The main objective of U.S. social scientists from around 1880 onwards was the theoretical revision of the role and functions of the American state. In this context, they shifted their attention from constitutional issues to administration and overcome former mental barriers to view German universities as a privileged destination for higher education. The first part of this essay starts from the conviction that the theoretical development of the social sciences represents a key observation point for building a history of 20th-century U.S. political culture. The second part focuses on Albion W. Small (1854-1926), one of the most prestigious American academics of the 19th and 20th century who founded the first Department of Sociology in the U.S. in Chicago in 1892. Small served as a conduit through which many European ideas – particularly German – were introduced to U.S. social and political thought. In particular, the justification of expertise in connection with the expansion of state power proved central to the political-cultural project of late-19th- and early-20th-century American social scientists of whom the Chicago sociologist was one of the most authoritative exponents.
The Prophet, the Priest and the Philosopher of Democracy: Albion Small and the Transatlantic Origins of American Social Science
BORGOGNONE, Giovanni Francesco
2015-01-01
Abstract
The main objective of U.S. social scientists from around 1880 onwards was the theoretical revision of the role and functions of the American state. In this context, they shifted their attention from constitutional issues to administration and overcome former mental barriers to view German universities as a privileged destination for higher education. The first part of this essay starts from the conviction that the theoretical development of the social sciences represents a key observation point for building a history of 20th-century U.S. political culture. The second part focuses on Albion W. Small (1854-1926), one of the most prestigious American academics of the 19th and 20th century who founded the first Department of Sociology in the U.S. in Chicago in 1892. Small served as a conduit through which many European ideas – particularly German – were introduced to U.S. social and political thought. In particular, the justification of expertise in connection with the expansion of state power proved central to the political-cultural project of late-19th- and early-20th-century American social scientists of whom the Chicago sociologist was one of the most authoritative exponents.
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