The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America Chapter Summary & Analysis - Part 4, Chapter 12 Chicago, Section 3 Summary

Part 4, Chapter 12 Chicago, Section 3 Summary

Many people in higher education believed that the Pullman Strike started "the social organism thinking" about the different aspects of society. This was shown with a change in views of the professional class from social Darwinism to social welfare.

Sociology was growing into a scientific field of its own. Dewey brought George Herbert Mead, a sociology professor, with him to University of Chicago. There were several others, along with Mead, that challenged and revised Dewey's view of society.

The first President of the University of Chicago was William Rainey Harper, and just like Gillman, he went to other universities and colleges to get his faculty. He did not agree with the attitude after the end of laissez-faire, but he did acknowledge it with the creation of a sociology department. However, professors in this department had to be careful about what they said. If Harper did not like something they said...
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