Those "Other Sociologists": Social Analysis Before Sociology

Abstract

How did commentators conceive of sociological concerns before university sociology was established in New Zealand? Most of us have heard of Somerset’s Littledene from 1938, and there has been some publicity given to the short‐lived Social Science Research Bureau which existed at the same time, but what else was there? Here I argue that social analysis took form in a range of other interesting and under‐appreciated locations. When we trawl through the repositories of New Zealand’s cultural production, we notice that some of the key themes of sociology – social order, social change, the state, gender relations, demography and citizenship – turn up in unexpected places. Social workers, psychologists, educationalists and literary commentators had plenty to say, as did those involved in architectural criticism and the wartime Army Education and Welfare Service. This article surveys the field, and concentrates on these last two elements in particular. It argues that New Zealand was not without its “other sociologists”; those who theorized society from a diverse range of locations in our country’s intellectual life.