Herbert J. Gans, an eminent sociologist who studied urban and suburban life in America, died on April 21 at his home in Manhattan. He was 97.

A refugee from Nazi Germany, he became one of the nation’s most influential social critics. He taught at Columbia and other leading universities for 54 years, wrote a dozen books and hundreds of articles that shaped the thinking of government and corporate policymakers, colleagues in sociology, and a wide public audience.