The Chicago School of Sociology
Institutionalization, Diversity, and the Rise of Sociological Research
9780226080055
The Chicago School of Sociology
Institutionalization, Diversity, and the Rise of Sociological Research
From 1915 to 1935 the inventive community of social scientists at the University of Chicago pioneered empirical research and a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods, shaping the future of twentieth-century American sociology and related fields as well. Martin Bulmer’s history of the Chicago school of sociology describes the university’s role in creating research-based and publication-oriented graduate schools of social science.
"This is an important piece of work on the history of sociology, but it is more than merely historical: Martin Bulmer’s undertaking is also to explain why historical events occurred as they did, using potentially general theoretical ideas. He has studied what he sees as the period, from 1915 to 1935, when the ’Chicago School’ most flourished, and defines the nature of its achievements and what made them possible . . . It is likely to become the indispensible historical source for its topic."—Jennifer Platt, Sociology
"This is an important piece of work on the history of sociology, but it is more than merely historical: Martin Bulmer’s undertaking is also to explain why historical events occurred as they did, using potentially general theoretical ideas. He has studied what he sees as the period, from 1915 to 1935, when the ’Chicago School’ most flourished, and defines the nature of its achievements and what made them possible . . . It is likely to become the indispensible historical source for its topic."—Jennifer Platt, Sociology
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Preface
Acknowledgments
1. The Significance of the Chicago School of Sociology
2. Chicago: The City and Its University
3. The Establishment of the Social Sciences
4. The Polish Peasant in Europe and America: A Landmark of Empirical Sociology
5. Sociology, the Social Survey Movement, and The Negro in Chicago
6. The Development of Field Research Methods
7. The Organization of Sociology by Park and Burgess
8. The Local Community Research Committee, 1923-30
9. The Development of Quantitative Methods in the Early 1920s
10. Quantitative Methods in the Later 1920s
11. The Chicago Manifold
12. The Conditions of Creativity
A Note on Documentary Sources
Notes
Index
List of Tables
Preface
Acknowledgments
1. The Significance of the Chicago School of Sociology
2. Chicago: The City and Its University
3. The Establishment of the Social Sciences
4. The Polish Peasant in Europe and America: A Landmark of Empirical Sociology
5. Sociology, the Social Survey Movement, and The Negro in Chicago
6. The Development of Field Research Methods
7. The Organization of Sociology by Park and Burgess
8. The Local Community Research Committee, 1923-30
9. The Development of Quantitative Methods in the Early 1920s
10. Quantitative Methods in the Later 1920s
11. The Chicago Manifold
12. The Conditions of Creativity
A Note on Documentary Sources
Notes
Index