Charles Elson Lively
About
Charles Elson Lively was an American sociologist and among the early pioneers in rural sociology. He conducted research into rural habits and ways of life in rural communities throughout the midwest, though most of his work focused on Ohio and Missouri. As Brunner notes in The Growth of a Science: A Half Century of Rural Sociological Research in the United States, Lively's work was instrumental in demonstrating the regionality of social conditions. Lively was among the first sociologists to empirically demonstrate variability in social factors as a useful metric in defining regions, rather than using biophysical characteristics alone. During his tenure at the University of Missouri, he became increasingly interested in rural healthcare and demographics. Lively was president of the Rural Sociological Society from 1942 to 1943. Later in life, the State of Missouri awarded him the W. Scott Johnson Award for his work in rural areas of the state.
