Reflections on Method in Interwar American Sociology

Abstract

The article provides a historical contextualization of the debates on theory and method within interwar American sociology. This period is often portrayed as the “golden” age of empirical inquiry resulting in proliferation of methodological orientations. It is argued that the demands of professionalization and specialization within the discipline produced a research model which succeeded in analyzing specific issues, but failed to find (in the context of the “crisis” and “disruption” of American society) a convincing answer to the general question of the logic of society’s development.