Edith Abbott

Edith Abbott

Edith Abbott (born September 26, 1876 in Grand Island , Nebraska , † July 28, 1957 ) was an American social scientist and social reformer .

Life

Edith Abbott studied at the University of Chicago economics and in 1905 a doctorate . At the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy she became an assistant to Sophonisba Breckinridge in 1908 . She and her sister Grace moved into the Hull House charity founded by Jane Addams in the 1880s . Both sisters were convinced that not only the humiliating poor laws should be abolished, but poverty itself.

After completing her PhD, Abbott went on a European tour and spent time at the London School of Economics . There she met Beatrice and Sidney Webb and their ideas.

In the 1920s, the School of Civics and Philanthropy was incorporated into the University of Chicago and was henceforth called the School of Social Service Administration . Edith Abbott became dean of the school and held this position from 1924 to 1942. In this role, she not only trained future social workers practically, but also imparted basic university knowledge in political science , economics , law , medicine , psychology and sociology . The social workers trained in this way, she was convinced, could not only treat the symptoms of society, but would also have the skills to make scientifically based suggestions for improvement to those in power.

Edith Abbott founded the social science journal Social Service Review in 1927 with Breckinridge and her sister Grace .

Edith Abbott retired from work in 1953 at the age of 76, but continued to work as the editor of the Social Service Review . She died of pneumonia in 1957 .

Fonts (selection)

• Women in industry: a study in American economic history . D. Appleton and Company, New York 1910.
• The real jail problem . Hale Crossley printing co., Chicago 1915.
• Democracy and social progress in England . The University of Chicago press, Chicago 1918.
• Historical aspects of the immigration problem . The University of Chicago press, Chicago 1926.
• Social welfare and professional education . The University of Chicago press, Chicago 1931.
• The Tenements of Chicago 1908-1935. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1936.
• Public assistance. American principles and policies. Russell & Russell, New York 1966.

literature

• Lela B. Costin: Two Sisters for Social Justice: A Biography of Grace and Edith Abbott. University of Illinois Press, 2003, ISBN 0-252-07155-7 .
• P. Kerr: Abbott, Edith (1876-1957). In: John Eatwell, Murray Milgate and Peter Newman (Eds.): The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. 1st edition. Palgrave Macmillan 1987, doi : 10.1057 / 9780230226203.1851 (currently unavailable) (online edition).

Web links

• Edith Abbott. In: FemBio. Women's biography research (with references and citations).
• Abbott, Edith (1876-1957) , Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Literature by and about Edith Abbott in the catalog of the German National Library