A Toast to John Kitsuse

Abstract

It is understood that academics, in general, and sociologists in particular, are a stiff and formal bunch. They have inherited their writing style from their German forebears, and even in the original German, Weber and Toennies weren't easy going. Anyone who has visited sociological gatherings and conventions will quickly recognize how staid they can be. Laughs are not abundant. So, in many ways, John Kitsuse was an anomaly. He was an excellent teacher, a formidable contributor to theory and research in deviance, and a brilliantly successful Chair of the Sociology department at Northwestern University and then at the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. But he was also-that rare quality in a sociologist-a celebrated bon vivant. In dictionary terms a person having cultivated, refined and sociable tastes, especially with respect to food and drink.It takes gregariousness, a lack of inhibition, and an appreciation of fine things to produce such a lively personality, one the French call a "bon vivant"-someone who lives well. As Rogers (2008) remarks, Most bon vivants do genuinely enjoy their own antics… When the rest of us are around a bon vivant, we can't help but be won over by his passion-and ability to communicate it.In this remembrance, I do not wish to focus on the importance of John Kitsuse's approach to theory or to empirical research on deviance, but rather on his skill as a bon vivant, creating the ambience in which sociability could flourish and also, of course, in which professional friendships could be consolidated and ideas might emerge.I first came to know John through traditional channels. He was editing a collection of articles for a journal and knew of my work on military psychiatrists.