1. Career

2. Books
    The Literacy Myth  Conflicting Paths: Growing Up in America 

3. Awards

4. References

Career

Harvey J. Graff received the Bachelor of Arts degree from Northwestern University in 1970 followed by Master of Arts from The University of Toronto in 1971, and finally his Doctor of Philosophy, also from The University of Toronto in 1975.

Before coming to his current residence at Ohio State University in 2004, Graff taught at the University of Texas at Dallas from 1975-1998 and the University of Texas at San Antonio from 1998 to 2004.^[4] He was a strong proposnent of quantitative social science methods in history. He was elected the president of the Social Science History Association (1999-2000). In his presidential address Graff argued that traditional historians had successfully counterattacked against quantification and the innovations of the "new social history":

The case against the new mixed and confused a lengthy list of ingredients, including the following: history’s supposed loss of identity and humanity in the stain of social science, the fear of subordinating quality to quantity, conceptual and technical fallacies, violation of the literary character and biographical base of “good” history (rhetorical and aesthetic concern), loss of audiences, derogation of history rooted in “great men” and “great events,” trivialization in general, a hodge-podge of ideological objections from all directions, and a fear that new historians were reaping research funds that might otherwise come to their detractors. To defenders of history as they knew it, the discipline was in crisis, and the pursuit of the new was a major cause.^[5]

Books

The Literacy Myth

Written in 1979, this book studies 19th century educators who supported the "literacy myth", as Graff calls it, which is the assumption that literacy translates to economic, social, and cultural success. Graff suggests that this myth views literacy as a necessity for success, and a means to an economic, social, or political end. His research contradicts this, suggesting “that connections between schooling and social mobility are not natural ones".^[6] He goes on to say that reality contradicts inborn assumptions correlating literacy and success.^[6]

Conflicting Paths: Growing Up in America

The assumption has been made by scholars and the general populace alike “that children have followed in the paths marked out for them by adults, and the possibility that they developed their own reactions and behavior in the course of their maturation has been ignored”.^[7] Basically, while social scientists are familiar with normative behavior, little is known about the actual behavior of children as they mature. Conflicting Paths looks at over five-hundred narratives dating from 1750 to 1920 to try and follow the actual process of growing up in America and, if it has, how it has changed over time as well as the effects of factors such as class, gender and ethnicity.^[7][8]

Awards

In 2001 he was presented the Doctor of Philosophy honoris causa by the University of Linköping in Sweden for his contributions to scholarship.^[3]

References

• The Whitsun Weddings
• The Whiz
• The Whiz (comics)
• The Whiz Kids
• The Whizzard of Ow
• The who
• The Who By Numbers
• The who discography
• The whole 10 yards
• The whole earth catalog
• The whole effin show
• The Whole Experience
• The Whole Family
• The Whole Family: a Novel by Twelve Authors
• The Whole Lesbian Sex Book
• The Whole Nine Yards
• The Whole Nine Yards Film
• The Whole Nine Yards (film)
• The whole of the moon
• The Whole Of The Moon: The Music Of Mike Scott And The Waterboys
• The Whole of the Moon: The Music of Mike Scott and the Waterboys
• The Wholesale District
• The Wholesale District, Indianapolis
• The Whole SHeBANG
• The Whole SHeBANG: All Mixed Up