Was Jane Addams a Sociologist?

K. Villadsen
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

There is widespread agreement that despite the general scarcity of women among classical sociologists, Jane Addams was the first and probably most influential of early American sociologists. Apart from being a leading figure in the settlement movement, she carried out early sociological research in the Chicago slums and had close ties to contemporary pragmatist thinkers like William James, John Dewey, and George Hebert Mead. This chapter reconsiders the general designation of Addams as an “early sociologist.” It discusses which criteria are adequate to define someone as a sociologist and considers Addams’s activities and writings in light of such criteria. Significant in this assessment is Addams’s inspiration from the Christian tradition, evident in her invocation of Christian ethics as a regenerative force and her echoing of principles from social gospel theology. The chapter concludes that Addams’s work, both as a turn-of-the-century social critic and intellectual, was shaped as much by Christian values as by activities that would merit the term “sociologist.” Paying attention to how Addams articulated notions like “Christian renaissance,” “social salvation,” and “brotherly love” complicates assessments of her as a pioneer in pragmatist, empirical sociology. Addams’s blend of Christian ideas and early social science discourse is not unique but resonates with streams of reformist, sociological writing around the turn-of-the-20th-century North America and Europe. This chapter concludes that rather than constituting a stumbling block for the development of modern sociology, Christian inspirations can be an impetus for critical sociological practice in times of fragmentation and instrumentalization of sociological research.
简·亚当斯是社会学家吗?
人们普遍认为,尽管古典社会学家中普遍缺乏女性,但简·亚当斯(Jane adams)是第一位,可能也是最具影响力的早期美国社会学家。除了是移民运动的领军人物外,她还在芝加哥贫民窟进行了早期的社会学研究,并与威廉·詹姆斯、约翰·杜威和乔治·赫伯特·米德等当代实用主义思想家有着密切的联系。本章重新考虑亚当斯作为“早期社会学家”的一般称谓。它讨论了哪些标准足以将某人定义为社会学家,并根据这些标准考虑亚当斯的活动和著作。在这一评价中,重要的是亚当斯从基督教传统中获得的灵感,这在她将基督教伦理作为一种再生力量的召唤和她对社会福音神学原则的呼应中很明显。这一章的结论是,亚当斯作为世纪之交的社会批评家和知识分子,他的作品不仅受到基督教价值观的影响,也受到值得被称为“社会学家”的活动的影响。关注亚当斯如何清晰地表达“基督教复兴”、“社会拯救”和“兄弟之爱”等概念,会使人们对她作为实用主义、经验主义社会学先驱的评价复杂化。亚当斯将基督教思想与早期社会科学话语融合在一起的作品并不独特,但却与20世纪初北美和欧洲的改革派和社会学著作产生了共鸣。本章的结论是,基督教的启示不是构成现代社会学发展的绊脚石,而是在社会学研究碎片化和工具化的时代推动批判性社会学实践的动力。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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