Ivan Daniel London (1913–1983) and Miriam B. London (1923–2011) were American scholars who were known for their research on the social systems of the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China (PRC) on the basis of refugee interviews. Both were born in the United States to immigrant parents from Ukraine, which was then part of Russia and later the Soviet Union, and were exposed to a multi-lingual environment.Family at Jblocklyn.com, retrieved December 3, 2020 Both started their academic studies within the natural sciences. This early training in scientific disciplines appears to have had a major impact on the methodological treatises Ivan D. London contributed to the field of Social Science and on the methods he and his wife Miriam London applied in their interviewing approach and subsequent processing of amassed information. During the better part of the Cold War era their publications, particularly, in the field of Contemporary China Studies were considered highly controversial by the prevalent sinological academic circles. Today, it can hardly be denied that their research was ground breaking.
Ivan D. London
Ivan D. London was born Jan. 8, 1913 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (US), where he studied mathematics at Temple University and earned his A. B. degree in 1935. After military service, however, London turned to psychology. In 1945 he earned his A. M. degree in that discipline at Northwestern University in Illinois (US) and in 1950Members of American Oriental Society Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 83, No. 4 (1963), p. 542. Retrieved December 2, 2020 he earned his doctoral degree at Tulane University in New Orleans (US). His Ph.D. thesis dealt with "The convergent and divergent in Systematic Psychology".Unpubl. Manuscript, cf. London, Ivan D., An ideal Equation of Forgetting derived for Overlearning, in: Psychological Review, January 1951, Vol. 58, No. 1, p. 59, Footnote 4 (Abstract and Download. Retrieved December 2, 2020) Early publications indicate that Ivan D. London's academic interest entirely focussed upon the state of affairs of psychology in the Soviet Union, particularly the conditions and procedures utilized within Soviet psychiatric hospitals: A historical survey of psychology in the Soviet Union,London, Ivan D., A historical survey of psychology in the Soviet Union, in: Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 46, 1949, p. 241 – 277. (Abstract and download, retrieved December 14, 2020)In German: London, Ivan D., Die Psychologie in der Sowjetunion. Ein historischer Überblick. in: Psyche, edited by Hans Kunz and Alexander Mitscherlich, Heidelberg, IV.Vol. No. 9, 1950, p. 161–189. Contemporary Psychology in the Soviet Union,Ivan D. London: Contemporary Psychology in the Soviet Union, in: Science, August 31, 1951, Vol. 114, No. 2957, p. 227-233 (Abstract and download, retrieved December 3, 2020) Soviet psychology and psychiatry,London, Ivan D., Soviet psychology and psychiatry, in: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Vol. VIII, 152, 1953, p. 70–73. (Abstract and download, retrieved December 14, 2020) Therapy in Soviet psychiatric hospitals.London, Ivan D., Therapy in Soviet psychiatric hospitals, in: The American Psychologist, 1953, Vol. 8, No. 2, p. 79–82. (Abstract and download, retrieved December 14, 2020)
In 1950 he joined the Russian Research Center at Harvard University where he worked as a research associate within the "Harvard Refugee Interview Project on the Social System of the Soviet Union" (Harvard Emigre Interview Project).Description of Harvard Emigre Interview Project on Daviscenter.fas.Harvard.edu . Retrieved December 3, 2020Biographical Note p. 2, Online Archive of California , retrieved December 3, 2020
In early 1952, however, Ivan D. London accepted the position of an associate professor at Brooklyn College at the City University of New York, where he was to teach social psychology, later as a full professor, until his death on April 12, 1983, in New York City.Journal Freedom at issue, Vol. 72, May/June 1983, p 3 , retrieved September 5, 2020 In 1960 Ivan D. London also obtained the certificate of psychologist in the State of New York."Certificate of psychologist in State of New York", January 12, 1960
At Brooklyn College Ivan D. and Miriam London established a research group which later became the "Research Institute for Political Psychology".London, Ivan D., De-Stalinization in Soviet Physiology. The rehabilitation of L. A. Orbeli provides an example of historical unwriting in Soviet science, in: Science, October 5, 1962, Vol. 138, Nr. 3536, p. 16 (First page and download), retrieved December 3, 2020 Via this institute, scholars from other universities were invited to collaborate on projects they were conducting, specifically Oleg Anisimov, Herbert H. Paper (1925-2012),Biographical Note, retrieved January 9, 2021 Gordon E. Peterson, Nikolai P. Poltoratzky (1921-1990), Ivan Elagin (1918-1987), Vladimir Samarin (1913-1992),Biographical Note, retrieved January 9, 2021 Avery D. Weisman (1913-2017) and others. In 1953 Ivan D. London was entrusted with the Inwood Project on Intercultural Communication, the scope and methods of which are reflected by the following six publications:
The young East German and Soviet defector: A report on similarities,London, Ivan D., The young East German and Soviet defector: A report on similarities. In: The Journal of Psychology, 1957, 43, p. 103-109 (First page and download, retrieved January 6, 2021) A note on Soviet science,London, Ivan D., A note on Soviet science. In: The Russian Review, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Jan. 1957), p. 37-41 (First page and download, retrieved January 6, 2021) Nonthematic, nontechnical factors influencing the effectiveness of plausible appeals directed to a Soviet audience,London, Ivan D. and Anisimov, Oleg, Nonthematic, nontechnical factors influencing the effectiveness of plausible appeals directed to a Soviet audience. In: Psychological Reports, 1956, 2, p. 325-330 (First page and download, retrieved January 6, 2021) The Soviet propaganda image of the West,London, Ivan D. and Anisimov, Oleg, The Soviet propaganda image of the West. In: Psychological Reports, 1957, 3, p. 19-65 (Digitization, retrieved January 6, 2021) Differential reactions of recent and earlier defectors to anti-Soviet propaganda themesLondon, Ivan D. and London, Miriam B., Differential reactions of recent and earlier defectors to anti-Soviet propaganda themes. In: Psychological Reports, 1956, 2, p. 285-292 (Digitization, retrieved January 6, 2021) and Soviet reaction to the down-grading of Stalin and some suggestions for American broadcasts to the Soviet Union.London, Ivan D. and London, Miriam B., Soviet reaction to the down-grading of Stalin and some suggestions for American broadcasts to the Soviet Union. In: Psychological Reports, 1956, 2, p. 341-356 (First page and download, retrieved January 6, 2021)
In the course of the three and a half years duration of that project a sample of 425 Soviet emigres was "constituted in West Germany, Chile and America with a scattering in other countries" and interviewed "to replace the impressionistic reports of foreigners ... and propagandistic output of Soviet authorities by systematic research".London, Ivan D. and Poltoratzky, Nikolai P., Contemporary Religious Sentiment in the Soviet Union, in: Psychological Reports, 1957, 3, (p. 113 - 130), p. 113, footnotes 2 and 3. (First page and download, retrieved January 6, 2021) The emigres consisted of (1) refugees who voluntarily left the Soviet Union during the last war, (2) former forced laborers, so-called Ostarbeiter, and prisoners-of-war, (3) defectors who fled the Soviet Armed Forces or the Occupational Administration during and subsequent to world war II, and (4) non-returners, who having been sent abroad on commission decided not to return home. About 40% of the sample were postwar emigres, the remainder were wartime emigres. Significantly, the findings of the Inwood Project research "diverged markedly in several respects" from those of the Harvard Project on the Soviet Social System.
As De-Stalinisation progressed during the second half of the 1950s, Ivan D. London was able to establish a broad range of contacts among Soviet psychologists, and became a leading expert in Soviet psychology in the U. S.
In 1963 the Londons turned their attention to the People's Republic of China (PRC) a country hidden behind the so-called Bamboo Curtain in East Asia the more the so-called Iron Curtain in Europe was becoming permeable.Mosher, Steven W., China Misperceived: American Illusions and Chinese Reality. Basic Books. New York 1990, p. 162
Partially supported by private foundations, including the Smith Richardson Foundation, they were able to support their research on China over a period of twelve years, from 1963 through 1975, in which they took yearly field trips of two to three-month duration to Hong Kong and Taiwan.London, Miriam and London, Ivan D., Christ in China, in: Worldview, Volume 21, No. 4, April 1978, p. 19 (Digitization at Carnegiecounsel.org, Retrieved December 3, 2020)
Methodological considerations and method of research
Calling for a paradigm shift in the Social Sciences
During the first half of the 20th century, many academic psychologists endorsed the idea that their discipline should become more scientific by emulating concepts and methods of traditional physics.Koch, Sigmund, Psychology: A Study of a Science, 6 Volumes, McGraw Hill Book Company, New York 1963 During the same time, many traditional physicists were also struggling to reconcile their basic concepts of classical mechanics with the discovery of the principles of quantum mechanics. Ivan D. London was the first psychologist to argue that psychology would benefit by pursuing an equivalent consideration.Information given to the author by Warren Thorngate, cf. Thorngate's postulate of commensurate complexity
During his studies in mathematics London had been fascinated by the treatises of the German physicist Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976) on quantum mechanics, which he was able to read in the original. Observing, however, it had become the fashion by those who emphasized the necessity and positive value of statistical formulations in psychology to invoke Heisenberg's principle of indeterminacy, London in his treatise
Psychology and Heisenberg's Principle of IndeterminacyLondon, Ivan D., Psychology and Heisenberg's Principle of Indeterminacy, in: Psychological Review, Vol. 52, No. 3, May 1945, p. 162–168. (Abstract and download, retrieved December 14, 2020)
demonstrated that this principle, "as formulated for quantum theory by Heisenberg, is grossly inapplicable for psychology and that, in consequence, no matter what may be the arguments presented in defense of the statistical approach to psychological problems, Heisenberg's principle of indeterminacy may not be one of them."London, Ivan D., Psychology and Heisenberg's Principle of Indeterminacy, in: Psychological Review, Vol. 52, No. 3, May 1945, p. 162–168 (p. 162) (Abstract and download, retrieved December 14, 2020)
In the same vein, London in his treatise
Psychologists' Misuse of the Auxiliary Concepts of Physics and MathematicsLondon, Ivan D., Psychologist's misuse of the auxiliary concepts of physics and mathematics. In: Psychological Review, Vol. 51, 1944, p. 266–291. (Abstract and download, retrieved December 14, 2020)
also rejected Kurt Lewin's (1890-1947), so-called "topological psychology". "The claim of 'topological' psychology to deductive rigor", London concluded, "is mathematically spurious and results from an unfortunate misapplication of a very generalized branch of mathematics totally unrelated to the needs of psychological theory."London, Ivan D., Psychologist's misuse of the auxiliary concepts of physics and mathematics. In: Psychological Review, Vol. 51, 1944, p. 266–291 (p. 290) (Abstract and download, retrieved December 14, 2020)