The Sociology of Birth and Death: An Interview with Maurice R. Stein

Abstract

Over six decades of teaching sociology, Maurice R. Stein (since 2002 retired from Brandeis University), pioneered and developed an experimental “Sociology of Birth and Death.” The course emphasized peer education, active learning, and transformative education in the liberal arts informed by the classic tradition of sociology. In order to document and elaborate on the nature of the course for the benefit of today's instructors of sociology, Dandaneau interviewed Stein on June 10 and 11, 2009, in Stein's Cambridge, Massachusetts, home, and Dandaneau and East followed up with telephone interviews on November 21, 2009, and on January 29, February 5, February 12, and February 25, 2010. The following is an edited transcription of these conversations.