in economics from theBrookings Institution (undated). He then served in theU.S. Army, stationed in the south.
He then moved toMexico, where he conducted research on rural education and served as an adviser to PresidentLázaro Cárdenas.
In 1931, he reported to theWickersham Commission study on Penal Institutions, Probation and Parole (Volume 9).[3]
In 1932, he returned to the United States to teachcriminology atCornell University.
In 1935 he joined thefaculty at Columbia, where he became professor ofLatin American history.[4] A notable student at Columbia wasRobert J. Alexander, who went on to become professor of history atRutgers University, specializing in the trade union movement inLatin America and dissident communist political parties.
In 1944, Tannenbaum was instrumental in proposing the Columbia University Seminars format; a group of Columbia faculty, other faculty, and students who gathered together in discussion of issues on compelling topics such as peace and war, and other general subjects of concern.[8] He participated in the Seminar on Government in February - May 1945 withJ.H. Randall Jr., andHerbert W. Schneider with his essays "The Coordinate State" and "The Balance of Power in Society," published in his book of the same title. Twenty years after, his book on the Columbia Seminars was published in 1965,A Community of Scholars, and 39 seminars were conducted by that time.
He was a member of theCitizens Committee for a Free Cuba, founded in 1963.[9]
He retired fromColumbia University in 1965. He died inNew York City in 1969.[4]
Tannenbaum helped formulate legislation that established theFarm Security Administration.[4]
His conception of the "Dramatization Of Evil" led to the further development of thesymbolic interactionistlabeling theory, widely used in both sociology andsocial psychology.
Summarizing this theory's impact,Kerry Townsend has stated, "Frank Tannenbaum’s theory, dramatization of evil, explains the making of a criminal and the lure of criminal behavior." Townsend places Tannenbaum's theoretical thought within the theory of "Symbolic Interactionism," whose perspective emphasizes "individual levels of interaction, began to emerge spearheaded by the writings ofGeorge Herbert Mead andCharles Horton Cooley," which formed the basis ofSocietal Reaction theories of which Tannenbaum's form part.[10]
Tannenbaum's theory remains important in criminology studies at universities including Florida State University,[10] the University of Maryland[11]
