From 1961 he was Sterling Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Political Science at Yale University and later also an honorary member of the Scientific Council at the Juan March Institute.
After a brief stay in Spain to help develop courses for the new Autonomous University of Madrid, he returned to the United States and became a professor at Yale in 1969.
His students include Alfred Stepan, Arturo Valenzuela, Jan T. Gross, Houchang Chehabi, and Miguel A.
Various awards are named after Linz: In addition to his work on systems of government, he did extensive research on the breakdowns of democracy and the transition back to a democratic regime.
He has been called "one of the finest political sociologists in the world" and was "legendary for the encyclopedic breadth of his knowledge.
[11] Linz defined authoritarianism as possessing four qualities: In this classic work, published in 1975 and republished in 2000, Juan Linz provides an encyclopedic classification of types of political regime that develops the fundamental distinction between totalitarian and authoritarian systems and also presents a discussion of sultanistic regimes.
[14] Linz focused on "how the people in power in a democratic regime, not just the opponents, played a decisive role in the overthrow of democracy."
This work "challenged Marxist theories, which highlighted economic causes, as well as other approaches that focused on opposition groups to explain why democratic regimes collapse.