ABSTRACT
Social amelioration was the central core and thrust of the early Chicago School. It was the raison d’être of its existence and work. This devotion to society and its liberation has been generally interpreted as an embarrassing mistake by its successors, particularly the Chicago sociologists who followed in the 1920s. The founders were fervent advocates of a sound community based on social justice and they were generally replaced by “disinterested” statisticians, bureaucrats, and people who “studied” but did not “make” policy.
