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Paul F. Lazarsfeld and the history of empirical social research
Author(s) -
Oberschall Anthony
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
journal of the history of the behavioral sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.216
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1520-6696
pISSN - 0022-5061
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6696(197807)14:3<199::aid-jhbs2300140302>3.0.co;2-h
Subject(s) - empirical research , social research , sociology , social history (medicine) , social science , comparative historical research , epistemology , philosophy , medicine , surgery
Paul F. Lazarsfeld had a longstanding interest in the history of empirical social research which dated back to his Vienna years in the 1920s. This interest was reactivated in 1959 when he developed a loosely structured research program on the history of social research centered on seminars at both Columbia University and the Sorbonne. He hoped to complement the standard histories of sociology that dwell exclusively on social theory with the history of the other, equally important, empirical roots of the discipline. Lazarsfeld thought that institutional support for social research would be more readily forthcoming if the long and interesting history of empirical sociology became better known.