Jacob L.

Moreno and "Sociometry": A Mid-Century Reminiscence

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 Social Psychology Quarterly
2007, Vol. 70, No. 4, 330-332

Jacob L Moreno and Sociometry: fl Mid-century Reminiscence

I first met Jacob L. Moreno, the founder of know what could be done with them in terms
Social Psychology Quarterly, through the of their research potential. I was directed to
intervention of Professor Wellman J. him because I knew a lot about this research
Warner, then the chairman of New York area and had a firm grasp of the appropriate
University's Department of Sociology. statistics. Unfortunately, the wires were in ter
Wellman had invited Moreno to speak before rible condition. I was forced to advise Moreno
the sociology students there. Moreno's book, that they were useless and could not be uti
Who Shall Survive?, had become a classic lized for research on his psychodrama groups.
study of the social relations among individu Despite my being the messenger of bad news,
als, an approach that had become known as Moreno apparently thought I had good ideas
"sociometry." Although he had received criti with regard to the potential of some future
cism for some of the extensions of the socio research and invited me to his psychodrama
metric method, including some of his visual sessions at the Park Avenue theatre that he had
depictions of groups through what he labeled at the time. Eventually, I was trained to con
sociograms, Who Shall Survive? cemented his duct the psychodrama sessions. On occasion, I
visibility in sociology and particularly in ran the entire operation when Moreno was not
social psychology. His concern with a direct able to travel to New York City from his home
view of the sociometric situation attracted and offices north of the city in Beacon, New
considerable attention among mid-century York.
sociologists. Moreno himself was not a mod During this time, Moreno was editing the
est person and he was quite aggressive in pro journal Sociometry. After parting ways with
moting the tenets of sociometry, writing to a his long-time collaborator, Helen Hall
Jennings, over a disagreement about publica
large number of leading sociologists at major
departments, particularly those who claimed tions, Moreno asked me if I would be willing
to be methodologists. to be an associate editor. Moreno used me
I hadn't met Moreno on his earliest visits quite frequently as a reader of the materials
to NYU, but on one visit, Moreno mentioned that he received for the journal and he liked
to Warner that he had a set of wire recordings my assessments. At the time, I was quite ambi
that should be analyzed systematically. In tious and I rewrote the materials of a number
those days we relied on wire recordings, not of authors and made them publishable. I was a
tape recordings. Moreno had wires of many of blind critic in the sense that my work was
his psychodrama sessions and he wanted to never disclosed and went to authors as sug
gestions from Moreno. Most authors were
pleased to have their materials published and
Editors Note: Edgar Borgatta has been a sociologist
for sixty years since entering the MA program in sociolo
did not care who had prepared the critique.
gy at New York University in 1947. In the course of a dis At this time I was in my last year of grad
tinguished career, he has taught at Harvard, NYU, uate work and was teaching full time at the
Cornell, Wisconsin, CUNY, and the University of University Heights campus of NYU. I was
Washington, and was employed by the Russell Sage
Foundation. From 1950 to its final transfer to the worn down to a thread, but I did keep working
American Sociological Society in 1956, Borgatta was a at Sociometry, and Moreno appreciated my
major force in the growth of this journal, serving as edi efforts. Soon he appointed me as the new edi
tor for much of this period, shaping what the journal has
tor of Sociometry, and we worked out an
become in the past half century. We are honored to pub
lish his reminiscences of the journal based on an edited arrangement that I would be available to him
tape transcript by Corey Fields. after I left graduate school to go to Harvard to
330

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 JACOB L. MOR6NO AND SOCIOMETRY 331

work with Samuel Stouffer. For the three years 1954 raised the question of whether or not
that I was at Harvard, Moreno and I worked Sociometry could be transferred to the Ameri
closely together on Sociometry. He would call can Sociological Society (ASS) as its second
at any time of the day or night, mostly around journal after the American Sociological
midnight or one o'clock in the morning. My Review. At the end of my stay at Harvard, we
wife had to live with that as I did. were in the middle of the transaction that
The content of the journal had become of would transfer Sociometry to the ASS in 1955.
considerable interest to social psychologists. The first issue of Sociometry under the ASS
At the time, we also had the problem that the imprint was the following year.
psychologists were working very hard to get Warner, Matilda Riley, and several others
licensing and certification of the word psy associated with the ASS were interested and
chology, or anything with the prefix "psycho" very much involved with the possibility of
?psychometrics, psycho-this and psycho-that bringing Sociometry into the ASS. The situa
?controlled legislatively. They were able to tion was a peculiar one because over the years
affect legislation in a number of states and the ASS had not taken any initiative to start
promptly restricted the term and use of psy any journals, while the APA had established a
chology. This strategy impacted sociological number of very well-developed journals. So
social psychology in a very negative way. To this was all going on in New York, and in addi
be a social psychologist implied that one was
tion the ASS was looking at moving its offices
a psychologist. Eventually the American
down to Washington, D.C. It was a relatively
Sociological Society (as it was then named)
complex situation in terms of our contacts
would get assurances from the American
with the American Sociological Society.
Psychological Association that they would not
Wellman Warner and Matilda Riley were the
interfere with academic titles, so a truce was
two most critical people in presenting the
arranged. But people were beginning to ask
information on Sociometry as a possible sec
sociologists if they were licensed as psycholo
ond journal.
gists when they were doing research that
I knew very little about what was going on
involved groups.
in the ASS Council, but clearly the message
Despite much groundbreaking research
was that sociology was punishing itself by not
published in Sociometry, the fact of the matter
having more journals. Here was ajournai that
is that it was not a very well organized journal.
When I took over the editing, we had very few
was ready-made and was in good condition
institutions and people who subscribed to the when it was transferred, even if the subscrip
tions were anemic. When we looked at the
journal. I think that at its high point the jour
nal had roughly 225 subscriptions nationally. question of who could be the next editor of the
When I was at Harvard and working with ASS journal, we decided that we needed to ask
Moreno, for all practical purposes there was a very prestigious scholar to lead it. Both
nobody else doing any work on the journal Warner and I thought that Leonard "Slats"
and I was the editor, as Moreno kept telling Cottrell, Jr. would be the perfect person to rec
me. I did the job of sending materials that ommend for that task and I tried to persuade
came into the journal out for review, using Cottrell to take the assignment. As a result, in
graduate students and faculty at Harvard as some of the issues of Sociometry at that time,
well as other people in the field. However, we I am, I think, listed as acting editor or acting
did not talk too much about what my title was editor-in-chief. Eventually Cottrell, who was
supposed to be because we were too busy. But associated with the Russell Sage Foundation,
the fact of the matter is that at one point or agreed to be the first editor under the
another it became an issue. When I went to American Sociological Society, and under this
Harvard was also the period when Wellman condition Sociometry entered into sociology.
Warner started dealing with Moreno, who in And the rest, as they say, is history.

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332 SOCIAL PSVCHOLOGV QURRT6RLV

Edgar F. Borgatta was born in Milan, Italy, on September 1, 1924, to Mexican and Italian parents.
He arrived in the United States in 1929. At age 18, he volunteered for World War II service and was
discharged in March 1946. He returned to college at NYU and in 1952 was granted a PhD in
sociology with a psychology minor. His interests have been broadly in research methods and social
psychology. He has edited journals, books, and most recently two editions of the Encyclopedia of
Sociology.

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