Download American Sociologists Albion SMALL (1854

American Sociologists
Albion SMALL (1854 – 1926)
“School of Chicago”  A way of thinking from
the University of Chicago
This brought the United States to a prominent
position in the world of sociological thought
Introduction to the Science of Sociology (1890)
Founded the American Journal of Sociology in
1895
Robert PARKS (1864 - 1944)
Chicago School of Sociology
Journalist in Chicago
Founded the American Sociological Society
Urbanization
Discord
Disintegrating effect (becoming less integrated into society)
Crime rates
Isolation of communities and the need to integrate people into
society in a better way
Jane Adams (1860 – 1935)
Active sociologist
Founded the Hull House for the Poor
Published hundreds of articles in the
American Journal of Sociology
Hull House Maps and Papers (1893)
 Research methodology
Nobel Peace Prize laureate
George Herbert MEAD (1863 - 1931)
Socialization: Interaction creates a concept of the self
Social interaction through symbols, words, gestures, and body language
The Symbolic Interactive Perspective
Hated writing: After his death, his students published his book based on class
notes
Mind, Self, and Society, 1934, University of Chicago Press
W.E.B. Du Bois (1868 - 1963)
Founded the NAACP in 1909
“Pen pal” with Albert Einstein, who called racism
“America’s Worst Disease”
Political activist
Visited Germany in 1936: Called the treatment of Jews an
“attack on civilization”
Directed the Encyclopedia Africana in Ghana in 1961
Talcott Parsons (1902 - 1979)
Structural functionalist
Family is the most important institution for the survival of society
(Different from Jean Jacques Rousseau)
The “traditional” division of labor in the family cell
Man  Physical and economic needs
Woman  Expressive needs
Other institutions (welfare, school, social services, etc.) are meant to
assist the family meet its needs
Robert Merton (1910 - 2003)
Structural functionalist
Behavior:
Manifest consequences (intended)
Latent consequences (unintended)
In business, there are negative and positive consequences
A dysfunctional consequence weakens the social bonds and produces
a negative societal effect
Social Theory and Social Structure (1968)
Influenced Herbert GANS:
 The Positive Functions of Poverty (1972)
C. Wright MILLS (1916 - 1962)
The Sociological Imagination (1959)
“Vocabularies of motive”  People are not interested in real motives,
but rather in the way they are expressed and justified
Position at Columbia University in 1945 even though he was often
criticized because of unconventional views
Conflict theorist accused of being a Marxist
“White Collar”  elite, high social status
“Power Elite”  a small group of business
men, generals, politicians, media moguls,
and bank owners who structure the entire
country in order to suit their own desires
References
Pictures of sociologists taken from
www.wikipedia.org (All others)
www.thesocietypages.org (C. Wright MILLS)