Introduction

The contributions of the ‘Chicago School’ to the study of race and ethnic relations have been, undeservedly, neglected by sociologists. In this paper, I set out what I take to be the most important and fruitful ideas that this group of scholars contributed to the study of race relations. I argue that the dominant perspective and method used by the Chicago sociologists to investigate race relations was that of symbolic interactionism. In particular, I refer to the work of Robert E. Park, the major force within the Chicago School, to suggest the effectiveness of the symbolic interactionist approach and how it influenced the thinking of later generations of scholars, and most notably the work of Herbert Blumer. My purpose, then, is to present an overview of the contributions of the Chicago School to the study of race relations and to suggest the usefulness of the approach generated by Park and those sociologists influenced by him. I also point out some of the striking similarities between this approach and current work in urban anthropology and social geography.

In the first section of the paper I discuss the concerns of the Chicago sociologists and the concepts and methods developed to pursue these concerns. I argue that the focus of the theoretical inquiry complemented a general doubt among American intellectuals, confronted by evidence of the disorder in cities, about the possibilities of maintaining a cohesive, orderly urban society capable of reforming itself through the democratic participation of its citizens.