We share with deep sadness that Aaron Victor Cicourel, professor emeritus in the Departments of Cognitive Science and Sociology in the School of Social Sciences, who also worked in the university’s School of Medicine, passed away on July 22, 2023. A founding faculty member of Cognitive Science and Sociology, Cicourel taught at UC San Diego and throughout the UC system for more than 40 years. He was 94 and surrounded by loved ones at the time of his death in Berkeley, Calif.
A celebration of Cicourel’s life will be held on Saturday, April 6, beginning at 10:30 a.m., in the Atkinson Pavilion of the Faculty Club.
A cognitive sociologist and sociolinguist with specialties in medical communication, decision-making and child socialization, Cicourel made abiding contributions in the many interdisciplinary fields to which he applied his intellect. He left a lasting imprint not only on several fields of study but also on the many students and colleagues that he mentored over the course of his long and engaged life.
Cicourel’s 1964 book, “Method and Measurement in Sociology,” is a classic text and one of the most cited books in the field, and nearly 60 years after its publication, continues to fuel debate. The book posits that both qualitative and quantitative analysis are deeply contextual and contingent – situated in society and in the assumptions of the scientists doing the work. In the book and in subsequent research as well, Cicourel argued that reported findings on human behavior have to be understood in light of the humans conducting the studies, the decisions and choices they make – that the cognition of analysts is just as important to scrutinize as the cognition of subjects.
He was a prolific author and his many publications were frequently translated for audiences around the world. “Method and Measurement” also appeared in German, Japanese and Spanish, for example, and most recently his book “The Social Organization of Juvenile Justice,” came out in French.
Cicourel began his University of California career as an undergraduate student at UCLA, earning his bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1951 and then a master’s in sociology and anthropology in 1955, before completing his Ph.D. at Cornell University in 1957. After a Russell Sage Foundation postdoctoral fellowship with UCLA Medical Center and a two-year visiting appointment at Northwestern, Cicourel began teaching at UC Riverside in 1960, then also took appointments at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara, before moving to UC San Diego in 1970.
Cicourel was one of the earliest faculty members in the Department of Sociology. His interdisciplinary interests made for enduring ties with the Department of Pediatrics and other areas of study within the School of Medicine, and he would go on to help create the Department of Cognitive Science at UC San Diego, the first department of its kind in the world.
Even after he transitioned to emeritus professor at UC San Diego in 1994, he continued his service to the UC as an active member of the Department of Cognitive Science and as a distinguished research professor. He later held appointments at UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley.
Cicourel’s academic career took him all around the world, from the University of London, where he was a National Science Foundation senior postdoctoral fellow, to Madrid on a Guggenheim Fellowship, and to Brazil as a Fulbright lecturer, to name just three honors. He also held the prestigious appointment of visiting professor at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris four different times.
Other awards include honorary doctorates from Université de Fribourg in Switzerland and Complutense University of Madrid. He was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1992.
Cicourel was born on Aug. 29, 1928, in Atlanta, Ga., a descendant of Sephardic Jews who were forced to leave Spain during the Spanish Inquisition. His parents immigrated independently to the U.S. from Greece and Turkey, eventually arriving in Atlanta where they met and married. Cicourel’s first language was Ladino, a language derived from Old Spanish, and at the age of 4, Cicourel moved to Los Angeles with his parents and older sister, where they were part of a Turkish Sephardic community.
The family was not well-off and Cicourel worked from an early age, selling newspapers, working at a supermarket, and processing and delivering mail. After graduating from Manual Arts High School, he was expected to continue contributing financially to the family. He worked various jobs including working alongside migrant workers in the Central Valley. He continued to work while attending Los Angeles City College for three years before transferring to UCLA, where he met his future wife, Merryl, also a student at UCLA. Upon his graduation from UCLA in 1951, Cicourel married Merryl and was also drafted into the U.S. Army and served in the Korean War.
Cicourel was a friend and mentor to many. He was an avid reader and loved music and dancing. He is remembered also for having a beautiful singing voice and for singing at family gatherings and singing his children and grandchildren to sleep.
Cicourel is survived by his wife of 72 years, Merryl Berner Cicourel, their three children, Gregg, Denise and Eric Cicourel, their partners, and four grandchildren.
Those wishing to share memories of Aaron Victor Cicourel can do so at this memorial website.
