Lowell Juilliard Carr

Lowell Juilliard Carr (1885 – 1963) was an American sociologist, prolific author, and long-time university professor. He is best known for his book Willow Run, which discusses the sociological conditions arising from the wartime increase in the worker population at the Willow Run bomber plant during World War II.^[1] He was also a pioneer in the field of studying the underlying social causes for juvenile delinquency.

Carr was born in Ohio in 1885. He was an editor at the Detroit Free Press before receiving his bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Carr began teaching undergraduate courses in 1907.^[2] He was a sociology professor at the school for the next thirty years. In 1923, he wrote a musical comedy entitled "The Iron Age", which was performed on campus. He received his Ph.D in 1924, also from the University of Michigan. Carr then traveled to Europe and studied for a year at the University of London before returning to Ann Arbor.^[3]

During his tenure as a professor, he co-wrote one of the leading early reference works discussing modern sociology with Charles Cooley and Robert C. Angell, a book that is still often quoted. He emphasized the educational process as a means for social improvement through the progressive building of a better society.^[4]

In recognition of his pioneering work on understanding and preventing delinquency in minors, Carr became the director of the Michigan Child Guidance Institute and was its spokesperson for several years in the 1940s.^[5] He also frequently wrote articles for the Michigan Juvenile Delinquency Information Service, as well as editing and publishing the Delinquency News Letter for the Michigan State Welfare Dept, Bureau of Probation.^[6]

In the 1950s, Carr moved from Michigan to Miami, Florida, and accepted a teaching position as a professor of sociology at the University of Miami.^[7]

Carr's Works

• 1933: Introductory Sociology, with Charles Cooley and Robert C. Angell. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons
• 1936: Organizing to Reduce Delinquency: The Michigan Plan for Better Citizenship (ASIN B00086R4XC)
• 1936: What's Wrong with Juvenile Probation and Parole in Michigan: Report of a Survey of 230 Probationers and 120 Parolees in Six Counties (ASIN B0008AH8IE)
• 1939: Integrating the Camp, the Community and Social Work. New York: Association Press (ASIN B0006AOOIS)
• 1941: Delinquency Control. New York: Harper & Brothers (ASIN: B0007DFEFG)
• 1948: Analytical Sociology. New York: Harper & Brothers
• 1948: Situational Analysis: an Observational Approach to Introductory Sociology. New York: Harper & Brothers (ASIN B000L95LUY)
• 1952: Willow Run (Work, Its Rewards and Discontents): a Study of industrialization and Cultural Inadequacy, with James Edson Stermer. New York: Harper & Brothers (ISBN 978-0405101588)

References

1. Analysis of Carr's work
2. http://um2017.org/faculty-history/faculty/lowell-juilliard-carr
3. Michigan alumnus: Journal of University Perspectives, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, Alumni Association, Volume 42, 1935/1936.
4. Typical Carr citation
5. Monthly News Letter, Michigan Child Guidance Institute, Volumes 7-9, 1940-43.
6. Probation News, Michigan Bureau of Probation, Dept. of Corrections, 1937, vol. 2
7. Federal Probation, United States Bureau of Prisons, United States Administrative Office of the United States Courts, United States Probation System, Published by Administrative Office of the United States Courts in cooperation with the Bureau of Prisons of the Department of Justice, Vol. 21, 1957.