1927
Gans is a professor sociology at Columbia University and served as president of the American Sociological Association. His book The Urban Villagers (1962) was a critical analysis of the urban renewal period in Boston’s West End. He questioned the displacement of the working-class Italian Americans by providing a fair portrayal of the community and questioning what qualifies as a ‘slum.’ He assisted with public policy and anti-poverty programs and calls for reforms in how sociology is practiced.