Research topics

One of the reasons for the exclusion of women from the history of the Chicago School may be related to focus of their research. Topics which are currently part of sociology, and were legitimate topics in the 1890-1920 period, were not regarded as sociological between 1920 and 1980. For example, Annie Marion McLean (1899/1998) studied, by participant observation, women’s work in the new department stores. Florence Kelley (1899/1998) studied the Consumers’ League. Both these topics fit perfectly into contemporary sociology, which sees consumption as an important focus of attention (Lury, 1997). Frances Kellor (1900/1998) studied women criminals, again, a topic acceptable today. Yet neither consumption nor women criminals were sociologi­cally fashionable topics between 1920 and 1980. Marion Talbot’s (1910/1998) analysis of the educational system for women in the USA deals with issues in education that would fit any contemporary analy­sis of gender and education.