The Chicago School

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The Chicago School

• SO3066
• Thinking Sociologically

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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• Chicago School of Sociology (not to be confused
  with the economists) Established in 1892 by
  Albion Small (brought the German Tradition to
  the US)
• A highly influential sociology department (early
  20th C)
• Founded American Journal of Sociology
• and American Sociology Society (ASS)
• understandably later changed to Association (ASA)

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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• Historical Context
• Chicago School influential 1892 1935 (dates
  vary) US Sociology adopts a progressive/reform
  ist stance in response to the perceived
  injustices/inequities of late 19th/early 20thC.
  US
• Chicago Site of Rapid Social Change
• Fast Population growth
• Rapid Urbanisation
• Migration
• Numerous Social problems
• Critical of armchair theorising that was seen
  to characterise early American sociology.

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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• Chicago
• 1860 pop. cc. 10,000
• 1910 pop. cc. 2,000,000
• Immigration, Competition, Industrialisation
• Social Problems Labour Market Exploitation
  (Long hours, low pay, insecure work), Poor
  Housing/Homelessness, Alcoholism, Mental Ill
  Health, Homicide, Suicide, Vice , Crime

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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• The Chicago School The Study of Human
  Environment
• Focus on concrete experience of human interaction
• Symbolic Interactionists Uncovering and
  comprehending the processes that underlie the
  construction and maintenance of selfhood and the
  interaction order how individuals adapt to
  social situations
• Urban Sociologists
• Ecological approach to understanding the
  social/demographic development of cities how
  individuals and groups adapt to the wider
  environment of the city
• Intimate studies of daily life (often of lower
  status groups)
• Produced a series of notable ethnographies

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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• Distinctively American Perspective
• However - heavily influenced by Weber and, in
  particular, Simmel (also William James, Darwin
  Freud?)
• Focus on Micro-Sociology (Social Psych), Urban
  Sociology (Ecology), Qualitative Methods.

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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• Pragmatism
• North American philosophy, emerged in 1870s -
  still influential
• Rejects search for fundamental, absolute truths
  and separation of mind and world associated with
  Cartesian dualism.
• Our knowledge of the world is always grounded in
  the here and now, in the way in which our ideas
  shape and are shaped by our practical
  experiences.
• Truth of a statement or belief is to be found in
  its consequences or use-value its consistency
  with our experience and ability to facilitate our
  adaptation to situations and settings in the here
  and now.
• the Pragmatic methodis to try to interpret each
  notion by tracing its respective practical
  consequences. What difference would it
  practically make to anyone if this notion or that
  notion were true? (James, 1907)

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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• Formalism Forms of social life are brought to
  life through human interaction.
• Darwinism Human beings as engaging in adaptive
  behaviour in relation to the social and physical
  environments in which they find themselves.

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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• Key figures
• Symbolic Interactionism
• John Dewey
• William I Thomas
• George Herbert Mead
• Charles Horton Cooley
• Herbert Blumer
• (Erving Goffman)

• Urban Sociology
• Robert Park
• Ernest Burgess
• Louis Wirth
• host of others

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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• John Dewey (joined 1893 from Univ. of Michigan)
  Psychologist/leading Pragmatist Philosopher
• People define things in the world in terms of
  their use for them, determine their action based
  on what they understand about things, imagine the
  consequences of various forms of action, and
  select the optimal mode of conduct

(1859-1952)
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Thinking Sociologically SO3066
WI Thomas (joined 1894) From US Spent some
time in Germany studying Sociology The
Definition of the Situation Human beings do
not merely react to stimuli they act on the basis
of subjectively defining situations and selecting
corresponding conduct. The Thomas Theorem if
men define situations as real, they are real in
their consequences (Thomas Thomas 1928572).
(1863-1947)
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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• C.H. Cooley (Sociologist, Univ. of Michigan 1892)
• self and society are twin born
• Cooley The Looking Glass Self - Social Self
  formed through our interpretation of others
  responses to our self presentation
• Group Size Social Cohesion (Primary Groups)

(1864-1929)
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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• G.H.Mead Social Behaviourism (brought to
  Chicago from Michigan by Dewey in 1893)
• Influences Pragmatism (former student of William
  James)
• Darwinism
• Behaviourism
• Freudianism
• Simmel

(1863 -1931)
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Thinking Sociologically SO3066
Society is like an organism (from Darwin) Humans
distinct from other animals (contra Watson) Act
on the basis of meaning (gestures,
language) Self/Society as the outcome of
meaningful, ongoing social exchange (see
Simmel) consciousness must be understood as a
stream of thought arising in the dynamic
relationship between a person and his significant
environment (Coser, 1979)
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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• Mead The Social Self
• Self only develops through interaction
• Preparatory Stage Imitation
• Play Stage Simple Role Play Adapt to Others
  Expectations
• Game Stage Play Multiple Roles Adapt to the
  Expectations of Numerous Others
• Significant Others and Generalised Other

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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• Mead the Social The Self
• The I the instinctual, spontaneous part of
  the self (id?)
• The Me - (the social self) the self as a
  meaningful object that is constructed and
  reconstructed in interaction and through which
  action is managed and impulses socialised (ego
  superego?)

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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• Mead the Social The Self
• The internal conversation
• Role Making Adopting a particular role in
  interaction
• Role Taking Understanding others by imagining
  their perspective

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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• Herbert Blumer Symbolic Interactionism (student
  of Mead, Thomas Park joined faculty in 1928)
• 1) People are unique they use symbols
• 2) We only become human through interaction
• 3) People are conscious/reflexive actors who
  shape their own behaviour

(1900 1987)
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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• 4) Only reflexive ongoing interaction is real,
  not the macro structure. Social life is made up
  of real-life encounters.
• 5) People act in, and towards, situations and
  objects apply meaning to them
• 6) Understanding social action requires us to
  understand the meanings behind it
• Methodological Implications (taking the role of
  the subject)

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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• Erving Goffman Dramaturgy (joined 1952)
• Society is organised around socially derived
  routines.
• Interaction depends on Inferences with respect
  to the characters and situations we encounter.
  Inferences are based on social knowledge shared
  meaning shared expectations based on shared
  rules, norms and values (as much Durkheim as
  Simmel and Mead?)
• The Situation The Stage

(1922-1982)
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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• Goffmans Dramaturgical Metaphor
• Masks, Roles Characters
• Impression Management
• Social Scripts
• Back Stage/Front Stage

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Thinking Sociologically SO3066
Chicago School - The Urban Sociologists Robert
Park Ernest Burgess Louis Wirth host of others
The Method The Studies
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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• Ecological approach to understanding cities
  cities as organisms (Darwinian adaptation
  again)
• Individuals and Groups adapt to their environment
  and compete for space in the city
• Dominant groups displace weaker groups
• Landscape of the city reflects ongoing
  competition for space and resources

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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• Robert Ezra Park (joined 1914 previously
  studied under Simmel)
• First chair in sociology in Chicago - worked
  under Simmel in Europe
• Biotics
• Natural areas of the city
• The city as a mosaic
• The melting pot

(1864 1944)
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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• Ernest Burgess (student joined as faculty
  member 1916)
• Differentiation of groups in the city
• City mapping of zones
• Zones identify outcome of competition, land use,
  residency and processes of social stratification

(1886 1966)
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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• Louis Wirth (German (Jewish) émigré - joined
  1931)
• Urbanism as a Way of Life
• Scale Density
• Primary Secondary Relations
• Social Disorganisation

(1897 1952)
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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• Chicago Methodology
• Participant observation in natural areas
• Small town life
• Biography
• Interviews (first and second-hand)
• Quantitative and Qualitative
• Statistics, mapping,
• Case analysis
• School records, agency records, institutional
  accounts, newspaper reports, diaries life
  histories

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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• (some) Ethnographies
• The Polish Peasant (Thomas and Znaniecki, 1918)
  
• The Hobo (Anderson, 1923)
• The Gang (Thrasher, 1927)
• The Gold Coast and The Slum (Zorbaugh 1929)
• The Jack Roller (Shaw, 1930)

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Thinking Sociologically SO3066

• The Legacy
• Giddens
• Contemporary Symbolic Interactionism making a
  comeback? (Plummer, Denzin, Hochschild, Brewer)
• Studies of small town life
• Close, intimate studies
• Participant observation
• Case studies
• Multiple methods