Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the theory developed by the Chicago School of Sociology. It explains how the tradition of the Chicago School ‘affirmed itself’. The book also examines the theoretical richness of the Chicago School’s contributions to the themes of ethnicity and nationality, while also conducting interesting discussion of the sentiment of territorial belonging. It explores the methodological pluralism of the Chicago School, and shows that from the outset sociology endeavoured to be a full-fledged empirical science, seeking to equip itself with methodology able to accumulate knowledge and consonant with the complexity of its field of inquiry. The book highlights how the Chicago ‘laboratory’ enabled sociology, born to account for social facts, to acquire its status as a legitimate science through the interpretation of numerous and diverse social phenomena.