Robert Pinker

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Robert Pinker

Robert Arthur Pinker

CBE (27 May 1931 – 2 February 2021) was a British sociologist and press regulator.[1]

Early life and family

Robert Arthur Pinker was born on 27 May 1931, the son of Dora Elizabeth Pinker and Joseph Pinker. In 1955, he married Jennifer Farrington Boulton, who died in 1994; they had two daughters.[2]

Career

Academia

After attending Holloway County School, Pinker went to the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), initially receiving a Certificate in Social Science and Administration in 1959, and then completing a Bachelor of Science degree (BSc) in Sociology in 1962 and a Master of Science degree (MSc) in Economics three years later.[2]

Pinker began his academic career as a research officer at the LSE in 1959; he was then a lecturer at the

University of Ulster in 2016. In 2015, the Social Policy Society awarded him their Special Recognition Award, recognising him as someone who has made a "consistent, sustained and long standing contribution to the field of social policy, through research, or teaching and learning."[4]

Pinker's published works include English Hospital Statistics 1861–1938 (1964), Social Theory and Social Policy (1971), The Idea of Welfare (1979), Social Work in an Enterprise Society (1990), and, with R. Deacon and N. Lipton, Privacy and Personality Rights (2010). He chaired the editorial board of the Journal of Social Policy from 1981 to 1986.[2]

Public service

Outside of academia, Pinker sat on the

Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in recognition of his public service.[2][5] He had been elected a Fellow of the Society of Editors the previous year,[6] and in January 2021 was awarded the Astor Award for Press Freedom by the Commonwealth Press Union Media Trust.[7]

Death

Pinker died on 2 February 2021.[6]

References

  1. ^ "Professor Robert Pinker, sociologist and doughty defender of the freedom of the press". Telegraph Obituaries. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Pinker, Prof. Robert Arthur ", Who's Who (online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2017). Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  3. ^ "Professorial Appointments", LSE Magazine, no 56 (November 1978), p. 7.
  4. ^ "2015 SPA award winners", Social Policy Society, 30 July 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  5. ^ Clare Cozens, "Pinker to step down at PCC", The Guardian, 29 July 2004. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  6. ^ a b "Professor Robert Pinker", The Daily Telegraph, 5 February 2021, p. 27.
  7. ^ "Professor Pinker Receives 2020 Astor Award for Press Freedom", Society of Editors, 27 January 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2021.

Further reading

Likenesses