Foundations of British Sociology 1880-1930

Contexts and Biographies

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3700529
AutoresL Goldman (0000-0002-2420-1582, autor de correspondencia)
Año2007
Volumen55
Número3
Páginas431-440
Fecha de publicación2007-08-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0038-0261 • E-ISSN: 1467-954X
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-954x.2007.00717.x
OpenAlexW2104933537
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas9
Referencias citadas16

This paper provides an overview of aspects of the history of British sociology. In particular, it tries to answer critical historical work by among others, Perry Anderson and Philip Abrams, which sought to explain the supposed indigenous 'failure' to develop academic sociology in Britain before the 1960s. It is argued that a narrowly academic reading of the history of sociology cannot do justice to its role in the service of social administration and public enlightenment and may exaggerate the degree to which sociology from its foundations was conceived as a purely intellectual discipline. The paper points to a thriving sociological culture in Britain in the generation before the First World War, though it was one in which many contributions came from philosophers, natural scientists and political economists rather then self-proclaimed 'sociologists'. It ends with a brief review of Patrick Geddes and Victor Branford, a founder of the Sociological Society and editor of the Sociological Review, whose biographies and eclectic social and international interests tell us something about the personalities and political interests of early British sociological pioneers

Enlightenment · Epistemology · History of sociology · Politics · Social science · Sociological imagination · Sociology · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Law