The Turn to Sociology

To move forward, we must look back: White supremacy at the base of urban studies

“…Albion Small, the Department of Sociology founder at the University of Chicago (UC) and founder of the American Journal of Sociology ( AJS ) set out to build his vision of a Christian sociology department (Greek, 1992). ‘At Chicago’, Greek (1992) argues, ‘Small attempted to mold American sociology into a holistic discipline that would aid in bringing about the Kingdom of God on earth’ (p. 106). Greek (1992) states that in early Christian sociologists’ work, ‘Kingdom’ is interchangeable with the concept of ‘society’.…”

“…‘At Chicago’, Greek (1992) argues, ‘Small attempted to mold American sociology into a holistic discipline that would aid in bringing about the Kingdom of God on earth’ (p. 106). Greek (1992) states that in early Christian sociologists’ work, ‘Kingdom’ is interchangeable with the concept of ‘society’. Thus, social gospel thought informed many early sociologists’ work by focusing on achieving God’s society on earth, marking the significance of the Protestant Ethic in establishing AS of pivotal importance (Anderson, 1996; Greek, 1992).…”

“…Greek (1992) states that in early Christian sociologists’ work, ‘Kingdom’ is interchangeable with the concept of ‘society’. Thus, social gospel thought informed many early sociologists’ work by focusing on achieving God’s society on earth, marking the significance of the Protestant Ethic in establishing AS of pivotal importance (Anderson, 1996; Greek, 1992).…”

“…For Small, an individual’s worth depended on a person’s contribution to the social whole and was socialised through a natural division of labour. ‘Socialization’, as defined by Small, ‘referred to the attempt to replace selfish individualism with social cooperation’ (Greek, 1992: 108). By replacing a social Darwinist perspective with ideas about social disorganisation and organisation, Small and the rest of the CS studied the distinction between urban prosperity and poverty (Baldwin, 2004).…”