Using the History of the Chicago Tradition of Sociology for Empirical Research

• Published in: The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Vol. 595; no. 1; pp. 157 - 167
• Main Author: Chapoulie, Jean-Michel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thousand Oaks, CA Sage Publications 01.09.2004
• Subjects: Chicago School; Chicago School of Sociology; Empirical research; Ethnographic research; Ethnography; Field research; France; History of Sociology; History of the social sciences; Intellectual History; Literary history; Modeling; Presentism; Social research; Social science history; Social science research; Social sciences; Sociological Research; Sociology; United States history; history of social sciences; Chicago tradition in sociology; conceptualization in social sciences
• ISSN: 0002-7162; 1552-3349
• DOI: 10.1177/0002716204266686

What use is literature about past research in social sciences to people carrying out empirical research in sociology? More generally, other than the celebration of academic ancestors, what is the point of a history of research in social sciences? How should we conceive this history if it is to be useful? This article develops the possible contributions that a nonpresentist history (following the model of histoire à part entière of Lucien Febvre) of the social sciences can make to research in these disciplines. The article analyzes the various obstacles that prevented, for more than fifty years, the introduction of the Chicago sociological tradition into French sociology and the changes that led, after 1980, to an increasing interest in an ethnographic approach in France.