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HistoricalSociologyin theHistory
ofAmericanSociology
MILDRED A. SCHWARTZ
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2 SOCIAL SCIENCE HISTORY
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HistoricalSociologyin AmericanSociology 3
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4 SOCIAL SCIENCE HISTORY
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HistoricalSociologyin AmericanSociology 5
ofcustomsorsocialinstitutions
Explanations bythepast,in
termsofsocialevolution
and socialdiffusion,
werereplaced
byexplanationsofthesocialfunctions
ofthesecustomsand
institutions
in the present[Burke, I980: 22].
Let us disregardhis characterization of Durkheim,whomhe
otherwisedescribesas sympathetic to theusesofhistory,to con-
siderthe importance of functionalism as a countervailingap-
proach.Byaddingfunctionalism to theargument,a distinction
is
raisedbetweensourcesofdata-historicalorcontemporary -and
methodsortheories ofexplanation. Burkeimpliesa strongcorre-
lationbetweenthetwowherefunctionalism requirescontempo-
raneousdata.The antagonism betweenfunctionalism and history
is a themethatonce had considerable currency but fortunately
has now been virtually put to restin sociology(Stinchcombe,
1968: 104-107).
The distractingrolethatwas playedbythepresumedantihis-
toricism of functionalismis illustrated bytheperceptions of my
ownfirst teacherin sociology, SamuelDelbertClark.Clark,ori-
ginallytrainedin history, is a pioneering Canadiansociologist.
He describeshow he feltconstrained whenhe beganteaching
Canadianstudents abouttheirsociety. Before1938,it was bythe
humanecologicalapproachof theChicagoschool,and after,by
the functionalismof TalcottParsons(Clark,1976: I). Bothof
theseapproachesneedto be evaluatedas culprits in makingsoci-
ologyunhistorical.
The roleoffunctionalism inturning awayfrom
anthropologists
history was undoubtedly largelydue to Malinowski's impacton
thefield,as Burkehas said,butanthropology was notall ofone
mind.Stinchcombe suggeststhatRadcliffe-Brown was responsi-
ble forpresentinghistorical and functional explanationsas anti-
thetical(Stinchcombe, 1968:1o4), butit is moreaccurateto say
thatRadcliffe-Browne acknowledged a difference withoutany
necessaryconflict(Radcliffe-Brown, 1952:185). Bottomore and
Nisbetread Radcliffe-Brown to be "amongthefirstto realize"
thatSpencer'sapproachto evolutionary development "led to a
for
disregard time,place, and circumstance."This enablesthem
to see Radcliffe-Brown'sworkas neither nor"anti-
"unhistorical"
historical"(Bottomore and Nisbet,1978:575). Yetwhatever dif-
fusionanthropologicalfunctionalism had madeintosociologyby
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6 SOCIAL SCIENCE HISTORY
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HistoricalSociologyin AmericanSociology 7
Additionalevidenceis availablefromthe1940sof"Renewedin-
terestamongsociologistsinwell-documented historical
materials
as a basisforcomparative study of social systems"(Moore and
Williams,1942: 343). Examples include names such as Moore
and Williams,writing on theantebellum South, Cottrell(1940)
on therailroader,
Stern(1941)on medicine, andevenearlierwork
by the Lynds (1929, 1939) on Middletown.Like those named on
Tilly'slist,theytoo lackedanyconnection withtheUniversityof
Chicago.
Historywasa conceptusedbyChicagosociologists ofthetime
in tworelatedways:in lifehistoriesand in naturalhistory.
Life
histories,usedmostprofitablyby W. I. Thomasand F. Znaniecki
in The Polish Peasant in Europe and America,were documents
aboutindividuals
usedto developa socialpsychology thatrelated
motives,
feelings, and to
attitudes socialrelations
(Bulmer,1984:
was a way of referring
Io5-Io8; Short,1982: 135-152). History
toan individual'slifecourseandofcharacterizing theuseofdocu-
ments.As a meansofresearch, itwas probablytheleastpopular
ofthetechniques associatedwiththeChicagoSchooland theone
withtheleastenduring impact.WhenI discovered thatWerner
Cahnmanhad attempted to create"A Committee fortheSocio-
logicalStudyof HistoricalDocuments"at the1954annualmeet-
ingoftheAmerican SociologicalSociety(Cahnmanand Boskoff,
1964,vii),I naturally wonderedifitsrecordsmightprovea con-
nectionwithChicago-trained But of the27 names
sociologists.
mentioned as presentat thefirstmeeting,expressing a strong
in-
terestin it,orjoiningthecommittee later,only5 weregraduates
oftheUniversity ofChicago.
In theChicagoSchool,naturalhistory was lessa methodthan
a generalapproachfordistinguishing historyfromsociologyac-
cordingto Park and Burgess(1925: 16). They (1925: I) considered
thatpartof history"natural"from"whichit is possibleto make
generalstatementsand formulatelaws."Sociologycouldthenbe
definedas thesearchfor"naturallawsand generalizations in re-
gardto humannatureand society, oftimeand space"
irrespective
(Park and Burgess, 1925: II). Concern with the typicalled to
buildingideal typesand typologies,which,when allied with
naturalhistory ofchange,produceddevelopmen-
as a conception
tal stages (Faris, 1967: 102; Fuller and Myers, 1941: 320-329).
Even whena singletypewas notassumedto holdtheseedsof
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8 SOCIAL SCIENCE HISTORY
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HistoricalSociologyin AmericanSociology 9
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IO SOCIAL SCIENCE HISTORY
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HistoricalSociologyin AmericanSociology II
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12 SOCIAL SCIENCE HISTORY
of change.Evolutionprovided,
principles one
and stillprovides,
of these. Anotheris Wallerstein's(1974) influentialworldsystem
describesas keeping"to the
approach,whichTillyapprovingly
enormousscale of thedevelopmental
schemesit is meantto re-
place" (Tilly,1981: 43).
Tillycommendsto us thestudyof "big structures, largepro-
cesses,hugecomparisons," buthisownpreference for"historically
specificexperiences ofchange"(1984:86) makeshimreluctant to
favoranygrandscheme.Whilewe can admirebothhisindustry
and his modesty, he mightalso listento Skocpol'squiteunself-
consciousassertion that"Morethanmostsocialresearchers, major
historicalsociologistsend up witha hankering to developgrand
mapsofhistory" (Skocpol,1984:385). In thathankering liedan-
gerous intellectualcurrents,ones thatearlierled astray socio-
our
logicalforefathers. What worries me is notthe content ofexpla-
nations,whether evolutionary or not,but ratherthe inclination of
sociologistswho studyhistory to build grandsystems that end
in distortinghistory.For thisreasonI particularly valueStinch-
combe'sadmonition that"One does notapplyhistory to theory;
rather oneuseshistory todeveloptheory" (Stinchcombe, 1978:I).
Or, as he goes on to say,"Boththegenerating ideas and those
factsfirstexaminedare usefulbecausetheygeneratehistorically
specificgeneralideas"(Stinchcombe, 1978:4).
I beganwithhistorical sociologyas thenameofa field,and I
end withmyowndisengagement fromit.I wouldnotcall myself
a historicalsociologisttoday,and I see nothing to be gainedby
revitalizingthename.In thecontextof modernsociology's sub-
divisionintofields,historical
sociology wouldsuggest a fieldwhose
specializedstatusrestson method,approach,and primary data
sources.Giventhereluctance ofmostsociologists toengageinthe
kindofarchivalresearchthatis fundamental to history, thisuse
of a namewouldbe, to saytheleast,misleading. It is truethat
Tillyand hisstudents do primary historicalresearch, to theevi-
dentbenefit of historyas wellas sociology(Bonnell,I980: 172-
173),butforthemostpart,we can expectsociologists to relyon
thematerials thathistorianshavealreadyassembled"becauselife
is tooshorttodo anything else"(Marshall,1964:38). A sociologi-
cal subfieldthatbasesitsnameon techniquedeservesto be sus-
pectbecausethechoiceoftechnique shouldbe determined bythe
problem under else of
study-anything speaks dogmatism. There
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HistoricalSociologyin AmericanSociology 13
REFERENCES
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HistoricalSociology in American Sociology 15
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16 SOCIAL SCIENCE HISTORY
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