| Charles Arnold Anderson | |
| Birth Date: | January 13, 1907 |
| Birth Place: | Platte, South Dakota, US |
| Death Date: | June 26, 1990 |
| Death Place: | Chicago, Illinois, US |
| Other Names: | C. Arnold Anderson |
| Fields: | Comparative Education and Rural Sociology |
| Alma Mater: | University of Minnesota |
| Spouse: | Dr. Mary Jean Bowman |
| Children: | Lloyd Barr |
Charles Arnold Anderson (January 13, 1907June 26, 1990) was an American educator and scholar, known for his significant contributions to the fields of comparative education and rural sociology. He published under the name C. Arnold Anderson in academic journals.
He was born in Platte, South Dakota, to Edward Thomas and Edith (Orvis).[1] He grew up in a rural community which would have some influence on his research. Anderson obtained a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in 1927, a Master of Arts (M.A.) in 1928, and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in 1932, all from the University of Minnesota. Anderson married Mary Jean Bowman on July 18, 1942. Anderson and his wife would collaborate on several research projects together and worked together at the University of Chicago.
Anderson made significant contributions to the field of education, publishing over 200 works in journals spanning sociology, education, political science, social mobility, and economics. Anderson helped start the Comparative Education Center at the University of Chicago between 1958 and 1972. He co-edited Education, Economy, and Sociology in 1961 and Education and Economic Growth in 1965. Additionally, he played a key role as the chief editor of the American Journal of Sociology from 1967 to 1973. Anderson was also a consultant for UNESCO and the Ford Foundation.
Anderson's background of growing up in a rural area had a significant impact on him and his research interests, according to the conversations between him and Phillip Foster who worked with him at the University of Chicago.[2] Anderson showed sympathy towards the rural community and through his research he worked on things like policy change, in economics and education in underdeveloped areas. Anderson's mentor at the University of Minnesota was Pitirim Alexandrovitch Sorokin, who shared a similar interest in rural life due to his upbringing and influenced Anderson's later work. While Anderson was at the University of Chicago, he worked on researching comparative education and helped with the creation of the Comparative Education Center at the university. Comparative education is a discipline in social science that evaluates different educational systems around the world in order to form better structures for them.[3] Foster would say Anderson focused on the "demographics of education," which looks at patterns in educational development.[4]