Editor’s introduction: Classic perspectives, contemporary concerns

Abstract

In this issue we present a broad-gauge set of papers that address both classic traditions and contemporary debates, in which authors invite readers to consider choices about the definition and development of sociology as a field. Two of the contributions might be considered revisionist history, while a third explicitly critiques recent revisionist accounts. A fourth paper returns to the issue of the present situation and future prospects of Canadian sociology, which was the focus of a recent thematic issue of this journal (Spring 2002). The final paper addresses the neglected question of how sociology is taught in U.S. high schools, and how professional sociological associations such as the ASA ought to help shape educational policy. Robert Prus begins by arguing that sociological theory can be enriched through a renewed examination of classical Greek scholarship. His particular concern is with the perspective of symbolic interactionism, which is generally defined as a twentieth-century movement of thought arising mainly out of the Chicago school of sociology. Prus contends, to the contrary, that the American pragmatism underlying symbolic interactionism is deeply rooted in its earlier Greek counterpart, and he therefore seeks to identify transcontextual and transhistorical linkages. His interest is not merely the chronicling of historical parallels, but rather the construction of more adequate sociological theory for the twenty-first century. Pierre Lannoy next offers an alternative reading of a classic text within the Chicago tradition, namely, Robert E. Park's "The City," which Everett C. Hughes and others have characterized as a manifesto for the development of the field of urban sociology. Lannoy argues that Park's essay must be understood contextually and biographically, with reference to its author's position in academia and his relationships with other social scientists--especially those who might be regarded as intellectual competitors. In this connection, an illuminating factor is Park's opposition to the social survey approach that was championed by such contemporary figures as Jane Addams, George Haynes, and Robert Woods. Indeed, according to Lannoy, "The City" did not actually offer a distinctive theory of urban life, but only a general theory of modern life and social change that was combined with an anti-reformist epistemology of social science. David Nock seeks to "revise the revisionists" in his examination of critiques of early Chicago school sociology. As he notes, some scholars have recently alleged that it is wrong to regard the approach as exclusively qualitative and ethnographic, for there was also always