Images of Inequality in Early Canadian Sociology, 1922-1965

Type of resource
Author/collaborator
Title
Images of Inequality in Early Canadian Sociology, 1922-1965
Abstract
A description and critique of the "images of inequality" -- the theories of class and power -- in the writings of four of Canada's most important pioneer sociologists: Carl Dawson, Everett Hughes, S.D. Clark and John Porter. Carl Dawson established the Department of Sociology at McGill University in 1922 and servers as its chairperson until 1952. Everett Hughes joined McGill's Department of Sociology in 1927 and taught there until 1938. The author notes that Dawson's image of inequality draws heavily on the organicism of Chicago human ecology and functionalism to portray social inequality as at one and the same time a Social Darwinian struggle for survival amongst individuals and a systemic adaptive response to ecological conditions. Hughes' image, very similar to Dawson's, improved on it by employing some elements of Weber's work and by explicitly analyzing patterns of corporate ownership and control. S. D. Clark's image, best regarded as a form of frontier egalitarianism, draws its inspiration from Innis' staple thesis, Turner's frontier thesis and functionalism. The author explains that Porter's famous work is included in his analysis because it constitutes as much a culmination of trends from the early period as it does a breakthrough into the modern ear of "stratification" research.
Type
PhD dissertation
University
University of Toronto
Place
Toronto, ON
Date
1985
# of Pages
[15]-810p.
Language
en
Citation
Helmes-Hayes, Richard Charles. “Images of Inequality in Early Canadian Sociology, 1922-1965.” PhD dissertation, University of Toronto, 1985.
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