Albion Woodbury Small

Albion Woodbury Small (born May 11, 1854 in Buckfield, Maine; died March 24, 1926 in Chicago) founded the first Department of Sociology in the USA at the University of Chicago in 1892. He was influential on the establishment of sociology as a valid field of academic study.

Life

Small was the son of Reverend Albion Keith Parris Small and Thankful Lincoln Woodbury. Small was raised in a strict religious spirit, which will reflect in his works and in his idea that sociology needs to be an ethical science.

Small graduated from Colby College in 1876, and with the blessing of his parents went to study theology at the Baptist Andover Newton Theological School. He graduated in 1879, but was never ordained. At the seminary Small became interested for the German philosophical thought and went to Germany to study history, social economics and politics. He studied from 1879 to 1881 at the University of Leipzig and the Humboldt University in Berlin. In 1881 he married Valeria von Massow, with whom he had one child.

Upon his return from Europe, Small went to teach history and political economy at Colby College, Waterville, Maine. As the field of sociology just started to emerge, Small enrolled into Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore to take advanced classes in history and economics. He studied at the Johns Hopkins from 1888 to 1889, when he received his Ph.D. with the thesis The Beginnings of American Nationality: The Constitutional Relations between the Continental Congress and the Colonies and States from 1774 to 1789. He became the President of Colby College in 1889. Immediately after his election, he started to reorganize Department of Philosophy, adding a new course in sociology - one of the first three sociology courses in the United States. Together with George E. Vincent, Small published the world’s first sociological textbook Introduction to a Science of Society in 1894.

In 1892 Small left Colby and came to the University of Chicago. He founded the first Department of Sociology there in 1892 and chaired this department for over 30 years. This was the first accredited sociology department in an American university and it soon became the center of the sociological thought in the U.S.

In 1895 Small established the American Journal of Sociology. From 1905 until 1925 he served as Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Literature at the University of Chicago. He retired in 1925 and died in 1926.

Work

Small interest in the field of social science was vast. He was an expert in various fields, from economics and politics to history and theology. However, his ultimate genius lay within sociology. Studying in Germany he became familiar with German sociology, and through his General Sociology and Origins of Sociology Small introduced German sociological thought to United States.

He believed that all social sciences need to work together, and his works reflect that idea. The reason for Small’s plea for unity in social science comes from the reality of the late 19th century academia. Historians, economists and political scientists, each, in Small’s opinion, had too narrow view of interests, often separated from each other. It seems that his theological and philosophical training provided Small with a broader view on human sciences, with an idea of unity as ultimate ethical achievement. Small thus worked until his death to reach that goal. He attempted to catalogue and classify broad spectrum of human interest, and he saw sociology as the means to do that. His General Sociology is the synthesis of his views on this topic.

In addition, Small paid considerable amount of attention to ethical principles in sociology. For him the purpose of sociology was to be a guide for social reforms in wide society. The ethics thus are needed to provide the straight line of how to improve social institutions.

Legacy

Small's significance for American social science lies in Small's tireless work to establish sociology as a valid field of academic study. Small introduced German sociology to United States and opened the first accredited department of sociology in an American university. The department became world-famous, and in the first half of the 20th century was the center of sociological thought in the United States.

Small coauthored the first sociological textbook in the world, Introduction to a Science of Society, and established and edited the first sociological journal in the United States, American Journal of Sociology.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• American Sociological Association (n.d.). Albion Woodbury Small. Retrieved June 13, 2006 (http://www2.asanet.org/governance/small.html)

• Encyclopedia.com. (n.d.). “Small, Albion Woodbury.” Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Retrieved June 13, 2006 (http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/s/small-a1l.asp).

• Harry Elmer Barnes. (1926). "The Place of Albion Woodbury Small in Modern Sociology." American Journal of Sociology, 32, 15-44. Retrieved June 13, 2006 (http://spartan.ac.brocku.ca/~lward/Barnes/Barnes_1926.html)

• The Veblenite. (n.d.). Contemporaries: Albion Woodbury Small (1854-1926). Retrieved June 13, 2006 (http://de.geocities.com/veblenite/contemp.htm).

Bibliography

• Small, Albion W. (1905/1973). General Sociology. University Microfilms

• Small, Albion W. (1907/2002). Adam Smith and Modern Sociology. Adamant Media Corporation. ISBN 1402189044

• Small, Albion W. (1909/1963). The Cameralists. The Pioneers of German Social Policy. Burt Franklin

• Small, Albion W. (1910/1971). The Meaning of Social Science. Johnson Reprint Corp

• Small, Albion W. (1913). Between Eras: From Capitalism to Democracy. V.W. Bruder

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