John Madge

John Madge (1914–1968) was an English sociologist and younger brother of Charles Madge.

Early life and education Born in 1914, Madge was the son of Lieut Col. C. A. Madge and Barbara, née Hylton Foster, and like his father and brother was educated at Winchester College, and subsequently at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read economics.

The two Madges were active in the Cambridge University Socialist Society. The Madge brothers were close friends with the poet Gavin Ewart; John and Ewart shared a flat on Gloucester Place and travelled to Austria together in 1938. Cyril Bibby comments with reference to them as well as Maurice Dobb, the twins Francis and Roualeyn Cumming-Bruce, Margot Heinemann and 'the beautiful Eileen Wynne' that 'it was noticeable how many of these extreme left-wingers came from privileged upper-class homes.' (Reminiscences of a Happy Life, p. 171)

Career Upon graduation, Madge studied at the Architectural Association, qualifying in 1941. In 1965, Madge was appointed Director of the Sociological Research Unit at University College London, and was still with that institution when he died suddenly in August 1968. Further books included The Tools of Social Science (1953), a clearly presented and quite readable handbook on research methodology in Sociology and related social sciences, The Origins of Scientific Sociology (1959), and a number of books on Urban Sociology.