Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T23:49:56.613Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Human Geography and Ecological Sociology

The Unfolding of a Human Ecology, 1890 to 1930—and Beyond

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Matthias Gross
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article discusses how American geography and sociology began their university institutionalization in the 1890s with some very similar disciplinary points of origin and understanding of their subject matter but subsequently carved out their own fields by creating new or abandoning old disciplinary areas. Some of the disciplinary “catchment areas” were fought over until they came under the heading of human ecology around 1907/8, which, at least in the case of sociology, later became an influential but nevertheless transient perspective. It is argued that the unfolding of human ecology can best be understood against the background of the interaction between sociological and geographical streams of thought beginning in the 1890s.

Type
Articles
Information
Social Science History , Volume 28 , Issue 4 , Winter 2004 , pp. 575 - 605
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 2004 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abbott, A. (1999) Department and Discipline: Chicago Sociology at One Hundred. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Abbott, A. (2001) The Chaos of Disciplines. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Adams, C. C. (1913) Guide to the Study of Animal Ecology. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Adams, C. C. (1935) “The relation of general ecology to human ecology.” Ecology 16: 316–35.Google Scholar
Alihan, M. (1938) Social Ecology: A Critical Analysis. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Alznauer, M. (2002) Letter to author from University of Chicago Library. 21 August.Google Scholar
Bannister, R. C. (1987) Sociology and Scientism: The American Quest for Objectivity, 1880–1940. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Barrows, H. H. (1923) “Geography as human ecology.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 13: 1–14.Google Scholar
Bennett, J. W. (1993) Human Ecology as Human Behavior: Essays in Environmental and Development Anthropology. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.Google Scholar
Berdoulay, V. (1978) “The Vidal-Durkheim debate,” in Ley, D. and Samuels, M. S. (eds.) Humanistic Geography: Prospects and Problems. London: Croom Helm: 77–90.Google Scholar
Berry, J.W. (1976) Human Ecology and Cognitive Style: Comparative Studies in Cultural and Psychological Adaptation. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Bruhn, J. G. (1974) “Human ecology: A unifying science?” Human Ecology 2: 105–25.Google Scholar
Bulmer, M. (1984) The Chicago School of Sociology: Institutionalization, Diversity, and the Rise of Sociological Research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Burgess, E. W. (1925) “Can neighborhood work have a scientific basis?” in Park, R. E., Burgess, E.W., and McKenzie, R. D. (eds.) The City. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 113–55.Google Scholar
Buttel, F. H. (1986) “Sociology and the environment: The winding road toward human ecology.”International Social Science Journal 38: 337–56.Google Scholar
Catton, W. R. Jr. (1994) “Foundations of human ecology.” Sociological Perspectives 37: 75–95.Google Scholar
Catton, W. R. Jr., and Dunlap, R. E. (1978)“Environmental sociology: A new paradigm.” American Sociologist 13: 41–49.Google Scholar
Cittadino, E. (1993) “The failed promise of human ecology,” in Shortland, M. (ed.) Science and Nature: Essays in the History of the Environmental Sciences. Oxford: British Society for the History of Science: 251–83.Google Scholar
Davis, W. M. (1909 [1906]) “An inductive study of the content of geography,” in Johnson, D. W. (ed.) Geographical Essays. Boston: Ginn and Co: 3–22.Google Scholar
Davis, W. M. (1924) “The progress of geography in the United States.” Annals of the American Association of Geographers 14: 159–215.Google Scholar
Deegan, M. J. (1988) Jane Addams and the Men of the Chicago School, 1892-1918. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.Google Scholar
Dibble, V. (1975) The Legacy of Albion Small. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Douglas, M. (1992) Risk and Blame: Essays in Cultural Theory. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Duncan, O. D. (1959) “Human ecology and population studies,” in Hauser, P. M. and Duncan, O. D. (eds.) The Study of Population. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 678–716.Google Scholar
Duncan, O. D. (1961) “From social system to ecosystem.” Sociological Inquiry 31: 140–49.Google Scholar
Dunlap, R. E. (2002) “Paradigms, theories, and environmental sociology,” in Dunlap, R. E., Buttel, F. H., Dickens, P., and Gijswit, A. (eds.) Sociological Theory and the Environment. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield: 329–50.Google Scholar
Dunlap, R. E., and Catton, W. R. Jr. (1979)“Environmental sociology: A framework for analysis,” in O’Riordan, T. and D’Arge, R. C. (eds.) Progress in Resource Management and Environmental Planning. Vol. 1. Chichester, U.K.: John Wiley and Sons: 57–85.Google Scholar
Durkheim, E. (1982 [1895]) The Rules of Sociological Method. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Entrikin, J. N. (1980) “Robert Park’s human ecology and human geography.” Annals of the American Association of Geographers 70: 43–58.Google Scholar
Fenneman, N. M. (1918) “The circumference of geography.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 9: 3–11.Google Scholar
Firey, W. (1960) Man, Mind, and Land: A Theory of Resource Use. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.Google Scholar
Forbes, S. A. (1922) “The humanizing of ecology.” Ecology 3: 89–92.Google Scholar
Fuchs, G. (1967) “Das Konzept der ökologie in der amerikanischen Geographie: Am Beispiel der Wissenschaftstheorie zwischen 1900 und 1930.” Erdkunde 21: 81–94.Google Scholar
Gaziano, E. (1996) “Ecological metaphors as scientific boundary work.” American Journal of Sociology 101: 874–907.Google Scholar
Gettys, W. E. (1940) “Human ecology and social theory.” Social Forces 18: 469–76.Google Scholar
Gibbs, J. P., and Martin, W. T. (1958) “Urbanization and natural resources.” American Sociological Review 23: 266–77.Google Scholar
Gibbs, J. P., and Martin, W. T. (1959) “Toward a theoretical system of human ecology.” Pacific Sociological Review 2: 20–36.Google Scholar
Giddings, F. H. (1901) Inductive Sociology: A Syllabus of Methods, Analyses and Classifications, and Provisionally Formulated Laws. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Giddings, F. H. (1904) “A theory of social causation.” Publications of the American Economic Association 5: 139–74.Google Scholar
Gieryn, T. F. (1995) “Boundaries of science,” in Jasanoff, S., Markle, G. E., Petersen, J. C., and Pinch, T. (eds.) Handbook of Science and Technology Studies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage: 393–443.Google Scholar
Gieryn, T. F. (1999) Cultural Boundaries of Science: Credibility on the Line. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Gilbert, M. (1989) On Social Facts. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Goode, J. P. (1904) “The human response to the physical environment.” Journal of Geography 3: 333–43.Google Scholar
Goode, J. P. (1905) “A new method of representing the Earth’s surface.” Journal of Geography 3: 369–73.Google Scholar
Goode, J. P. (1909) “Chicago’s commercial opportunity.” Journal of Geography 7: 188–91.Google Scholar
Goode, J. P. (1911) “A college course in ontography.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 1: 111.Google Scholar
Goode, J. P. (1926) The Geographic Background of Chicago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Goode, J. P. (1927) “The map as a record of progress in geography.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 17: 1–14.Google Scholar
Goode, J. P. (2000) Goode’s World Atlas. 20th ed. Edited by Hudson, J. C. and Espen-shade, E. B. Jr. Skokie, IL: Rand McNally.Google Scholar
Gross, M. (2001) Die Natur der Gesellschaft: Eine Geschichte der Umweltsoziologie. Weinheim: Juventa Verlag.Google Scholar
Gross, M. (2002) “When ecology and sociology meet: The contributions of Edward A. Ross.” Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 38: 27–42.Google Scholar
Gross, M. (2003) Inventing Nature: Ecological Restoration by Public Experiments. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield/Lexington.Google Scholar
Haeckel, E. (1866) Generelle Morphologie der Organismen. 2 vols. Berlin: Reimer.Google Scholar
Hawley, A. H. (1950) Human Ecology: A Theory of Community Structure. New York: Ronald Press Co.Google Scholar
Hayes, E. C. (1905 [1902]) Sociological Construction Lines: A Dissertation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hayes, E. C. (1906) “Sociological construction lines: V.” American Journal of Sociology 12: 45–67.Google Scholar
Hayes, E. C. (1908) “Sociology and psychology; sociology and geography.” American Journal of Sociology 14: 371–407.Google Scholar
Hayes, E. C. (1911a) “The ‘social forces’ error.”American Journal of Sociology 16: 613–25.Google Scholar
Hayes, E. C. (1911b) “Discussion—comment.”American Journal of Sociology 16: 642–44.Google Scholar
Hayes, E. C. (1911c) “The classification of social phenomena.” American Journal of Sociology 17: 90–118, 188–205, 375–99.Google Scholar
Hayes, E. C. (1914) “Effects of geographic conditions upon social realities.” American Journal of Sociology 19: 813–24.Google Scholar
Hayes, E. C. (1915) Introduction to the Study of Sociology. New York: Appleton and Co.Google Scholar
Hayes, E. C. (1927) “Albion Woodbury Small,” in Odum, H. W. (ed.) American Masters of Social Science. New York: Henry Holt and Co.: 149–87.Google Scholar
Hayes, E. C. (1930) Sociology. New York: D. Appleton-Century Co.Google Scholar
House, F. N. (1929) The Range of Social Theory. New York: Holt.Google Scholar
Huntington, E. (1919) World-Power and Evolution. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Huntington, E. (1927) “The forces shaping society: Society and its physical environment,” in Davis, J. and Barnes, H. E. (eds.)An Introduction to Sociology: A Behavioristic Study of American Society. Boston: D.C. Heath and Co.: 189–304.Google Scholar
Huntington, E. (1933) “A neglected tendency in eugenics.” Social Forces 12: 1–9.Google Scholar
James, P. E., and Martin, G. J. (1981) All Possible Worlds: A History of Geographical Ideas. 2d ed. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Kohler, R. E. (2002) Landscapes and Labscapes: Exploring the Lab-Field Border in Biology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Latour, B. (2001) “Gabriel Tarde und das Ende des Sozialen.” Soziale Welt 52: 361–76.Google Scholar
Lee, J. A. (1985) The Environment, Public Health, and Human Ecology: Considerations for Economic Development. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Lindner, R. (1996 [1990]) The Reportage of Urban Culture: Robert Park and the Chicago School. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Luhmann, N. (1989 [1986]) Ecological Communication. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Maines, D. R., Bridger, J. C., and Ulmer, J.T. (1996) “Mythic facts and Park’s pragmatism.” Sociological Quarterly 37: 521–49.Google Scholar
Martell, L. (1994) Ecology and Society: An Introduction. Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
Martin, G. (1981) “Ontography and Davisian physiography,” in Blouet, B. W. (ed.) The Origins of Academic Geography in the United States. Hamden, CT: Archon: 279–89.Google Scholar
Matthews, F. H. (1977) Quest for an American Sociology: Robert E. Park and the Chicago School. Montreal and London: McGill-Queens University Press.Google Scholar
McIntosh, R. P. (1985) The Background of Ecology: Concept and Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
McKenzie, R. D. (1926) “The scope of human ecology.” American Journal of Sociology 32: 141–54.Google Scholar
Mitman, G. (1992) The State of Nature: Ecology, Community, and American Social Thought, 1900–1950. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Moore, B. (1920) “The scope of ecology.”Ecology 1: 3–5.Google Scholar
Norgaard, R. B. (1997) “A coevolutionary environmental sociology,” in Redclift, M. and Woodgate, G. (eds.)The International Handbook of Environmental Sociology. Cheltenham, U.K.: Elgar: 158–68.Google Scholar
Park, R. E. (1918) “Education in its relation to the conflict and fusion of cultures: With special reference to the problems of the immigrant, the Negro, and missions.” Publications of the American Sociological Society 13: 38–63.Google Scholar
Park, R. E. (1921) “Review of Bruhnes and Huntington/Cushing.” American Journal of Sociology 26: 785–86.Google Scholar
Park, R. E. (1926a) “Review of Febvre, de la Blanche, F. Thomas, and Mukerjee.” American Journal of Sociology 32: 486–90.Google Scholar
Park, R. E. (1926b) “The concept of position in sociology.” Publications of the American Sociological Society 20: 1–14.Google Scholar
Park, R. E. (1933) “William Graham Sumner’s conception of society: An interpretation.” Chinese Social and Political Science Review 17: 430–41.Google Scholar
Park, R. E. (1936a) “Human ecology.”American Journal of Sociology 42: 1–15.Google Scholar
Park, R. E. (1936b) “Succession: An ecological concept.” American Sociological Review 1: 171–79.Google Scholar
Park, R. E. (1939) “Symbiosis and socialization: A frame of reference for the study of society.” American Journal of Sociology 45: 1–25.Google Scholar
Park, R. E., and Burgess, E. W. (1972 [1921])Introduction to the Science of Sociology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Parmelee, M. (1911) “Discussion.”American Journal of Sociology 16: 638.Google Scholar
Parry, C. E. (1911) “Discussion.”American Journal of Sociology 16: 636–38.Google Scholar
Pattison, W. D. (1978) “Goode’s proposal of 1902: An interpretation.” Professional Geographer 30: 3–8.Google Scholar
Pattison, W. D. (1981) “Rollin Salisbury and the establishment of geography at the University of Chicago,” in Blouet, B. W. (ed.) The Origins of Academic Geography in the United States. Hamden, CT: Archon: 151–63.Google Scholar
Quinn, J. (1939) “The nature of human ecology: Re-examination and redefinition.” American Journal of Sociology 45: 161–81.Google Scholar
Raushenbush, W. (1979) Robert E. Park: Biography of a Sociologist. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Ross, E. A. (1911) “Discussion.”American Journal of Sociology 16: 641.Google Scholar
Schnore, L. F. (1961a) “The myth of human ecology.” Sociological Inquiry 31: 128–39.Google Scholar
Schnore, L. F. (1961b) “Geography and human ecology.” Economic Geography 37: 207–17.Google Scholar
Semple, E. C. (1911) Influences of Geographic Environment. New York: Henry Holt and Co.Google Scholar
Shore, M. (1987) The Science of Social Redemption: McGill, the Chicago School, and the Origins of Social Research in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Small, A. W. (1895) “The era of sociology.” American Journal of Sociology 1: 1–17.Google Scholar
Small, A. W. (1905) General Sociology: An Exposition of the Main Development in Sociological Theory from Spencer to Ratzenhofer. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Small, A. W. (1906) “The relation between sociology and other sciences.” American Journal of Sociology 12: 11–31.Google Scholar
Small, A. W. (1911) “Discussion.” American Journal of Sociology 16: 639–41.Google Scholar
Small, A. W. (1924) Origins of Sociology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Small, A. W., and Vincent, G. E. (1894) An Introduction to the Study of Society. New York: American Book Co.Google Scholar
Theodorson, G. A. (1958) “Human ecology and human geography,” in Roucek, J. S. (ed.) Contemporary Sociology. New York: Philosophical Library: 339–57.Google Scholar
Thompson, W. E., and Hickey, H. V. (1996)Society in Focus: Introduction to Sociology. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.Google Scholar
Tobey, R. C. (1981) Saving the Prairies: The Life Cycle of the Founding School of American Plant Ecology, 1895–1955. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Vincent, G. E. (1906) “Varieties of sociology.” American Journal of Sociology 12: 1–10.Google Scholar
Warming, J. E. B. (1918 [1895]) Lehrbuch derökologischen Pflanzengeographie: Eine Einführung in die Kenntnis der Pflanzenvereine. Berlin: Borntraeger.Google Scholar
Windelband, W. (1900 [1894]) Geschichte und Naturwissenschaft. Strasbourg: Heitz and Mündel.Google Scholar