Rose Laub Coser

Rose Laub Coser (born May 4, 1916 August 21, 1994) was a German-American sociologist, educator, and social justice activist. She taught sociology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook from 1968 until her retirement in 1987. She was interested in the effect of social structures on individuals, and much her work fell within medical sociology, role theory, and sociology of the family.

Early life and family Rose Laub Coser was born on May 4, 1916, in Berlin, Germany. She is a daughter of Rachel Lea (Lachowsky) Loeb and Elias Laub, a Polish printer and publisher. Her parents were passionate socialists and knew Rosa Luxemburg well. They named their first-born daughter Rose in honor of Luxemburg. Coser grew in a socialist environment upheld by her parents. In 1924, the family moved to Antwerp, Belgium. In Antwerp, Rose Laub lost her younger sister to an accidental death. Then, due to the Nazi threat, the Laubs emigrated to New York City, U.S. in 1939.

Coser's major contributions fall within the areas of medical sociology, role theory, sociology of the family, and contemporary gender issues (both within family and the occupational world). She was a co-founder of the journal Dissent with Irving Howe and Lewis A. Coser, and frequently published in it. Though she was not particularly religious, Coser's Jewish background allowed her to make several contributions to and fill many gaps in literature on Jewish women.

Role theory Coser's work on role theory, which built on the work of her mentor, Robert K. Merton, demonstrates how people in modern society may take on multiple statuses and the roles that are attached to them, thus creating a wide social repertoire. However, according to Coser, women have historically been restricted from the acquisition of multiple and diverse roles, suffering more physical confinement and political, occupational restrictions, compared to men. In her classic paper written with Lewis A. Coser, "Stay Home Little Sheba: On Placement, Displacement, and Social Change (1974)," she displays how the "greedy institution" of the family has restricted participation of women in public life and argues that denying public policies of women's access to institutionalized child reinforces social and political subordination. [For example, Lewis Coser, Peter Blau, and Helena Znancieka Lopata on role-theory; Gladys Rothbell (role of housewife); Cynthia Fuchs Epstein (roles of women in law); Jeffrey Rosenhold ("role-complexity and patterns of inheritance"); William D'Antonio (immigration of Jewish Italian women and families); Arlene Daniels (privileged women); Helga Nowotny (women the field of science); Nancy Chodrow (female psychoanalysts); Ellen Coser Perrin and James Perrin (physicians and their training); and Donald Light (protection of role in medicine).]

Coser served the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) as the president from 1973 to 1974. Coser won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1979. Coser served the American Sociological Association (ASA) as the vice president in 1986. Coser received Eastern Sociological Society (ESS) Merit Award in 1987. Coser served the Eastern Sociological Society (ESS) as the president from 1984 to 1985.

The Rose Laub Coser Dissertation Proposal Award In honor of the president Rose Laub Coser, her family, friends, and former students established the Rose Laub Coser Award within Eastern Sociological Society (ESS). The award is annually granted to a graduate student for an outstanding doctoral dissertation proposal in the area of sociology of the family or the gender and society.