Encyclopedia of Religion
and Society

William H. Swatos, Jr. Editor

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FRIEDEL, FRANCIS J.
(1897-1959) A member of the Society of Mary, Friedel received an S.T.D. from the University of Freiburg (1926) and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Pittsburgh (1950). He began his teaching career in philosophy and history at the University of Dayton in 1927. In 1937, he was made Professor of Sociology, and in 1938, Dean of Arts and Science. From 1943 to 1949, he was President of Trinity College, Iowa. He was third President of the American Catholic Sociological Society (1940). His published scholarly sociological works were textbooks in social problems and in marriage and family.

Friedel was one of the four sociologists who, while attending the 1937 convention of the American Sociological Society in Atlantic City, and frustrated by the profession's positivistic atmosphere, set in motion the events resulting in the establishment of ACSS. Although he questioned the existence of a "Catholic" sociology and insisted on distinctions among sociology, social philosophy, and social action, Friedel argued for uniting all three in the role of the Catholic sociologist.

Loretta M. Morris

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