Philip Selznick was professor of law and society at the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

. A noted author in organizational theory, sociology of law

Sociology of law

The sociology of law is often described as a sub-discipline of sociology or an interdisciplinary approach within legal studies...

 and public administration

Public administration

Public Administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal.....

, Selznick's work has been groundbreaking in several fields in such books as The Moral Commonwealth, TVA and the Grass Roots, and Leadership in Administration.

Selznick received his PhD in 1947 from Columbia University where he was a student of Robert K. Merton

Robert K. Merton

Robert King Merton was a distinguished American sociologist. He spent most of his career teaching at Columbia University, where he attained the rank of University Professor...

.
Selznick was a major proponent of the neo-classical organizational theory movement starting in the 1930's .