From 1932–1940 he was a research assistant to William Beveridge and statistician, Arthur Bowley.

In 1935 he was a research assistant with Lancelot Hogben in the department of Social Biology at the LSE.

After Hogben's departure and the closing of the department in 1937, he was heavily involved in founding the Population Investigation Committee (PIC).

[5] and from 1961–1978 he was Martin White Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics.

He died in 1978 from a coronary thrombosis and was survived by his wife Ruth Glass, the urban sociologist.