The Foundations of an American Discipline: Edward A. Ross' Intellectual Work at the University of Nebraska, 1901-1906

Abstract

Edward Alsworth Ross (1866-1951) was appointed Professor of Sociology at the University of Nebraska during the spring of 1901, after being curtly dismissed from Stanford University the previous December in a controversial freedom of speech case (cf., Weinberg 1972). Ross was the first Professor of Sociology, per se, at Nebraska. During the five years (1901-1906) he taught at Nebraska, Ross' publications instrumentally shaped the character of the new discipline of sociology in the United States. On the basis of his scholarly work at Nebraska, Ross became recognized as one of the foremost American sociologists of the twentieth century," This paper reviews the interpretive context of Ross' Nebraska work and surveys the major intellectual contributions of his monographs from this period.