Jean Stoetzel


Jean Stoetzel  was a French sociologist.

Biography

He had Alsacian and Lorrainian descent.
Stoetzel had studied in Lycée Louis-le-Grand, in a preparatory class for superiour schools
In 1932, he entered École normale supérieure in Parisе.
In 1938, he visited Columbia University in New York City. There he get to know the methods of opinion polling by George Gallup.
Upon return to France, he founded Institut français d'opinion publique, the first French organization to conduct opinion polling. Amongst the question asked were the position of French on Édouard Daladier's politics with respect to "German threat", the opinion of birthrate decline, etc. Although Stoetzel methods were quite rude, he managed to detect rightward shift in French public mood.
During World War II, he was a liaison officer with British army and fought in Battle of Dunkirk. Afterwards, he returned to occupied France and taught philosophy in a secondary school.
Stoetzel became a Doctor of Philosophy in 1943. He was a sociology professor in University of Bordeaux in 1943-9154, and he was a social phychology professor in University of Paris in 1955-1978.
In 1977, Stoetzel was elected a member of Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques.