Harvard''s Quixotic Pursuit of a New Science - The Rise and Fall of the Department of Social Relations

Famed sociologist Talcott Parsons led some of the most renowned social scientists of the twentieth century to establish a new department for an interdisciplinary science at Harvard. This is a fascinating instructive tale of hubris, ego, and academic politics overlaid on Parsons's obsessive quest for an all-encompassing theory of social behavior.

List of contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1Freud Arrives at Harvard: Disrupting the Disciplines
Chapter 2Word War II Changes Everything: Interdisciplinary Research Emerges
Chapter 3The Founding of the Department of Social Relations: A Determined Dean Acts
Chapter 4The First Five Years: A Golden Age but Integration Proves Elusive
Chapter 5The 1950s: A Decade of Disunity and Disappointment
Chapter 6The 1960s: Drugs and Departmental Drift
Chapter 7The Final Unraveling: Soc Rel 148-149 Disrupts and Sociology Departs
Chapter 8Conclusion and Summary
Index

About the author

By Patrick L. Schmidt

Product details

• Authors: Patrick L Schmidt, Patrick L. Schmidt
• Publisher: Rowman and Littlefield
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.07.2022
• EAN: 9781538168295
• ISBN: 978-1-5381-6829-5
• No. of pages: 264
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Psychology > Theoretical psychology; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; USA, POLITICAL SCIENCE / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General, PSYCHOLOGY / Research & Methodology, History of Education, Social, group or collective psychology, United States of America, USA, universities, Higher education, tertiary education