Chicago school of Sociology

Hello, everyone! I hope that you have enjoyed my last post. Today I'm going to write about the Chicago school of sociology.

The Chicago School of Sociology emerged during de 20s and 30s, and specialized in urban sociology (that is kind of sociological study of life and human interaction in metropolitan areas like ghettos, cities, etc.) and the research into the urban environment. For this, the Chicago School of Sociology used theory and etnographic fieldwork in Chicago.

After World War II, many researchers rised up a "Second Chicago School": this members of the new school used, like a base for research, the symbolic interacionism combined wiht methods of field research, like the etnography.

Some of the more important researchers of this school are Robert Park, Louis Wirth, Everett Hughes, George herbert Mead and Frederic Thrasher.

The social studies theme can be divided in three lines: Culture contact and conflict, Ethnic groups and City politics.

The first one, Culture contact and conflict, studies the way how ethnic groups interact and compete in the process of community succession and institucional transformation. One of the more important studies is Thomas and Znaniecki's one, published in 1918, that talks about polish inmigrant in the United State. An important part of this studies concerned African Americans, like Frazier (1932) and Drake and Cayton (1945) studies, that shaped white americans perception of black communities for decades.

The second one, are studies about ethcnic groups. The more important are: Cressey (1932) that studied the dancehall and comercialized entertainment services, Kincheloe (1938) that studied church succession, Janowitz (1952) that made his resarch about community press and Hughes (1979) studied the real state board.

The third one is about city politics. Themore important studies are from Gosnell (1935), Wilson (1960) and Grimshaw (1992) that considered american politics, voting and other forms of participation. Banfield and Wilson (1963) placed Chicago city plitics in a broaded context.

Thanks to all my readers :)