The Reportage of Urban Culture: Robert Park and the Chicago School

by Rolf Lindner , Translated by Adrian Morris , With Jeremy Gaines , Martin Chalmers

• ISBN13: 9780521026536
• ISBN10: 0521026539
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-06-01
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The current fascination with urban life has encouraged a growing interest in the 'Chicago School' of sociology by students of sociological history. It is generally accepted that the field research practised by the Chicago sociologists during the 1920s - the 'Golden Age of Chicago sociology' - used methods borrowed from anthropology. However, Rolf Lindner also argues convincingly that the orientation of urban research advocated by Robert Park, the key figure in the Chicago School and himself a former reporter, is ultimately indebted to the tradition of urban reportage. The Reportage of Urban Culture goes beyond a thorough reconstruction of the relationship between journalism and sociology. It shows how the figure of the city reporter at the turn of the century represents a new way of looking at life, and reflects a transformation in American culture, from rejecting variety to embracing it.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Part I: 1. 'News': the reporter and the new

2. The sociologist as city editor: Robert Ezra Park

3. Reporters in depth: a comparison of journalistic and sociological studies

Part II: 4. Marginality and experience

5. 'To see life': the cultural undercurrent

6. Uncle Sam and Young Sammy: Sociology between reform and report

Bibliography

Indexes.