Encyclopedia, Difference between revisions of "Earnest Hooton" - New World
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''Earnest Albert Hooton'' was born on November 20, 1887, in Clemansville, Wisconsin, into the family of William Hooton and Margaret Newton, [[England|English]] immigrants to [[United States|America]]. He attended Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, where he earned his BA in 1907. | ''Earnest Albert Hooton'' was born on November 20, 1887, in Clemansville, Wisconsin, into the family of William Hooton and Margaret Newton, [[England|English]] immigrants to [[United States|America]]. He attended Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, where he earned his BA in 1907. | ||
| − | He won a prestigious [[Rhodes Scholarship]] to [[Oxford University]] | + | He won a prestigious [[Rhodes Scholarship]] to [[Oxford University]], which he deferred in order to continue his studies in the United States. He pursued graduate studies in Classics at the [[University of Wisconsin]]*, where he received an MA in 1908 and a Ph.D. in 1911, writing a thesis on "The Pre-Hellenistic Stage of the Evolution of the Literary Art at Rome." |
Hooton then moved to England. He found classical scholarship at Oxford uninteresting, but quickly became interested in [[anthropology]], which he studied with R.R. Marrett, receiving a diploma in anthropology in 1912. | Hooton then moved to England. He found classical scholarship at Oxford uninteresting, but quickly became interested in [[anthropology]], which he studied with R.R. Marrett, receiving a diploma in anthropology in 1912. | ||
| + | |||
| + | He married Mary Beidley Camp in 1915, with whom he had three children. | ||
At the conclusion of his time in England, he was hired by [[Harvard University]], where he taught until his death in 1954. During this time he was also Curator of Somatology at the nearby Peabody Museum for Archaeology and Ethnology. | At the conclusion of his time in England, he was hired by [[Harvard University]], where he taught until his death in 1954. During this time he was also Curator of Somatology at the nearby Peabody Museum for Archaeology and Ethnology. | ||
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Hooton was also a public figure well-known for popular volumes with titles like ''Up From the Apes'', ''Young Man, You are Normal'', and ''Apes, Men, and Morons''. He was also a gifted cartoonist and wit, and like his contemporaries [[Ogden Nash]] and [[James Thurber]] he published occasional [[poem]]s and [[drawing]]s that were eventually collected and published. | Hooton was also a public figure well-known for popular volumes with titles like ''Up From the Apes'', ''Young Man, You are Normal'', and ''Apes, Men, and Morons''. He was also a gifted cartoonist and wit, and like his contemporaries [[Ogden Nash]] and [[James Thurber]] he published occasional [[poem]]s and [[drawing]]s that were eventually collected and published. | ||
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==Work== | ==Work== | ||
| − | Hooton | + | Hooton was known for combining a rigorous attention to scholarly detail combined with a candid and witty personal style. Henry Shapiro (1954) remembered that Hooton's lectures "were compounded of a strange, unpredictable mixture of strict attention to his duty to present the necessary facts... and of a delightful impatience with the restrictions of this role to which he seemed to react by launching into informal, speculative, and thoroughly entertaining and absorbing discussions of the subject at hand." As a result Hooton attracted a large number of students and established [[Harvard]] as a center for [[physical anthropology]] in the United States. |
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| − | + | ===Physical anthropology=== | |
| + | Many of Hooton's research projects were indebted to his training in physical anthropology at a time when this field consisted mostly of [[anatomy]] and focused on [[physiology|physiological]] variation between individuals. The "Harvard Fanny Study," for instance, involved measuring buttock spread and buttock-knee lengths in order to design more comfortable chairs for the Pennsylvania [[railroad]]. A similar study on the restrictive shape of ball-turrets in the B-17 [[aircraft]] was instrumental in the creation of a mature, applied physical anthropology in the United States. | ||
| − | + | Hooton advocated a cautious approach to the claims of [[evolution|evolutionary]] origins of the human race, especially after the events connected to the discovery of the [[Piltdown man]], which was proven to be a hoax, and a great slap in a face to the scientific community. In light of this, Hooton wrote: | |
| + | <blockquote>''No anthropologist is justified in reconstructing the entire skeleton of an unfamiliar type of fossil man from parts of the skullcap, one or two teeth, and perhaps a few oddments of mandible (jaw bone) and long bones . . Inferences concerning the missing parts are very precarious, unless more complete skeletons of other individuals of the same type are available to support the reconstruction.'' (Hooton 1970 p. 115) </blockquote> | ||
| + | Beside his other accomplishments, Hooton's career encompased serving as editor of ''Harvard African Studies'' from 1918 to 1954, as secretary (1920-1922) and as chairman and vice-president (1922-1923) of Section H of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as a member of numerous professional societies, and receiving honorary doctorates from Lawrence College (1933) and University of Wisconsin (1954). | ||
| − | + | ===Criminology=== | |
| + | Hooton remains famous for his work in [[criminology]]. He used his work in racial classification and applied it to the area of criminal behavior. Hooton believed in [[Cesare Lombroso]]’s theory of the born criminal, according to which criminals could be identified based on their physical characteristics. Through his own research surveying American criminals, Hooton tried to find evidence supporting Lombroso’s theory, suggesting that criminals have inferior characteristics compared to people who do not commit [[crime]]s. He classified those characteristics into [[sociology|sociological]], [[psychology|psychological]], physical, morphological, and pathological areas (see Hooton, 1939a). For example, according to Hooton, | ||
| + | *criminals are less often [[marriage|married]] and more often [[divorce]]d | ||
| + | *criminals often have [[tattoo]]s | ||
| + | *criminals have thinner beards and body hair, and their hair is more often reddish-brown and straight | ||
| + | *criminals often have blue-gray or mixed colored eyes, and less often dark or blue eyes | ||
| + | *criminals have low sloping foreheads, high nasal bridges and thin lips | ||
| + | *criminal’s ears often have rolled helix and a perceptible Darwin’s point | ||
| − | + | Based on these observations Hooton concluded that the underlying cause of criminal behavior is to be found in physical characteristics, that is, physical inferiority. He suggested that human [[somatotype]] (body shape and physique) can even determine which type of crime a person will commit: tall-slender men are predisposed for [[murder]] and [[robbery]]; tall-medium heavy men for [[forgery]]; tall-heavy men for first-degree murder; medium height-heavy for antisocial behavior, short-slender for [[burglary]] and [[larceny]]; short-medium heavy for [[arson]]; while short-heavy men for sex offenses. Since he believed that biological predispositions determine deviant behavior, Hooton advocated removal of criminals from society, seeing no hope in their rehabilitation. | |
| − | + | Hooton’s theories were heavily influenced by [[eugenics|eugenic]] ideas, and as such were harshly criticized. His methodology was seriously questioned, and his beliefs characterized as [[racism|racist]]. | |
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==Legacy== | ==Legacy== | ||
| − | + | Hooton’s appointment to the [[anthropology]] department at [[Harvard]] in 1913, led to the establishment there of the first major training program in the [[United States]] for [[physical anthropology]]. Hooton’s first graduate was Harry L. Shapiro in 1926, and over the next 30 years most of the physical anthropology programs in American universities were staffed by Hooton graduates. | |
| + | |||
| + | His publications, particularly the popular series beginning with ''Up from the Ape'', was not only used as a textbook but also was widely read by the general public, as Hooton intended. | ||
| + | |||
| + | His theory of [[somatotype|somatotypical]] determination of [[crime|criminal]] behavior was quite influential in his time, but also severely criticized. | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
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==Bibliography== | ==Bibliography== | ||
| − | *Hooton, Earnest A. (1916). ''The | + | *Hooton, Earnest A. (1916). ''The Relation of Physical Anthropology to Medical Science''. s.n. |
| − | *Hooton, Earnest A. (1931/1946). ''Up from the | + | *Hooton, Earnest A. (1931/1946). ''Up from the Ape''. The Macmillan Company |
| − | *Hooton, Earnest A. (1937/1970). ''Apes Men and Morons''. Ayer Co Publ. ISBN 0836919564 | + | *Hooton, Earnest A. (1937/1970). ''Apes, Men and Morons''. Ayer Co Publ. ISBN 0836919564 |
| − | *Hooton, Earnest A. (1939a). ''The American | + | *Hooton, Earnest A. (1939a). ''The American Criminal''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press |
*Hooton, Earnest A. (1939b). ''Twilight of Man''. G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 0598977724 | *Hooton, Earnest A. (1939b). ''Twilight of Man''. G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 0598977724 | ||
| − | *Hooton, Earnest A. (1941). ''Why | + | *Hooton, Earnest A. (1941). ''Why Men Behave like Apes, and Vice Versa;: Or, Body and Behavior''. H. Milford, Oxford university press |
| − | *Hooton, Earnest A. (1942). ''Man's | + | *Hooton, Earnest A. (1942). ''Man's Poor Relations''. Doubleday, Doran & company, inc |
| − | *Hooton, Earnest A. (1945). ''A | + | *Hooton, Earnest A. (1945). ''A Survey in Seating''. Harvard University, Dept. of Anthropology, Statistical Laboratory |
{{Credit1|Earnest_Hooton|50501199|}} | {{Credit1|Earnest_Hooton|50501199|}} | ||
Revision as of 21:58, 29 June 2006
Earnest Albert Hooton (born November 20, 1887 in Clemansville, Wisconsin – died May 3, 1954, in Cambridge, Massachusetts) was an American physical anthropologist known for his work on racial classification.
Life
Earnest Albert Hooton was born on November 20, 1887, in Clemansville, Wisconsin, into the family of William Hooton and Margaret Newton, English immigrants to America. He attended Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, where he earned his BA in 1907.
He won a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, which he deferred in order to continue his studies in the United States. He pursued graduate studies in Classics at the University of Wisconsin, where he received an MA in 1908 and a Ph.D. in 1911, writing a thesis on "The Pre-Hellenistic Stage of the Evolution of the Literary Art at Rome."
Hooton then moved to England. He found classical scholarship at Oxford uninteresting, but quickly became interested in anthropology, which he studied with R.R. Marrett, receiving a diploma in anthropology in 1912.
He married Mary Beidley Camp in 1915, with whom he had three children.
At the conclusion of his time in England, he was hired by Harvard University, where he taught until his death in 1954. During this time he was also Curator of Somatology at the nearby Peabody Museum for Archaeology and Ethnology.
Hooton was also a public figure well-known for popular volumes with titles like Up From the Apes, Young Man, You are Normal, and Apes, Men, and Morons. He was also a gifted cartoonist and wit, and like his contemporaries Ogden Nash and James Thurber he published occasional poems and drawings that were eventually collected and published.
Earnest Hooton died in 1954.
Work
Hooton was known for combining a rigorous attention to scholarly detail combined with a candid and witty personal style. Henry Shapiro (1954) remembered that Hooton's lectures "were compounded of a strange, unpredictable mixture of strict attention to his duty to present the necessary facts... and of a delightful impatience with the restrictions of this role to which he seemed to react by launching into informal, speculative, and thoroughly entertaining and absorbing discussions of the subject at hand." As a result Hooton attracted a large number of students and established Harvard as a center for physical anthropology in the United States.
Physical anthropology
Many of Hooton's research projects were indebted to his training in physical anthropology at a time when this field consisted mostly of anatomy and focused on physiological variation between individuals. The "Harvard Fanny Study," for instance, involved measuring buttock spread and buttock-knee lengths in order to design more comfortable chairs for the Pennsylvania railroad. A similar study on the restrictive shape of ball-turrets in the B-17 aircraft was instrumental in the creation of a mature, applied physical anthropology in the United States.
Hooton advocated a cautious approach to the claims of evolutionary origins of the human race, especially after the events connected to the discovery of the Piltdown man, which was proven to be a hoax, and a great slap in a face to the scientific community. In light of this, Hooton wrote:
No anthropologist is justified in reconstructing the entire skeleton of an unfamiliar type of fossil man from parts of the skullcap, one or two teeth, and perhaps a few oddments of mandible (jaw bone) and long bones . . Inferences concerning the missing parts are very precarious, unless more complete skeletons of other individuals of the same type are available to support the reconstruction. (Hooton 1970 p. 115)
Beside his other accomplishments, Hooton's career encompased serving as editor of Harvard African Studies from 1918 to 1954, as secretary (1920-1922) and as chairman and vice-president (1922-1923) of Section H of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as a member of numerous professional societies, and receiving honorary doctorates from Lawrence College (1933) and University of Wisconsin (1954).
Criminology
Hooton remains famous for his work in criminology. He used his work in racial classification and applied it to the area of criminal behavior. Hooton believed in Cesare Lombroso’s theory of the born criminal, according to which criminals could be identified based on their physical characteristics. Through his own research surveying American criminals, Hooton tried to find evidence supporting Lombroso’s theory, suggesting that criminals have inferior characteristics compared to people who do not commit crimes. He classified those characteristics into sociological, psychological, physical, morphological, and pathological areas (see Hooton, 1939a). For example, according to Hooton,
- criminals are less often married and more often divorced
- criminals often have tattoos
- criminals have thinner beards and body hair, and their hair is more often reddish-brown and straight
- criminals often have blue-gray or mixed colored eyes, and less often dark or blue eyes
- criminals have low sloping foreheads, high nasal bridges and thin lips
- criminal’s ears often have rolled helix and a perceptible Darwin’s point
Based on these observations Hooton concluded that the underlying cause of criminal behavior is to be found in physical characteristics, that is, physical inferiority. He suggested that human somatotype (body shape and physique) can even determine which type of crime a person will commit: tall-slender men are predisposed for murder and robbery; tall-medium heavy men for forgery; tall-heavy men for first-degree murder; medium height-heavy for antisocial behavior, short-slender for burglary and larceny; short-medium heavy for arson; while short-heavy men for sex offenses. Since he believed that biological predispositions determine deviant behavior, Hooton advocated removal of criminals from society, seeing no hope in their rehabilitation.
Hooton’s theories were heavily influenced by eugenic ideas, and as such were harshly criticized. His methodology was seriously questioned, and his beliefs characterized as racist.
Legacy
Hooton’s appointment to the anthropology department at Harvard in 1913, led to the establishment there of the first major training program in the United States for physical anthropology. Hooton’s first graduate was Harry L. Shapiro in 1926, and over the next 30 years most of the physical anthropology programs in American universities were staffed by Hooton graduates.
His publications, particularly the popular series beginning with Up from the Ape, was not only used as a textbook but also was widely read by the general public, as Hooton intended.
His theory of somatotypical determination of criminal behavior was quite influential in his time, but also severely criticized.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Birdsell, Joseph. (1987). Some reflections on fifty years in biological anthropology. Annual Reviews of Anthropology, 16, 1-12.
- Garn, Stanley & Giles, Eugene. (1995). Earnest Albert Hooton, 1887 - 1954. Biographical Memoirs. The National Academy of Science of the United States of America, (vol. 68), 167-180.
- Krogman, Wilton. (1976). Fifty years of physical anthropology: the men, the materials, the concepts, and the methods. Annual Reviews of Anthropology, 5, 1-14.
- Shapiro, H. (1954). Earnest Albert Hooton, 1887-1954 American Anthropologist 56, 6, 1081-1084
Bibliography
- Hooton, Earnest A. (1916). The Relation of Physical Anthropology to Medical Science. s.n.
- Hooton, Earnest A. (1931/1946). Up from the Ape. The Macmillan Company
- Hooton, Earnest A. (1937/1970). Apes, Men and Morons. Ayer Co Publ. ISBN 0836919564
- Hooton, Earnest A. (1939a). The American Criminal. Cambridge: Harvard University Press
- Hooton, Earnest A. (1939b). Twilight of Man. G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 0598977724
- Hooton, Earnest A. (1941). Why Men Behave like Apes, and Vice Versa;: Or, Body and Behavior. H. Milford, Oxford university press
- Hooton, Earnest A. (1942). Man's Poor Relations. Doubleday, Doran & company, inc
- Hooton, Earnest A. (1945). A Survey in Seating. Harvard University, Dept. of Anthropology, Statistical Laboratory
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