Marion J. Levy Jr.

Marion Joseph Levy Jr. (1918 - May 26, 2002) was an American sociologist noted for his work on modernization theory.

Born in Galveston, Texas, Levy received his doctorate in sociology from Harvard, studying under Talcott Parsons. Levy was hired at Princeton in 1947 and would work there for the remainder of his life.

Levy was an advocate of structural-functionalism in sociology. His two-volume Modernization and the Structure of Societies was a systematic statement of modernization theory. Levy also produced analytic works on Chinese and Japanese history.

Levy was perhaps best known outside academia for an extremely short book, Levy's Laws of the Disillusionment of the True Liberal. The cynical "laws", originally numbering six and ultimately totaling 11, became a commonly quoted source of condensed sociopolitical wisdom.

References

Marks, Marilyn (2002-05-26). "Marion J. Levy Jr., scholar of modernization, dies at 83". News@Princeton. http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S01/20/73Q80/index.xml. Retrieved 2007-02-07. 

Baden, John (2005-04-13). "The Road to Hell Is Paved...". Bozeman Daily Chronicle. http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/opinions/article_b3eadb84-279b-52a7-9eaf-1b1ff6829b2a.html. Retrieved 2007-02-07. 

Further reading

"Levy's Nine Laws of the Disillusionment of the True Liberal"

Persondata
Name	Levy, Marion J. Jr.
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Date of birth	1918
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Date of death	2002-05-26
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