What Are the Different Types of Sociology Fellowships?

The Department of Sociology of Harvard, that is, the "Department of Sociology of Harvard University", is a discipline system established by Harvard University, a well-known specialty of Harvard University, the world's first institution, and a classic sociology cradle of American private universities.

Harvard Sociology Department

Right!

The Department of Sociology of Harvard, that is, the "Department of Sociology of Harvard University", is a discipline system established by Harvard University, a well-known specialty of Harvard University, the world's first institution, and a classic sociology cradle of American private universities.

Chinese name

Harvard Sociology Department

Nature

Department of Sociology

Country

United States

Year

30 years

Harvard's sociology, compared to Harvard's

In the history of Harvard Sociology, several sociologists have emerged:

(1) Pitirim Sorokin

1. PA Sorokin (1889-1968), a Russian-American sociologist, a founder of the Harvard Sociology Department, was regarded as the last pioneer of the older generation of sociologists and was listed. It is an outstanding figure of the 20th century who is as famous as the masters of Spengler, Russell and Toynbee. His life is legendary and groundbreaking, and he was a dramatic political activist. Sorokin was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1922 and soon arrived in the United States. In 1930, he became a U.S. citizen and transferred to Harvard to teach until his retirement in 1959.

2. Sorokin, the most important achievement was made during Harvard. Prior to this, Harvard had not yet established a department of sociology. He was initially placed in the economics department. In 1930, on his initiative, the school formed a department of sociology, with Sorokin as the first director, serving a term of 12 years. The newly established Department of Sociology soon attracted a large number of outstanding talents, and even within a short time, Harvard became an academic center in the American sociology community. Important figures who have taught or studied at Harvard include Parsons, Homans, Merton, and others. Many of them later became major representatives of the functional school and became giants of the American sociological community.

3. In 1942, Sorokin resigned from the post of dean and was replaced by Parsons. Sorokin gradually deviated from sociological research. In the late 1940s, he founded the Harvard Center for Creative Altruism Studies, turned to altruistic behavior research, and further developed comparative social studies and criticism of American society. From the 1940s to the 1960s, Sorokin's image in American sociology was a bit out of place. He attacked the modern centralized military industrial society and believed that Western society was facing a huge crisis.

(B) Parsons

1. Talcott Parsons (1902-1979) took over as the head of the Department of Sociology, and started a glorious period for Harvard Sociology. The emergence of the functionalist school founded on his behalf also marked the beginning of modern sociology. Parsons taught at Harvard University in 1927, first in the Department of Economics, and in 1931 he joined the newly established Department of Sociology, where he worked under Sorokin. Although their cooperation was unsuccessful, Parsons's heels became more stable. He took over the post of head of department in 1944, and was reorganized into the Department of Social Relations in 1946, serving until 1956. By retirement in 1973, he taught at Harvard for 46 years.

2. Parsons has worked hard throughout his life, writing and waiting. His famous work is The Structure of Social Action, published in 1937. This book established his position in the American sociological community, and it is also regarded as a classic with a watershed significance for the development of American sociological theory. This achievement fundamentally changed the situation of the lack of theoretical sociology in the United States, and showed the important value of sociological research. This brought American sociology into the so-called "golden age."

3. Parsons is actually a rare theorist. His achievements are mainly reflected in the inheritance and innovation of sociological theories. By the end of the 1940s, Parsons' academic research had reached a turning point. Taking "Social System" as a representative, he formed his functionalist viewpoint with systemic characteristics. Importantly, in the newly reorganized Department of Social Relations, he united a large number of talented people to build his sociological empire! As early as the mid 1930s, Parsons established a good interactive relationship with a group of talented graduate students in the Department of Sociology. These include Merton, Davis, John Riley, Wilhelms, Moore and others. This is the so-called "Harvard circle". They centered on Parsons and Merton and discussed functionalist theoretical issues. After their efforts, functionalism emerged as the first most influential theoretical school of modern sociology.

(C) Robert Merton

1. Robert Merton, functionalist school. He left Harvard in 1939, but he has an inextricable bond with Harvard. After graduating with honors from the university in 1931, Merton won a scholarship from Harvard University and became the first graduate students of the newly established Department of Sociology. He received his PhD in 1936. After graduating, Merton worked as a lecturer and tutor at Harvard University for more than two years, and then taught at Tulane University in New Orleans. Since 1941 he has been teaching at Columbia University.

2. The scholar who has the most influence on Merton's academic career is, above all, Sorokin. Merton later recalled that it seemed that he had chosen Harvard arrogantly because Sorokin was there. He said that Sorokin was the mentor he sought, and it was Sorokin that attracted him to Harvard and was exposed to a wide range of European ideas. As soon as Merton entered the school, he became a research assistant and teaching assistant for Sorokin. He said that he even became a substitute for Sorokin, and went to his office every day to do many things for him. So Merton participated in the research earlier and the results kept coming out. For example, the first academic paper on French sociology published in 1934 was for Sorokin. He also participated earlier in the study of Durkheim's sociology, and more importantly, he participated in Sorokin's magnificent "Social and Cultural Dynamics" research project. These aspects of research laid a deep foundation for Merton's later research, and even played a stereotyped role.

3. The second person who had a great influence on Merton's academic growth was Parsons, a young teacher at the time. Merton said that the person who really opened his sociological thinking was not Sorokin, but Parsons. While at Harvard, Parsons was both his teacher and his opponent; they jointly put forward a functionalist perspective. Merton and others often went to the theoretical classes offered by Parsons, and then discussed together after class. Parsons was writing The Structure of Social Action, and Merton had carefully read his manuscript and made critical comments. Merton's theoretical orientation and style are very different from Parsons, and even his theoretical divergence is larger than we think. Merton and Parsons are also called "giants" of functional theory, but their theoretical orientations are far different. Parsons pursues a high degree of abstraction and unity of theory, pursuing a "big theory"; Merton emphasizes the empirical and pluralistic nature of the theory, and advocates the establishment of "medium-level theory". The former belongs to the "hedgehog" and the latter belongs to the "fox". Therefore, from the beginning Merton and Parsons took a different theoretical path.

(4) George Homans

1. George Homans (1910-1989) was also one of the masters of Harvard sociology. He entered Harvard University in the early 1930s and began studying English literature. Later he turned to sociology due to the great influence of biochemist L. Henderson and psychologist Mayo, the main organizer of the Hawthorne Experiment. He became a major member of the Pareto Research Society at Harvard University at the time, and began his research on Pareto early.

2. Homans taught in the Department of Sociology in 1939, but in 1941 he was drafted into the army. It was not until 1946 when Parsons formed the Department of Social Relations that he returned to the Department of Sociology. From 1970 to 1975 he was the head of the Department of Sociology. His main works include Human Groups (1950), Social Behavior and Basic Forms (1961), and so on. Under the influence of BF Skinner in the later period, he mainly advocated a research orientation of behaviorism, emphasizing the psychological interpretation of social phenomena, thus forming a clear confrontation with popular functionalist views.

3. When Parsons formed the Department of Social Relations, he also served with the famous sociologist Samuel Stouffer (1900-60). He has taught at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Chicago and specializes in quantitative analysis methods. He established the "Social Relations Laboratory" at Harvard University and conducted a series of important research. His main book, American Soldier (1949), has made outstanding contributions to group dynamics and social research methods. A more important influence at Harvard's Stowe is the course he offers to graduate students in collaboration with Parsons. Although he and Parsons have different academic research styles, one specializes in empirical research and one specializes in theoretical reasoning, but in the graduate courses they co-hosted, they each have their own strengths and complement each other, so that students benefit shallow.