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History of the Department
Sociology became a recognized academic discipline in the United States
in the 1890s. The first department of sociology was established at the
University of Chicago in 1892. During a time of rapid industrialization,
massive immigration, and sustained growth of cities, sociology emerged
as a broad "practical" field of study that focused heavily on
social problems and social reform.
John R. Commons in the Department of Political Science and Sociology
taught the first sociology course at Oberlin in 1891. An 1888 graduate
of the College, he later became an eminent institutional economist at
the University of Wisconsin.
W. I. Thomas, a professor in the English Department for four years, was,
in 1894, the first person to hold the title, Professor of Sociology. He
went on to the University of Chicago to become a well-known scholar in
sociology.
Some of the sociology courses taught during those early years were entitled:
Christian Sociology, Historical Sociology, Practical Sociology--Criminology,
Practical Sociology--Charities; and Socialism and Social Reform.The College
established a Department of Economics and Sociology in 1910, with majors
possible in either division. Sociology courses were listed separately
in 1914, but it is not clear when a separate department was established.
The sociology curriculum began to take on a more contemporary form with
the introduction of courses such as Social Organization, Representative
Theories of Sociology, Race Problems, and The Immigrant.
In the 1920s, Newell L. Sims introduced courses in anthropology, a subject
that had not been taught at the College for some years. By 1937, the Department
of Sociology consisted of three full-time faculties. While they gave some
attention to anthropology, their courses were primarily sociological in
character. A pivotal change occurred in 1944, when the College, seeking
to strengthen the department and give it a new direction, appointed Loren
Eiseley, a noted anthropologist, as chairman. By the time of his departure
three years later, he had greatly strengthened the anthropology curriculum
and changed the name of the department to Sociology and Anthropology.
An era of consolidation and growth began in 1947, when all three members
of the department were newly appointed. Richard R. Myers was a specialist
in industrial sociology, and George E. Simpson, the chairman, and J. Milton
Yinger were trained in sociology and anthropology. Building upon the foundation
laid by Eiseley, they began greatly to enrich the curriculum and to bring
the two disciplines into an integrated program of studies with a single
major. With increased student enrollments, the size of the department
expanded steadily, reaching eight faculties-five sociologists and three
anthropologists-by 1969. This increase in faculty size made it possible
to build the curriculum into a richly diversified and comprehensive one.
For several decades the department has been notable for the vigorous
research activities and scholarship of its faculty, a number of who have
gained national and international reputations for the scholarly and professional
accomplishments. After flourishing for over forty years as a Department
of Sociology and Anthropology, the anthropologists, for professional reasons,
petitioned to break away and form their own department. Thus it happened
that in 1987 the Department of Sociology was reinstituted, this time as
a five-person unit.
The curriculum of the Department of Sociology incorporates major specialties
in the field of sociology, and emphasizes comparative, international,
and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of society. Members
of the department are dedicated to maintaining high standards and
creativity in teaching, course development, and scholarship, which
is the essence of the proud heritage of one hundred years of sociology
at Oberlin College.
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