Tom Bottomore earned his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Sociology at the London School of Economics, where he launched his academic career, holding the position of Lecturer of Sociology from 1954 to 1964. The chancellor of Simon Fraser University(SFU) recruited Bottomore as the first chair of the Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology (PSA) Department in 1964. Bottomore was internationally renowned amongst his colleagues as one of Britain’s best sociologists, and had edited an acclaimed translation of Karl Marx’s early writings, as well as the sociology textbook that was the standard introductory text at the University of British Columbia. Bottomore also published Marxist masterpieces such as Elites and Society (1964) and Classes in Modern Society (1965).
While at SFU, Bottomore was responsible for assembling a PSA Department that was methodologically and theoretically diverse and concerned with the developing world. In 1967, Bottomore took up a permanent position at the University of Sussex, where he stayed for the remainder of his career until his retirement in 1985. Bottomore died in 1992 at age 72.