 peter michael blau (february 7, 1918 &ndash; march 12, 2002) was an american sociologist and theorist. born in vienna, austria, he immigrated to the united states in 1939. he received his phd at columbia university in 1952, and was an instructor at wayne state university in detroit, michigan from 1949&ndash;1951, before moving on to teach at the university of chicago from 1953 to 1970. in 1970 he returned to columbia university, where he continued to teach until 1988. from 1988 to 2000 he taught as an emeritus professor at university of north carolina, chapel hill in the same department as his wife, judith blau. his sociological specialty was in organizational and social structures, in particular bureaucracy. he produced theories relating to many aspects of social phenomena, including upward mobility, occupational opportunity, and heterogeneity. he also produced theories on how population structures can influence human behavior. one of blau's most important contributions to social theory is his work regarding exchange theory, which explains how small-scale social exchange directly relates to social structures at a societal level. he also was the first to map out the wide variety of social forces, dubbed âblau spaceâ by miller mcpherson. this idea was one of the first to take individuals and distribute them along a multidimensional space.blau-space is still used as a guide by sociologists and has been expanded to include areas of sociology never specifically covered by blau himself. in 1974 blau served as president of the american sociological association. ==early life== peter blau was born in 1918 in vienna shortly before the fall of the austro-hungarian empire. he was born into a jewish family as fascist power within europe grew and hitlerâs influence within austria became increasingly evident. hitlerâs rise to power and wwii would impact blauâs life tremendously, claiming family, culture, and nearly his own life. at the age of seventeen, blau was convicted of high trea
1918_births 2002_deaths Academics_of_the_University_of_Cambridge American_Jews American_people_of_Austrian-Jewish_descent American_sociologists Austrian_Jews Columbia_University_alumni Elmhurst_College_alumni Guggenheim_Fellows People_convicted_of_treason_against_Austria Presidents_of_the_American_Sociological_Association