1 comments about Work and Academic Politics: A Journeyman's Story.

1. This is a vanity book.
   
   Some autobiographers devise fantasies that unwittingly divulge facts. In this autobiographical Work and Academic Politics, William H. Form devises the fantasy that academic sociology is a mediaeval guild. A guild is a kind of trade association in old Europe that enforced a trade monopoly and opposed nontraditional technologies. The unintentionally divulged fact is that sociology is merely an academic trade association operating like a guild instead of a science.
   
   Form is not the only sociologist to use the metaphor of the guild, although he is the only one to my knowledge to employ it approvingly. In the "Introduction" to their book, Sociology on Trial, Maurice Stein and Arthur Vidich say that sociologists form professional associations organized to perform the classical functions of a guild - regulation of admission, monopolization of employment opportunity, control and expansion of marketing, and the development of occult terminologies - with the result that the task of sociology gets lost. Form's book amounts to a confession of guilt in sociology's trial.
   
   As a nonsociologist let me submit the following brief as an amicus curiae in this trial: I speak as a witness from personal experience. In 1981 I had submitted a paper to the American Sociological Review, the official journal of the American Sociological Association, while Form was editor. The paper set forth a dynamic model estimated statistically over fifty years of sociologically relevant historical data collected by U.S. government, and developed mechanically with an artificial-intelligence discovery system. In simulations the model exhibited damped oscillations converging in a stable equilibrium growth path, which is due to intergenerational negative-feedback cultural lags among the interacting social institutions. It shows empirically that the five basic institutions of our macrosociety interact to promote macrosocial consensus stability, if per capita real gross domestic product grows at four percent or more annually, and if internal migration is unrestricted so the labor force can exploit economic opportunities.
   
   Form rejected the paper with two referee criticisms. The first showed abysmal ignorance of academic philosophy of science. The second stated that the paper did not reflect sociology's traditions and called it an "empiricist venture". I submitted replies, to which Form responded citing his "folkways". In his Work and Academic Politics Form summarizes his own alternative "organizational approach" to institutional analysis, which exhibits no empirical modeling.
   
   I believe that Form's indulging in his Mediaeval guild fantasy while editor of the American Sociological Review has had a debilitating effect on American academic sociology's information pool comparable to that of incest on the gene pool of a small isolated aboriginal tribe. It has produced a sterile monoculture. Sociological thought is inbred and conformist. Academic sociologists need remedial education in mathematics, statistics, computer systems, and most importantly philosophy of science. I believe that this book is too self-serving to be interesting even to historians of sociology. In fact I believe that it is worthless. The sociologist reader would benefit more from an undergraduate course in philosophy of science.
   
   Readers interested in my further comments are invited to read my book titled History of Twentieth-Century Philosophy of Science at my web site philsci, and to read my other reviews on the Amazon web site.
   
   Thomas J. Hickey

No comments about Dollars for Scholars: The Autobiography of Dr. Irving A. Fradkin, Founder of Citizens' Scholarship Foundation of America, Inc.

No comments about Foreign Adventures.

No comments about Jessie Bernard: The Making of a Feminist.

5 comments about Twenty Years at Hull-House (Signet Classics).

1. A well written book but a littany of "look at what I did for the less fortunate" Jane Adams clearly brings out the fact that she was of the upper class and so much better than those she sought to help. Her goal it seems was to bring high society upper middle class values to the poor. She rarely talks about others who had to be involved. If it did not include her she was not interested in reporting. She also failed to show that she actually helped anyone better thier lives. She just crows about how she brought literature and art to the poor masses.



2. Along with Addams herself, "Twenty Years At Hull-House" inspired generations of US social and political activists. For decades a Hull House sojourn, or at least a visit, was virtually a pilgrimage for all kinds of progressive reformers. Jane Addams came from a conventional Middle American milieu, but was radicalized by seeing the ravages of the Industrial Revolution both in Britain and Chicago. This timeless memoir of the years 1889-1909 documents her wide-ranging concerns, embracing public health, pacifism and feminism as well as philanthropy, working-class education and poverty alleviation. Nationalist hysteria damaged Addams's reputation as a result of her antiwar stance during World War I, but it recovered enough for her to win the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize. Students had mixed views of book and author. To some she is a revelation, but others see her as rather sanctimonious (a fair criticism to some extent). Her prose is accessible but a little archaic now, sometimes appearing flowery or pompous, which deters some readers. While I respect and admire Addams, I waited in vain for the epiphany felt by thousands inspired by her life's work. People who find their own way to "Hull-House" will probably appreciate her more than those required to read her book---but such unsought exposure lies at the heart of liberal education, and brings many rewards.



3. In 1911 Addams helped found the National Foundation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers, and she was its first president. She was also a leader in women's suffrage and pacifist movements. In 1915 she helped found the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She received the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize (shared with American educator Nicholas Murray Butler).
   
   The Hull House could boast a group of about 2,000 people a week. It had facilities including: a night school for adults, kindergarten classes, clubs for older children, a public kitchen, an art gallery, a coffeehouse, a gymnasium, a girls club, a swimming pool, a book bindery, a music school, a drama group, a library, and labor related divisions.
   
   The Hull House also served as a women's institution of sociology and Addams was a friend and colleague to the early men of the Chicago School of Sociology influencing their social thought of the time through her work in applied sociology, which became defined as social work by academic sociologists of the time. Addams did not, however, consider herself a social worker. She co-authored the Hull-House Maps and Papers in 1893 that came to define the interests and methodologies of Chicago Sociology. She worked with George H. Mead on social reform issues including women's rights and the 1910 Garment Workers' Strike. Addams combined the central concepts of symbolic interactionism with the theories of cultural feminism and pragmatism to form her sociological ideas.



4. I am doing a History Fair project on the Hull House. I thought that I would just be quickly skimming over the book, but in fact i really enjoyed it and I ended up reading with a lot of intrest.



5. I enjoy reading about strong women with great vision. I also enjoy this particular period in history, so this was a perfect match for me. I would love to have been part of the Plato club, or study cooking, or sewing, or heard concerts throughout the week. I sometimes think we have so much going on in our lives right now that we don't take the time to slow down and cherish the simple things. This book did that for me. It made me want to study and focus on things. I know we have tons of technology available to us, but I wish we would still discuss philosophy, and I wish more people would read - I mean, really read. Not just the top twenty things out there. But times are different...

4 comments about Return to Chewelah: A Story of Innocence and Loss.

1. A fantastic true story of young love in Seattle, a diabling accident, courage and perseverance in her struggle to regain a normal life. I met this young woman in Chewelah shortly after her accident. She came to the ski area I managed in her wheelchair looking for a job, which was near impossible to imagine. Recently I discovered her book on a flight to South America and stayed up all night to finish it. Now I have reread it twice more and have traveled to Seattle to meet her. She is an amazing woman.



2. "A tour to the pits of loss and chaos, a Christopher Reeve injury story with Woodstock players. Brutally frank, disturbingly explicit,more than you really want to know. Chewelah is the lone touchstone for some peace and a measure of healing and acceptance and remembrance of things past and longed for. Told from the heart with a sense of anger, frustration, hurt, resentment, some understanding and love." John Dawson M.D.- general surgeon



3. "A Seattle woman pens a brutally honest memoir about her difficult recovery after a riding accident leaves her paralyzed, including criticisms about the rehab treatment she received" Seattle Post-Intelligencer



4. I loved this book. Anyone who has ever appreciated the freedom of the country, or felt the captivity of quadriplegia or other diseases would love this book. Janet's brutal honesty & revealing nature was refreshing. It was one book that I had to read cover to cover without putting it down.

No comments about G.H. Mead: A Critical Introduction.

1 comments about Chicago Days / Hoboken Nights.

1. Daniel Pinkwater is noteworthy in many respects, but what fascinates me most is the way in which he manages to be brilliant, moving, and profound without ever accentuating the negative. This autobiographical collection of brief, bite-size narratives (perfect for bedtime, the bathroom, or the ten-minute break at work) chronicles Pinkwater's development as an artist/writer, and gives the reader the opportunity to enjoy the world through the eyes of a funny, intelligent man who truly loves life. This is a non-fiction, non-children's book by a children's author.

No comments about A Man's Grasp Should Exceed His Reach: A Biography of Sociologist Austin Larimore Porterfield.

No comments about Max Weber.