Werner Cohn

Who is Werner Cohn?

Werner Cohn is a sociologist who has written on the sociology of Jews and of Gypsies, and political sociology. He is a Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia.

Cohn received his BSS in Sociology from City College in 1951. He completed his MA and PhD at the New School for Social Research. He joined the University of British Columbia's Department of Anthropology and Sociology in 1960 and remained there until taking early retirement in 1986. Cohn's research focused on the sociology of Jews and small political movements, and he developed an interest in researching Gypsies. He began his research on this topic in 1966/67 during a sabbatical in France. He continued with his studies of the Gypsy culture and language and returned to Europe meeting with Gypsy groups and with many well known scholars of the Gypsies. Over the years Cohn wrote numerous articles on the Gypsies in various scholarly journals and in 1973 he wrote The Gypsies which summarized his findings in the field.