Chicagoskolan : Institutionaliseringen, idétraditionen och vetenskapen
(2003) In Lund Monographs in Social Anthropology 11.- Abstract
- The main purpose of my thesis is to investigate how the Chicago School in urban sociology, that was active between 1915 and 1935, developed and why it produced so many classical monographs during a period of about ten to fifteen years. To outline the historical reasons for the School to develop I have chosen to view the historical context as a field with different actors. Another related and overall question in the thesis is how an academic institution goes from being a rather loosely integrated administrative organisation with diverse ideas and areas of interest to become a full-fledged scientific institution with a relatively homogenous subject and field of research. In chapter 1, I deal explicitly with how the Department of Sociology... (More)
- The main purpose of my thesis is to investigate how the Chicago School in urban sociology, that was active between 1915 and 1935, developed and why it produced so many classical monographs during a period of about ten to fifteen years. To outline the historical reasons for the School to develop I have chosen to view the historical context as a field with different actors. Another related and overall question in the thesis is how an academic institution goes from being a rather loosely integrated administrative organisation with diverse ideas and areas of interest to become a full-fledged scientific institution with a relatively homogenous subject and field of research. In chapter 1, I deal explicitly with how the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Chicago became institutionalized between 1892 and 1914. One of the reasons why it is relevant to investigate how this department developed is that it was during this period that the institutional and economical foundation was laid for the later establishment of the Chicago School in the 1920’s. In chapter 2 I examine how different traditions of ideas influenced the members of the Chicago School. However, I do not give a complete outline of these different traditions, presenting only the main outlines and showing how they influenced the School’s thoughts about social groups, individuals, societies and the social sciences. In chapter 3 I outline the urban and human ecological research project of the Chicago School between 1915 and 1935. In order to understand the development of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology in Chicago between 1892 and 1935 as a historical field with different actors and for what it takes for an institution to develop into a scientific discipline it is essential to analyze this project. In chapter 4 I present the scientific point of view, ethnographic methods, and epistemology of the Chicago School and also discuss what importance the School and anthropology had for one another in Chicago and the United States. I focus above all on W. I. Thomas’ scientific point of view and approach to method, because it was he who laid the foundation of epistemology, method and scientific field of the Chicago School. I have chosen to regard my empirical study as to form a historical field with actors who in one way or another contributed to the creation of the Chicago School between 1915 and 1935. My empirical study of how the School developed shows that it takes both an administrative and financial foundation as well as traditions of ideas and creative researchers for an academic institution to develop into a scientific discipline. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Popular Abstract in Swedish
Forskarna inom Chicagoskolan var de första i ett akademiskt ramverk som systematiskt och etnografiskt satte gruppen och människan i centrum i en modern urban kontext. Det hade förekommit andra som skrivit om industrialism, modernism, urbanitet och de fattiga i slummen, men inte på ett lika systematiskt och genomträngande sätt som Chicagoskolan. Skolans strävan att förankra sina antaganden om det industriella, moderna och urbana i empiriska studier var banbrytande och hade antropologin, journalistiken och reformismens surveyundersökningar som etnografiska förebilder. William I. Thomas, Robert E. Park, Ernest W. Burgess och deras studenter gjorde empiriska studier om olika sociala situationer där... (More) - Popular Abstract in Swedish
Forskarna inom Chicagoskolan var de första i ett akademiskt ramverk som systematiskt och etnografiskt satte gruppen och människan i centrum i en modern urban kontext. Det hade förekommit andra som skrivit om industrialism, modernism, urbanitet och de fattiga i slummen, men inte på ett lika systematiskt och genomträngande sätt som Chicagoskolan. Skolans strävan att förankra sina antaganden om det industriella, moderna och urbana i empiriska studier var banbrytande och hade antropologin, journalistiken och reformismens surveyundersökningar som etnografiska förebilder. William I. Thomas, Robert E. Park, Ernest W. Burgess och deras studenter gjorde empiriska studier om olika sociala situationer där konkreta människor interagerade, vilket fortfarande är något förhållandevis ovanligt inom urbana studier. I denna empiriska/historiska studie påvisar Oscar Andersson hur Chicagoskolan växte fram mellan 1915 och 1935, genom att i detalj kartlägga olika aktörers bidrag till framväxten av skolan samt hur institutionen gick ifrån att vara en förhållandevis löst sammanhållen organisation med spretande idéer och intresseinriktningar till att bli en fullfjädrad vetenskaplig institution med relativt homogent ämnesinnehåll och forskningsfokus. I merparten av samtida studier av Chicagoskolan tas det många gånger för givet att skolan företräddes av vissa personer och hade ett visst ämnesinnehåll, i denna studie kartlägger författaren genom en noggrann empirisk/historisk undersökning vilka personer som verkligen ingick i Chicagoskolan och vilket vetenskapligt förhållningssätt och vilka empiriska metoder de praktiserade i fältet. Genom att studien påvisar hur den sociologiska och antropologiska institutionen i Chicago utvecklade en empiriskt grundad vetenskap, framgår det också vilka förutsättningar som fordras för kunskapsproduktion i en akademisk miljö. I studier av kunskapsprocesser framhålls vanligtvis den idéhistoriska bakgrunden, i detta arbete visar författaren att det också krävs en administrativ och finansiell grund för att kunskap ska kunna ackumuleras, utvecklas, reproduceras och föras vidare till nya forskargenerationer vid ett universitet. Författarens främsta bidrag till studier av Chicagoskolan, är att på ett analytiskt och empiriskt plan visa på likheter respektive skillnader mellan antropologi och sociologi i Förenta staterna på 1920-talet. Skolan använde sig framför allt av filosofiska och sociologiska förebilder, men arbetade, enligt författaren, i en antropologisk anda. De förde samman antropologins etnografiska forskningsfokus, genom att i fältet studera verkliga människor, med sociologins komparativa och universella syn på samhället och människan. Dessutom var antropologi en del av den sociologiska institutionen mellan 1892 och 1929, vilket gjorde att det fanns unika kopplingar mellan ämnena redan från början. Detta faktum skulle sedermera sätta sin prägel på både antropologin och sociologin i Chicago. Trots att den urbana antropologin har hämtat inspiration och legitimitet från Chicagoskolan på 1920-talet har ingen tidigare i detalj undersökt vad som var ”antropologiskt” med skolan. Det tas ofta för givet inom antropologisk litteratur att Chicagoskolan hade en antropologisk prägling, denna studie går ut på att undersöka om så verkligen var fallet. Omvänt är det mycket ovanligt att någon mer i detalj har påvisat hur Chicagoskolan påverkade antropologin, annat än att skolans forskning utgör den historiska källan till urbanantropologi. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/20937
- author
- Andersson, Oscar LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Professor Dahl, Gudrun, Dep. of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University
- organization
- publishing date
- 2003
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- cities in the city, melting pot, race relation cycle, natural area, natural history, migration, marginal man, life history, invasion, hybrid, hobo, ghetto, ecology, Chicago School, disorganization, succession, transit and urbanization, Sociology, Sociologi
- in
- Lund Monographs in Social Anthropology
- volume
- 11
- pages
- 336 pages
- publisher
- Department of Sociology, Lund University
- defense location
- Carolinasalen, Lund University
- defense date
- 2003-10-03 10:15:00
- external identifiers
-
- other:ISRN: LUSADG/SAAN-03/1011/SE
- ISSN
- 1101-9948
- ISBN
- 91-7267-153-X
- language
- Swedish
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 73423151-e2de-4fc9-947d-883fd913affb (old id 20937)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 16:53:17
- date last changed
- 2021-11-24 13:49:03
@phdthesis{73423151-e2de-4fc9-947d-883fd913affb,
abstract = {{The main purpose of my thesis is to investigate how the Chicago School in urban sociology, that was active between 1915 and 1935, developed and why it produced so many classical monographs during a period of about ten to fifteen years. To outline the historical reasons for the School to develop I have chosen to view the historical context as a field with different actors. Another related and overall question in the thesis is how an academic institution goes from being a rather loosely integrated administrative organisation with diverse ideas and areas of interest to become a full-fledged scientific institution with a relatively homogenous subject and field of research. In chapter 1, I deal explicitly with how the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Chicago became institutionalized between 1892 and 1914. One of the reasons why it is relevant to investigate how this department developed is that it was during this period that the institutional and economical foundation was laid for the later establishment of the Chicago School in the 1920’s. In chapter 2 I examine how different traditions of ideas influenced the members of the Chicago School. However, I do not give a complete outline of these different traditions, presenting only the main outlines and showing how they influenced the School’s thoughts about social groups, individuals, societies and the social sciences. In chapter 3 I outline the urban and human ecological research project of the Chicago School between 1915 and 1935. In order to understand the development of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology in Chicago between 1892 and 1935 as a historical field with different actors and for what it takes for an institution to develop into a scientific discipline it is essential to analyze this project. In chapter 4 I present the scientific point of view, ethnographic methods, and epistemology of the Chicago School and also discuss what importance the School and anthropology had for one another in Chicago and the United States. I focus above all on W. I. Thomas’ scientific point of view and approach to method, because it was he who laid the foundation of epistemology, method and scientific field of the Chicago School. I have chosen to regard my empirical study as to form a historical field with actors who in one way or another contributed to the creation of the Chicago School between 1915 and 1935. My empirical study of how the School developed shows that it takes both an administrative and financial foundation as well as traditions of ideas and creative researchers for an academic institution to develop into a scientific discipline.}},
author = {{Andersson, Oscar}},
isbn = {{91-7267-153-X}},
issn = {{1101-9948}},
keywords = {{cities in the city; melting pot; race relation cycle; natural area; natural history; migration; marginal man; life history; invasion; hybrid; hobo; ghetto; ecology; Chicago School; disorganization; succession; transit and urbanization; Sociology; Sociologi}},
language = {{swe}},
publisher = {{Department of Sociology, Lund University}},
school = {{Lund University}},
series = {{Lund Monographs in Social Anthropology}},
title = {{Chicagoskolan : Institutionaliseringen, idétraditionen och vetenskapen}},
volume = {{11}},
year = {{2003}},
}