Some Contributions to the History of Sociology. Section XIX. The Emergence of Sociology in the United States

Abstract

The "drive toward objectivity" of which the previous sections have exhibited incidents initiated the American sociological movement, not by foisting formulas upon passively receptive minds, but by generating a critical spirit, by means of the entire tradition of social science methodology, both toward that methodology itself and toward tried and untried proposlas of social programs. The immediate antecedents of American sociology were the Verein fur Social politik and its offspring, the American Economic Association. Until now American sociology has covered only the necessary rudimentary period of determining working categories. The place of Lester F. Ward in the movement is indicated. The modicum of identical ideas among the beginners is described. The sociologists had to take their turn in learning that objective reality, not antecedent definition, eventually molds science. An appropriate title for a sympathetic story of the American sociological movement up to the present time would be Up from Amateurism.