Erik Allardt

Erik Anders Allardt (9 August 1925 – 25 August 2020) was a Finnish sociologist and one of the most distinguished social scientists in Finland and the Nordic countries during the 20th century. He served as professor of sociology at the University of Helsinki from 1958 to 1991, and as chancellor of Åbo Akademi University from 1992 to 1994. He introduced empirical sociology to Finland and exercised considerable influence on public debate, particularly during the 1960s and 1970s. Internationally, he is best known for his welfare model with the three dimensions having, loving and being, and for his comparative research on political radicalism and linguistic minorities. In 1995, Allardt was awarded the honorary title of akateemikko.

Biography

Background and intellectual formation In his intellectual autobiography Bondtur och kulturchocker (1995), Allardt described his path to sociology. Growing up in a home marked by social commitment, and shaped by his experiences during the war years, he was drawn to the social sciences. Decisive impulses came through studies in European depth psychology and Swedish social liberalism, and through his acquaintance with Veli Verkko, Finland's first professor of sociology. In 1971 he was elected a member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. He was a fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters from 1982. In 1984 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Uppsala University. In 1986 he was appointed chair of the scientific council of the Academy of Finland, a position he held for two three-year terms, during which the Academy's standing and its relations with the universities were strengthened.

Scholarly contributions Allardt's doctoral dissertation on divorce is regarded as the real breakthrough of modern sociology in Finland. The study examined how different normative systems affected divorce rates, and introduced a theoretical approach that was new to Finnish sociological research. His father was Arvid Allardt, a jurist, and his mother Marita Ingeborg Heikel, a primary school teacher. He married Sagi Nylander in 1947.

Selected bibliography Social struktur och politisk aktivitet (1956) Sociologi (with Yrjö Littunen, 1962) Yhteiskunnan rakenne ja sosiaalinen paine (1964; Swedish: Samhällsstruktur och sociala spänningar) Att ha, att älska, att vara: om välfärd i Norden (1975) Språkgränser och samhällsstruktur (with Christian Starck, 1981) Bondtur och kulturchocker (1995)

Awards and honours 1971 – Member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters 1982 – Fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters 1984 – Honorary doctorate, Uppsala University 1985 – Swedish Academy Finland Prize 1988 – Honorary fellow of the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters 1995 – Honorary title akateemikko 1996 – Tollander Prize