John Smith (sociologist)
John Harold Smith was an English sociologist.Biography
Born in Folkestone, Smith attended Harvey Grammar School; during World War II, he served with the Royal Observer Corps and as a meteorologist in the Royal Navy. On demobilisation, he read sociology at the London School of Economics, graduating in 1950. He then worked as a researcher at the Acton Society Trust, before returning to the LSE as a lecturer in social sciences and administration. In 1964, he became professor and head of the Sociology and Social Policy Department at the University of Southampton; he retired in 1991. According to The Guardian, Smith "played a leading role in developing the University of Southampton's social sciences faculty and was an authority on the social psychologist Elton Mayo"; an industrial sociologist by specialism, he co-authored Married Working Women in 1962, as well as a number of other monographs and articles related to his discipline. He was a keen gardener, follower of cricket and fan of Hitchcock's thrillers and western films. He married Jean Horton in 1951 and had with her three children Christopher, Nigel and Rachel, who all survived him.
