Dr. Terry Boswell -- Emory University, Sociologist

Terry Boswell, Ph.D., 1955-2006

Professor
Department of Sociology
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322

Terry Boswell passed away of complications due to ALS this past June 1, 2006, leaving behind an influential body of work in the areas of stratification and labor markets, revolutions and the political economy of the world system. Born on October 30, 1955, in Eureka, California, Terry grew up in Kentucky and Arizona mining country that would leave a stamp on his sociological and political concerns. He attended the University of Arizona, at Tucson, where he stayed for his Ph.D., organized a Marxist study group (with Edgar Kiser) and he was at the center of intellectual ferment that characterized the early years of the Arizona Department.
As a student of societal stratification and labor markets, Terry worked, often with present and former graduate students, to understand the absolute and relative importance of race and class in labor markets and in labor movement politics. In a number of articles and books addressing these questions, Terry and collaborators cast light on the parts played by paternalism, migration, union strength, minority strikebreaking and institutionalized racial inclusion in worker and union fortunes. Work done here stretches from the 1986 “A Split Labor Market Analysis of Discrimination Against Chinese Immigrants, 1850-1880” (in the ASR) to the 2006 Racial Conflict and Class Solidarity (from SUNY Press) with Cliff Brown, John Brueggemann, and Ralph Peters.
As a student of inequality and exploitation, labor organization and revolution, Terry wrote important works with Linda Beer, William Dixon, Jeffrey Kantor and Dimitris Stevis stretching from the 1990 “Dependency and Rebellion” (with William Dixon in the ASR) to major work in progress with Dimitri Stevis on globalization and labor unions, and with April Linton on international clusters of revolutionary activity and social movements that have affected global history.
Indeed, as a student of the world system, Terry investigated long-term, global-level system dynamics in a series of papers extending from the 1989 “Colonial Empires and the Capitalist World-System” (ASR) to the 1997 “Dutch Hegemony: Global Leadership during the Age of Mercantilism” (with Joya Misra) in Acta Politica. This is work that find perhaps its fullest expression in The Spiral of Capitalism and Socialism: Toward Global Democracy (with Christopher Chase-Dunn and winner of the Outstanding Book Award for 2001, Political Economy of the World-System Section of the American Sociological Association).
Terry Boswell’s extraordinary productive accomplishment – over 40 published paper (7 in the ASR or AJS) and too many books to yet count -- one might think that Terry spent all of his time working. Terry was amazingly committed to his work (frequently working long past midnight). He was a public sociologist long before the term was common. He was a great colleague, leader and example during his 22 years at Emory. However, he always found time for his family, his friends, his students, and his many hobbies. Terry was a sculptor, working mainly with metal and found objects, loved baseball (ASA meetings always included a trip to the baseball stadium), Mexican food, cheap beer and expensive champagne, and travel (especially to Mexico, London and beach). He was a loving father to Kate and Nick Boswell. He will be missed, and his presence will remain felt.

	Terry Boswell, Ph.D., 1955-2006
	Professor Department of Sociology Emory University Atlanta, GA 30322
	Terry Boswell passed away of complications due to ALS this past June 1, 2006, leaving behind an influential body of work in the areas of stratification and labor markets, revolutions and the political economy of the world system. Born on October 30, 1955, in Eureka, California, Terry grew up in Kentucky and Arizona mining country that would leave a stamp on his sociological and political concerns. He attended the University of Arizona, at Tucson, where he stayed for his Ph.D., organized a Marxist study group (with Edgar Kiser) and he was at the center of intellectual ferment that characterized the early years of the Arizona Department. As a student of societal stratification and labor markets, Terry worked, often with present and former graduate students, to understand the absolute and relative importance of race and class in labor markets and in labor movement politics. In a number of articles and books addressing these questions, Terry and collaborators cast light on the parts played by paternalism, migration, union strength, minority strikebreaking and institutionalized racial inclusion in worker and union fortunes. Work done here stretches from the 1986 “A Split Labor Market Analysis of Discrimination Against Chinese Immigrants, 1850-1880” (in the ASR) to the 2006 Racial Conflict and Class Solidarity (from SUNY Press) with Cliff Brown, John Brueggemann, and Ralph Peters. As a student of inequality and exploitation, labor organization and revolution, Terry wrote important works with Linda Beer, William Dixon, Jeffrey Kantor and Dimitris Stevis stretching from the 1990 “Dependency and Rebellion” (with William Dixon in the ASR) to major work in progress with Dimitri Stevis on globalization and labor unions, and with April Linton on international clusters of revolutionary activity and social movements that have affected global history. Indeed, as a student of the world system, Terry investigated long-term, global-level system dynamics in a series of papers extending from the 1989 “Colonial Empires and the Capitalist World-System” (ASR) to the 1997 “Dutch Hegemony: Global Leadership during the Age of Mercantilism” (with Joya Misra) in Acta Politica. This is work that find perhaps its fullest expression in The Spiral of Capitalism and Socialism: Toward Global Democracy (with Christopher Chase-Dunn and winner of the Outstanding Book Award for 2001, Political Economy of the World-System Section of the American Sociological Association). Terry Boswell’s extraordinary productive accomplishment – over 40 published paper (7 in the ASR or AJS) and too many books to yet count -- one might think that Terry spent all of his time working. Terry was amazingly committed to his work (frequently working long past midnight). He was a public sociologist long before the term was common. He was a great colleague, leader and example during his 22 years at Emory. However, he always found time for his family, his friends, his students, and his many hobbies. Terry was a sculptor, working mainly with metal and found objects, loved baseball (ASA meetings always included a trip to the baseball stadium), Mexican food, cheap beer and expensive champagne, and travel (especially to Mexico, London and beach). He was a loving father to Kate and Nick Boswell. He will be missed, and his presence will remain felt.