The other Chicago school - a sociological tradition expropriated and erased

Abstract

Occupying a central place in the creation myth of sociological science is the world’s first sociology department at the University of Chicago: a faculty hosting reform-minded men developing theories focused on process and change – especially involving immigrants and other poor urban dwellers. A special concern for these theorists was with investigating, measure and solving social problems of the city. The legend tells that these men relied for data collection on the women of Hull House, who then were launching social work projects among the poor. We challenge this long dominant tale with a subversive story about the theoretical and methodological achievements of these women. A central focus in our account is on dissimilarities between theories stressing individual agency promoted by the men of the department and theories of social structure as well as methods for measuring inequality and its consequences developed by these pioneering women of American social science. We conclude by pointing out that their long ignored theoretical understandings of the structural sources of human pain have particular relevance in today’s world.

Keywords:

• history of social work
• radical social work
• social welfare

Acknowledgment

We wish to thank Linda Gordon, Florence Kelley Professor of History at New York University, who so generously shared with us her immense store of knowledge of the women of Hull House.