The Social Distance Scale, Emory S. Bogardus and Californian Interwar Migration Research Offside the Chicago School

Abstract

This paper investigates the Social Distance Scale as a method to measure the degree of resentment towards immigrant groups invented by the University of Southern California sociologist Emory S. Bogardus. It asks why it is the only theory emerging from the orbit of the Chicago School still in use today. First, it looks at how Bogardus’s research environment in Los Angeles differed from that of his mentor Robert E. Park in Chicago. Then, it examines how Bogardus’s involvement with the Methodist All Nations Foundation influenced his conceptualisation of social distance. Third, it asks how this approach differed methodologically from the Chicago School’s Assimilation Theory. It concludes that the reciprocal relationship between Bogardus’s research and his social involvement caused him to dissolve the scale from spatial and temporal settings and create a theory that became universally applicable.

Social Cohesion: A Conceptual Framework

“…Çeşitli etnik grupların toplum içinde ne kadar kabul edildiği ya da reddedildiğine ilişkin bir göstergedir (Weaver, 2008, s. 779-780). Etnik gruplararası ilişkilerin ele alındığı çalışmalarda ve göçmenlerle yerel toplum arası ilişkilerin ele alındığı çalışmalarda sosyal mesafe kavramından yaygın olarak faydalanıldığı görülmektedir (Fossett, 2006;Hagendoorn, 1995;Roesch, 2015;Verkuyten ve Kinket, 2000;Weaver, 2008).…”

A temporal perspective to empirically investigate the concept of social distance

“…It should be noted that the state of California, where Bogardus had his first professorship, was indeed brutal toward the second wave of migration, especially of Japanese origin(Roesch 2015).4 It is well known that Park was a student underSimmel. 5 Beginning in 1977, after Bogardus' death, the survey was administered again byCarolyn Owen, Howard Eisner and Thomas McFaul (1977).…”