Kimball Young on Founders of the Chicago School

Abstract

Editors' Introduction: In 1968, former president of the American Sociological Association Kimball Young (1893–1972) gave a seminar at Arizona State University that was attended by both editors. The sessions were taped, for it was Young's intention to organize the tapes into a book that would document his life as a sociologist, a book to be called Man in Transition. From these materials a first chapter has emerged that is Young's account of his experiences as a graduate student at the University of Chicago (1917–1919) as the Chicago School was evolving in the Department of Sociology. The editors' intention is to preserve the candid flavor of Young's storytelling. This candor sometimes has resulted in controversy as he cast his critical eye upon members of the sociological profession, a profession he participated in with remarkable vigor and enthusiasm.