Early American Sociology and the Holocaust: The Failure of a Discipline

Abstract

American sociology, established as an academic discipline in 1905, passed through two early developmental stages, Christian reformism and sociological positivism, together forming the basis for what was taught and researched in the academy. Topics not fitting this religious and positivistic paradigm were dismissed by the leaders of the discipline. Included among the neglected topics was the Holocaust, the paradigmatic genocide of the twentieth century. Permeated with religious ideology and anti-Semitism, American sociology as practiced in the leading universities in the United States institutionalized a professional milieu that precluded recognition of the Holocaust, even after World War II. Drawing upon archival materials, previously published sources, and interviews with professor emeriti who lived through the earlier era, I document the failings of a discipline in this important area of sociological inquiry.