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L'étrange carrière de la notion de classe sociale dans la tradition de Chicago en sociologie

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Jean-Michel Chapoulie
Jean-Michel Chapoulie
Affiliation:
École normale supérieure, (Fontenay-aux-Roses).
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Abstract

The article examines the different uses made of the concept of social class by researchers of the Chicago School between the turn of the century and the 1940s. The concept of social class is found in Small and Cooley, rarely referred to by Park, and not found at all in the urban sociology work he inspired in the 1920s (Shaw and McKay, etc.) However it reappears in the work on race relations at the end of the 1930s (Frazier, Hughes). Substitutes were introduced in the 1920s to explain internal differentiation within American cities. The spread of new methods of documentation favoured its reappearance in social-political and scientific contexts at the end of the 1930s. This example suggests that an order of phenomena which aims to explain a concept like social class—which is both a scientific and a lay person's concept—can only be ignored for a short time by a program of empirical research. The conclusion stresses the heterogeneity of factors which take into account the transmission and non-transmission of this type of idea from one generation of sociological researchers to another.

L'article examine les differents usages du concept de classe sociale par les chercheurs de la tradi rion de Chicago entre le début du siècle et ies années quarante.

Présente chez Small et Cooley, la notion de classe sociale ne se trouve que rarement chez Park et pas du tout dans les travaux de sociologie urbaine qu'il a inspirées au cours des années vingt (Shaw et McKay, etc.) mais réapparaît dans les travaux sur les relations de races de la fin des années trente (Frazier, Hughes). Des subsrituts ont été introduits pour saisir, dans les années vingt, la différentiation interne à la population des villes américaines. La diffusion de nouvelles méthodes de documentation a favorisé sa réapparition dans le contexte socio-politique et scientifique de la fin des années trente.

Cet exemple suggère qu'un ordre de phénomènes que vise à saisir une notion comme celle de classe sociale — à la fois notion savante et folk-concept — peut difficilement être durablement laissé de côté par un programme de recherche empirique. La conclusion souligne l'hétérogénéité des facteurs qui rendent compte de la transmission et de la nontransmission de ce type de notion d'une génération de chercheurs en sociologie à l'autre.

Dieser Aufstatz untersucht, in welcher Form die Wissenschaftler der Chicagoer Tradition den Begriff der sozialen Klasse verwandt haben. Der Untersuchungszeitraum erstreckt sich von der Jahrhundertwende bis in die 1940er Jahre.

Der Begriff der sozialen Klasse taucht bei Small und Cooley auf, Park verwendet ihn selten und er fehlt gänzlich in den von ihm provozierten Arbeiten der 192oer Jahre über urbane Soziologie (Shaw und McKay, etc.). In den Studien der 193oer Jahre über die Rassenbeziehungen wird er aber wieder eingeführt (Frazier, Hughes), Im Laufe der 2oer Jahren waren Ersatzbegriffe gefunden worden, um die internen Unterscheidungsmerkmale der amerikanischen Stadtbevölkerung zu umschreiben. Die Verbreitung neuer Dokumentationsmethoden hat seine Wiedereinführung im Rahmen des sozialpolitischen und wissenschaftlichen Kontextes der späten 30er Jahre erlaubt.

Dieses Beispiel zeigt, dass eine Erscheinungsform, die ein Begriff wie der der sozialen Klasse — sowohl wissenschaftlich als auch volkstümlich — erfassen soll, nur schwer von einem empirischen Forschungsprogramm vernächlässigt werden kann. Die Schlussfolgerung unterstreicht die Heterogenität jener Faktoren, die von der Übernahme und der Ablehnung dieses Gattungsbegriffs von einer Forschergeneration zur anderen im Fach Soziologie zeugen.

Type
Research Article
Information
European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , May 2000 , pp. 53 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © Archives Européenes de Sociology 2000

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