Chicago School (sociology)

Chicago School - a trend in empirical sociology associated with the University of Chicago, established in 1892 with the first faculty of sociology in the world, developing since the 1920s.

The publication that began the independence of this trend in sociology was Robert E. Park's The City work. In the early period, the work of Florian Znaniecki and William Thomas Polish Peasant in Europe and America also contributed to the development of this school.

The representatives of the Chicago school focused on empirical research, in particular on field research, abandoning theoretical systems. These studies concerned in particular the city as a field of social activity and its social problems and contributed to the development of sociology of the city and above all the sociology of deviation. Chicago was treated by researchers as a natural laboratory in which they observed various manifestations of urban social life. Evolutionism, as well as research methods developed in ecology, especially in plant ecology, have had a major impact on this research.

The origins of the dynamic development of sociology of the city at the Chicago School are associated with the names of the social ecologist Robert E. Parka, the co-urbanist of Ernest Burgess and Robert McKenzie, who has broadly described ecological processes taking place in urban areas.

Representatives of this school not only created models of cities, but primarily engaged in the diagnosis and resolution of social problems in the area, primarily related to various manifestations of social pathology. Among others started to create so. crime maps and maps of social problems for various institutions fighting social problems: police, social welfare centers.

The school had a significant impact on the development of empirical sociology and the development of qualitative methods in sociology. In addition to work related to the problems of the city and crime, school representatives developed such disciplines as family sociology or sociology of the organization. In 1923, The Local Community Research Committee was founded, focusing on urban development, juvenile delinquency, homelessness, poverty, and immigrant communities.

A significant portion of the Chicago school was not only researchers, but also social practitioners involved in solving Chicago's social problems. Cliford Shaw, who, along with Henry McKay, developed the criminal investigation into the basis of modern criminology, was a social curator, while Jane Addams won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work. Sociology at this school was treated as a science useful for solving social problems and not just for describing them.

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