Anselm Leonard Strauss (December 18, 1916 – September 5, 1996) was an American sociologist professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) internationally known as a medical sociologist (especially for his pioneering attention to chronic illness and dying) and as the developer (with Barney Glaser) of grounded theory, an innovative method of qualitative analysis widely used in sociology, nursing, education, social work, and organizational studies.
From there he moved to Indiana University (1946–1952), where he met and collaborated with Alfred Lindesmith; in 1949, they published their very influential book, Social Psychology.
During that time, he worked with Prof. Everett Hughes, and became associated with a group of colleagues who would become known as the "Second Chicago School"[4] (e.g., Howard S. Becker and Erving Goffman).
[1] While at the University of California, San Francisco, Strauss and Barney Glaser originated grounded theory, which is widely used within qualitative research.
Between 1955 and 1980, he was an invited visiting professor at the universities of Frankfurt and Konstanz in Germany, Cambridge and Manchester in England, Paris in France, and Adelaide in Australia.