LSE Sociology and Its Associated Institutions

Abstract

Even if these words were spoken merely by a parrot, it was a parrot whose longevity – it was purportedly two hundred years old – ensured that it had seen and experienced much; LSE Sociology as the first university-level teacher of its subject in the UK, even if not quite as old as the aforementioned parrot, has also experienced much and, during its existence, it necessarily accumulated more attachments and associations than later university departments teaching the subject. There are a number of institutions, organizations and activities that, in various ways, were associated with Sociology at the School from its early days and onwards. There were also a number of initiatives that arose from LSE Sociology. This chapter gives sketches of the more important examples and considers each in turn. Because these are very disparate in character and associated with different time periods, this assemblage of descriptions has a somewhat mixed character.

‘And the parrot would say, with great rapidity, ‘Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!’

Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, Chapter 10

Appendix 1: ‘… et cetera’

Over a period of more than a hundred years, LSE Sociology and its members will naturally have been involved in, or have participated in, a large number of activities and organizations peripheral to, but associated with, the Department or the discipline. This chapter has focused only on those that were seen as most important or that left some longer-term effect on the Department. However, several of the more peripheral ones also deserve at least a mention.

• (i) The Sociological Society

The Sociological Society, founded in 1903 with James Martin White as its Treasurer for more than twenty years, had important early links with sociology teachers at LSE, who were all members at its outset. The initial Sociological Papers and then the Sociological Review published material by Westermarck and Hobhouse , though there was a later froideur and Hobhouse for one withdrew from this initiative. Years later, the British Sociological Association, founded in 1951 with the involvement of several LSE staff, was also closely associated with the Department in its early days. It retained an office based at LSE into the early 1990s before a final departure and its move to Durham when Anne Dix retired.

• (ii) The Board of Studies in Sociology of the University of London

LSE, as a constituent college of the University of London, was for most of its history subject to the latter’s authority over its curriculum and even the titles of its doctoral theses. The body handling this authority was the Board of Studies in Sociology and, in the early years, this was a large and variegated body comprising rather few sociologists and a good many other types of member, whose status for membership might be considered questionable. Some members were academics of cognate or near-cognate subjects but others are more to be regarded as outsiders, including James Martin White as a financial sponsor of the University of London and Victor Branford representing the Sociological Society.

• (iii) The Sociology Club

In 1923 Sociology established a Sociology Club, modelled on the Economic Club founded in the 1890s. In the early days the Sociology Club held regular evening seminars with paper presentations by local luminaries, preceded by dinner, and it continued, albeit increasingly informally and with fewer meetings, into the 1960s. Its membership was originally surprisingly restricted, with new admissions arising only from members leaving, but membership terms were later relaxed, though never to the extent of admitting students.

• (iv) University of London’s External and Extension Programmes

Sociology had other connections to the wider University of London, in particular the participation of staff members in its External and Extension programmes. The former involved the oversight of sociology teaching at affiliated institutions in this country and abroad; indeed, as revealed in Chapter 4, LSE Sociology had sole responsibility for preparing the teachers’ guide for the BA/BSc sociology external degree of the University of London. The latter programme involved doing often short-term evening teaching in the further parts of the metropolis.

• (v) Publishing Initiatives Associated with LSE Sociology

Besides the Sociological Papers and the Sociological Review, LSE Sociology, largely with the support of James Martin White, was associated with various early publishing initiatives. With the benefit of White’s money, such works as Wheeler’s The tribe, and interracial relations in Australia (Wheeler 1910) were published. In the post-war period the Department was associated with the European Journal of Sociology, from the mid-1960s, with Bottomore and Gellner on the editorial board, until the mid-1980s. Also, of course, there was the British Journal of Sociology, founded by the Department in 1950.

• (vi) Minor Lecture Series

Above was discussed the legacy of Leonard Hobhouse in the Hobhouse Memorial Trust, which funded the annual Hobhouse Memorial Prize but also a series of lectures, initially held annually in a circulating network of London colleges, including LSE. However, there were other, less established lecture series, such as the Auguste Comte Memorial Trust lectures and later the David Glass Lectures on Social Trends (which briefly also included the name of Ruth Glass shortly after her death, though that practice later lapsed). Not all the lecturers of both series have been identified, and those known are listed in Tables W8.2 and W8.3.

• (vii) Centre for Sociological Research

In this chapter above were discussed the Sociological Research Unit and the Social Research Division but, less known about was an attempt initially by Gellner in 1964 to establish a unit to be called the Centre for Sociological Research, funded by the School. Various members of the Department were involved in seeking to take this forward inside the School through the School’s Research Committee, but the initiative faltered, partly because the School administration was suspicious throughout, seeing it as an attempt at an inappropriate grab for School resources beyond those available in the Social Research Division. Perhaps Gellner was seeking a degree of personal removal from the Department while MacRae was convener.

• (viii) Jewish Journal of Sociology and a Research Studentship in Jewish Sociology

A more recherché issue associated with LSE Sociology was the Jewish Journal of Sociology, associated because of Ginsberg , who had co-founded it Maurice Freedman in 1959. Because of that link, the School was requested by Ginsberg in 1963 to administer a Research Studentship in Jewish Sociology, funded by the World Jewish Congress. This was agreed, although the School was apparently nervous about it and wanted the appointment of the Fellow to be advertised as open to all, lest the scheme should attract criticism for being ethnically or religiously exclusive. As it was, an appointment was made, and research was done and published, though no later appointments of such restricted character have been identified.