INTRODUCTION: Anselm Strauss's Grounded Theory and the Study of Work

Abstract

Anselm Strauss was interested in the sociology of work in every sense and used his grounded theory method to observe and analyze everything he encountered, including his own " medical work." Drawing on the reflections of his students, this introduction briefly examines Strauss's everyday work mode using grounded theory . The eight articles in this special issue honor Strauss by using his theories and methods for studying varieties of work in very different settings. The final article in this collection provides selected statements from graduates who had the opportunity to study with Strauss. Their voices reveal how Anselm Strauss influenced their lives and work and speak for the many sociologists he trained. It is fitting that the project the contributions to this special issue represent began on a hill in San Francisco at the 1998 Pacific Sociological Association (PSA) meetings. For those of us who were associated with Anselm Strauss as students and colleagues, the image of Anselm Strauss is irrevocably linked to two hills in San Francisco. The first is windy Parnassus Avenue, the hill to which the distinctly urban campus of the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) clings. Strauss arrived there in 1960, having taught at Indiana University and the University of Chicago, where he had earlier received his doctorate. In Chicago, he had directed research at the Institute for Psychosomatic and Psychiatric Research and Training at Michael Reese Hospital before he was recruited by the University of California to begin a research program in the School of Nursing. A few years later he founded the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and the Doctoral Program in Sociology. He remained at UCSF until his death in 1996. The other significant San Francisco hill is Russian Hill. It occupies a sunlit position in the heart of the city, and in the hearts of many who associate it with their sociological awakening. It was there in a townhouse on Moore Place that Anselm and Fran Strauss made their home, and to which they welcomed scores of students, colleagues, and visitors from around the world. * Direct all correspondence to: Roberta Lessor, Chapman University, Department of Sociology, Orange, CA 92866; e-mail: lessor@chapman.edu. Sociological Perspectives, Volume 43, Number 4, pages S1-S5. Copyright © 2000 by Pacific Sociological Association. All rights reserved. Send requests for permission to reprint to: Rights and Permissions, University of California Press, Journals Division, 2000 Center St., Ste. 303, Berkeley, CA 94704-1223.