This site, developed and maintained by Roger W. Smith, is devoted to the Russian-American sociologist and social philosopher Pitirim A. Sorokin (1889-1968).
Students and teachers of the Jurisprudence Faculty of the Imperial Saint-Petersburg University, around 1913-1914. Standing in second row: sixth from right: P. A. Sorokin.
personal archive of Prof. A.V. Gordon, Moscow
Posted on Сайт Юрия Дойкова (Yuri Doykov’s site) at
Pitirim Sorokin in St. Petersburg, 1917; from cover of The Unknown Sorokin: His Life in Russia and the Essay on Suicide, edited by Denny Vǻgerö
Such a handsome young man. Sorokin was age twenty-eight at the time. In his face and expression, one can see the earnestness and idealism that would manifest itself in his life and writings.
This photo appeared in The Christian Science Monitor (published in Boston, Massachusetts) in the following article:
“Kerensky Sees Fall of Soviet Dictatorship: Colleagues of Revolution Meet in Boston
The Christian Science Monitor
March 9, 1938
pg. 10
On the evening of March 9, the day the article appeared, Kerensky spoke at the Ford Hall Forum in Boston. His lecture was entitled “On Behalf of Democracy.”
In the conclusion of the article, it is stated: “The last meeting between Mr. Kerensky and his secretary [Sorokin] occurred nearly 18 years ago in Berlin. This was four years after Mr. Kerensky’s escape and already the Soviet Regime was sending its roots into Russian soil. Yet like his former superior, Sorokin believes the Soviet Union some day will collapse.”
This photo of Sorokin in the yard of his Winchester, Massachusetts home appeared in the Boston Sunday Globe of May 23, 1954 under the headline “Winchester Hillside Aglow With Azaleas, Grown by Harvard Professor.”
Photos of Sorokin during his early academic career are rare.
Here is an item from the Minnesota Alumni Weekly of May 4, 1929 (“Faculty Books,” pg. 540) noting the publication of Sorokin’s Social Mobility. Sorokin was on the faculty of the University of Minnesota at that time.
The photo caption reads: “…. he told us, very proudly, that he is in the process of becoming an American citizen, and he would soon be able to file for his second papers.”
Pitirim A. Sorokin speaking at Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, February 11, 1959
This grainy photograph of Pitirim A. Sorokin was published in The Daily Collegian (Wayne State University) on February 12, 1959.
The day before, Sorokin had delivered a lecture to “an overcrowded lecture hall” on the Wayne State University campus on a topic he had addressed numerous times: mutual convergence of the Russian and American systems and values.
These photos were posted on Facebook by Valery E. Sharapov on May 29, 2018. They are posted here courtesy Mr. Sharapov.
Pitirim Alexandrovich Sorokin was born on 2 February [O.S. 21 January] 1889, in Turya, a small village in Yarensk uyezd, Vologda Governorate, Russian Empire (now Knyazhpogostsky District, Komi Republic, Russia).
Эти фотографии были размещены на Facebook Валерием Шараповым 29 мая 2018 года. Они размещены здесь любезно г-ном Шараповым.
Сорокин Питирим Александрович родился 2 февраля [O.S. 21 января] 1889 года, в Турии, маленькой деревне в Яренском уезде, Вологодской губернии, Российской империи (ныне Княжпогостский район, Республика Коми, Россия).