Charles Tilly facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Charles Tilly

Born	May 27, 1929 Lombard, Illinois, U.S.
Died	April 29, 2008 (2008-04-30) (aged 78) New York, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	Harvard University (AB, PhD)
Spouse(s)	Louise A. Tilly
Children	4
Scientific career
Fields	Social Science Sociology Political science History
Institutions	University of Delaware Harvard University University of Toronto University of Michigan The New School Columbia University Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy
Academic advisors	Barrington Moore Jr.
Doctoral students	Barry Wellman Ann Mische Daniel Nexon John M. Merriman

Charles Tilly (born May 27, 1929 – died April 29, 2008) was an American expert in sociology (the study of human society), political science (the study of government), and history. He explored how politics and society are connected. He taught at the University of Michigan and later became a professor at Columbia University.

Many people called him "the founding father of 21st-century sociology." He was known as one of the world's most important sociologists and historians. He wrote many books and articles on topics like cities, how countries form, democracy, and social movements.

Tilly was a big supporter of studying history to understand society better. His book Big Structures, Large Processes, Huge Comparisons shows his unique way of looking at social science. He believed in comparing big historical events and changes to learn about society.

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Early Life and Education

Charles Tilly was born in Lombard, Illinois, a town near Chicago. His parents, Naneth and Otto Tilly, were immigrants from Wales and Germany. He finished high school in 1946.

He then went to Harvard University and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1950 with high honors. After college, he joined the U.S. Navy. He worked as a paymaster, handling money for a group of ships, during the Korean War.

Tilly returned to Harvard and earned his PhD in Sociology in 1958. While studying there, he was part of a new way of thinking about how people connect in groups, called social network analysis.

One of his teachers, Pitirim Sorokin, was a famous sociologist. Tilly often said Sorokin was a great person, even though they sometimes had different ideas about history.

Academic Career and Books

Charles Tilly taught at many universities during his career. These included the University of Delaware, Harvard University, the University of Toronto, the University of Michigan, The New School, and Columbia University.

He was a professor of history and sociology at the University of Michigan. Later, at Columbia University, he became a special professor of social science.

Throughout his life, Tilly wrote an amazing number of works: over 600 articles and 51 books! Some of his most important books include The Formation of National States in Western Europe (1975), From Mobilization to Revolution (1978), and Coercion, Capital, and European States, AD 990-1990 (1990).

What Charles Tilly Studied

Tilly's work covered many different areas in the social sciences. His ideas influenced not only sociology but also history and political science. He is seen as a key figure in historical sociology, which uses history to understand society.

He also helped develop ways to use numbers in historical studies. He looked at how events happen and how people connect in social networks. He also studied:

Contentious politics (when groups challenge the government or society)
Social movements (like civil rights movements)
The history of labor (workers' rights)
How states (countries) are formed
Revolutions
How countries become democratic
Inequality (differences in wealth or power)
The study of cities (urban sociology)

At Columbia University, Tilly played a big role in creating the "New York School of relational sociology." This way of thinking focuses on how people and groups relate to each other.

Studying Cities

In the 1960s and 1970s, Tilly studied why people moved to cities. He also looked at how cities work and how communities are like social networks.

In 1968, he shared his research on violence in Europe with a U.S. government group. This group was trying to understand the unrest happening in American cities during the Civil Rights Movement. Tilly's interest in cities and communities was closely tied to his study of social movements and group violence.

How to Study Societies

In his 1984 book, Big Structures, Large Processes, Huge Comparisons, Tilly explained his special way of studying countries and how they develop.

He disagreed with some common ideas about society:

That societies are separate and not connected.
That group behavior is only about what individuals think.
That societies are simple blocks without different parts.
That societies always grow through fixed steps (like in modernization theory).
That differences in society always lead to disorder.
That fast social change causes unusual behaviors like crime.
That "good" and "bad" conflicts come from different reasons.

Instead, Tilly believed in "historically grounded huge comparisons." This means looking at big historical events and changes, but always considering the time and place they happened. This approach is sometimes called historical sociology or comparative historical analysis. He focused on two main things: how capitalism grew and how modern states were formed.

Social Movements and Contentious Politics

One of Tilly's main interests was how groups of people challenge the way things are. He wrote books about this in France and Great Britain.

Later, he co-wrote important books about social movements, like Dynamics of Contention (2001) and Contentious Politics (2006). He also wrote a book called Social Movements, 1768-2004, which looked at social movements from the 18th century to the early 21st century.

Tilly explained that social movements are a fairly new thing, appearing in the West around the mid-1800s. He said they have three main parts:

A campaign: A long-term, organized public effort to make demands on leaders.
A repertoire of contention: Using different actions like public meetings or demonstrations.
A public display of qualities like being worthy, united, numerous, and committed.

Tilly wanted to study social movements by looking at the specific "causal mechanisms" (how things actually work) that make them happen. He believed that understanding these mechanisms could help explain different types of political challenges, like revolutions or protests.

How Countries Form

Tilly's 1975 book, The Formation of National States in Western Europe, was very important for understanding how countries (states) are formed.

He had a famous idea that states are like "organized crime." He argued that governments often create or exaggerate threats of war. Then, they offer "protection" to their citizens in exchange for taxes and obedience. He believed that states gained their power by making war and then collecting money to pay for it.

For example, before the 1400s, European states collected money through tributes, rents, and fees. But as wars became more common, countries needed more money. This led to the creation of regular taxes and long-term budgets. The way Europe's countries are shaped today is partly because of how rulers fought wars and collected resources long ago.

Tilly's idea that "war made the state" is very well-known. Some experts agree with his theory, finding support for it in Europe and other parts of the world. However, others have debated his ideas. Some say he didn't fully consider other factors like new weapons or trade. Others point to countries like Afghanistan, where war has actually destroyed the state, not built it.

Tilly's ideas were influenced by other thinkers like Otto Hintze. Tilly believed that through war, a state becomes the only group allowed to use physical force. This means any other group using violence is seen as breaking the law.

Democracy and How It Grows

Later in his career, Tilly wrote several books about democracy, including Contention and Democracy in Europe, 1650-2000 (2004) and Democracy (2007).

He suggested that political systems should be judged by four things:

Breadth: How many rights citizens have.
Equality: How equal citizens are.
Protection: How safe citizens are from unfair government actions.
Mutually binding consultation: How much government leaders must listen to and help citizens.

The more a system had these qualities, the more democratic it was.

Tilly also looked at how a country's strength (state capacity) affects its journey to democracy. He found that very powerful states could stop democracy, while very weak states might fall into civil war. He thought the best path was a balance, where a country builds its strength and democracy at the same time, like the United States did.

Awards and Honors

Charles Tilly received many awards and honors for his important work:

He was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in 1968–1969 and 1997-1998.
He became a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1972.
He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1974.
He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1975.
He won the Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service in sociology in 1982.
He received the European Amalfi Prize for Sociology and Social Sciences in 1994 for his book European Revolutions (1942-1992).
The American Sociological Association gave him their Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award in 2005.
He received the Karl Deutsch Award in Comparative Politics in 2006.
He was awarded the Albert O. Hirschman Award by the Social Science Research Council in 2008.

He also received honorary doctorates (special degrees) from many universities around the world, including Erasmus University Rotterdam, the University of Toronto, and the University of Michigan. The French government also made him a "Knight of the Order of Academic Palms."

In 2001, the sociology students at Columbia University named him Professor of the Year. After his death, two awards were named after him: the Charles Tilly Award for Best Book and the Charles Tilly Best Article Award, both given by the American Sociological Association.

Many special journal issues and conferences were held to honor his work after he passed away.

Death

Charles Tilly passed away in the Bronx, New York, on April 29, 2008, from lymphoma (a type of cancer). Even as he was very ill, he managed to tell one of his early students, Barry Wellman, "It's a complex situation."

After his death, the president of Columbia University, Lee C. Bollinger, said that Tilly "literally wrote the book on the contentious dynamics and the ethnographic foundations of political history." Adam Ashforth from the University of Michigan called Tilly "the founding father of 21st-century sociology."