"Please Don't Think of Me as a Sociologist": Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge and the Early Chicago School

• Published in: The American sociologist Vol. 36; no. 1; pp. 3 - 22
• Main Author: Coghlan, Catherine L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Secaucus, NJ Transaction Periodicals Consortium 01-04-2005; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Academic discipline; Autobiographies; Autumn; Biographies; Breckinridge, Sophonisba Preston; Case studies; Chicago School; Chicago School of Sociology; Equal opportunities; Family papers; Fathers; Females; Feminism; Frustration; Gender studies; History and organization of sociology; History of Sociology; History, theory and methodology; Intellectuals; Men; Organization of profession, research and teaching. Deontology. Sociology of sociology. Epistemology; Political economy; Scholarship; Sexism; Social inequality; Social work; Sociological theory; Sociologists; Sociology; U.S.A; Winter; Women; Women's movements; Womens History; Intellectual biography; Chicago School of Sociology; Woman; Sociologist
• ISSN: 0003-1232; 1936-4784
• DOI: 10.1007/s12108-005-1007-z

There has been a concerted effort in the last three decades to identify early female sociologists and to add or restore their works to the sociological canon. This effort has generated a substantial body of work, much of which examines the relationship between the women and men of the Chicago School in its early years (1892–1920). Two primary assumptions about this relationship have emerged over the years: (1) the women were frustrated sociologists; frustrated by a lack of acceptance in the discipline and a department run by men; and (2) the women were displaced sociologists, forced out of the discipline by the men into disciplines such as household administration and social work. This paper examines these assumptions through a case study of the life and work of Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge. Breckinridge is among those characterized by the literature as a frustrated and displaced sociologist, but Breckinridge's own words to a friend, "Please don't think of me as a sociologist," suggest that this was not always the case.