He received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in 1968 with his thesis, Rebel leadership: revisiting the concept of charisma, a subject he developed more fully in his 1973 book, Rebel Leadership: Commitment and Charisma in the Revolutionary Process.
[1] In 1982 Downton was a panel member of the Institute of Behavioral Science (Theda Skocpol States and Social Revolutions).
[2] He taught for many years at the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he is now professor emeritus of sociology.
[3] He was also one of the founders and director of the university's International and National Voluntary Service Training program (INVST).
Following his retirement in 2004, the university established the Jim Downton Scholarship, awarded to two students each year in the Community Leadership Program.