Ray Oldenburg

Oldenburg was born in Henderson, Minnesota, on April 7, 1932. While continuing his academic career, he eventually married Judith Oldenburg at the age of 35, having three children and eight grandchildren. ==Academic career==

Oldenburg was professor emeritus at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of West Florida in Pensacola. He received his B.S. in English and Social Studies from Mankato State University in 1954. He then received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Minnesota in 1965 and 1968, respectively. ==Philosophy==

Oldenburg suggests that beer gardens, main streets, pubs, cafés, coffeehouses, post offices, and other "third places" are the heart of a community's social vitality and the foundation of a functioning democracy. They promote social equality by leveling the status of guests, provide a setting for grassroots politics, create habits of public association, and offer psychological support to individuals and communities. Oldenburg identifies that each person has a first and second place, where the former represents environments that are informal and isolating (home) while the latter represents environments that are formal, structured, and mission-driven (workplaces). Thus, the existence of third places offers individuals a neutral public space for connecting and establishing bonds with others in a non-purposeful environment. Third places "host the regular, voluntary, informal, and happily anticipated gatherings of individuals beyond the realms of home and work." Oldenburg is primarily concerned by the disappearance of third places as suburbanization continues in modern societies. He is aware that modern suburbs only offer first and second places with a mandatory car-centric commute between them, and that "public" places have become commercialized to the extent in which one is required to purchase a good or service and is forbidden to "loitering." His latest and last book was The Joy of Tippling. ==Bibliography==