SumBlog#6 Jane Addams

Last week my class read about a woman named Jane Addams that took action against what she personally viewed as a form of inequality, that being the lack of literary and art education for people that were less fortunate than herself. Her focus was derived from her interest in the area of public sociology and cultural relativism stemming from the influx of immigrants that were arriving in her city. In the year 1889, along with another woman named Ellen Gates Starr, Addams opened Chicago's first settlement house named the Hull-House, where people of all statuses could gather and learn about topics that were literally "foreign" to them. What was so interesting about the Hull-House was that it was Jane Addams' actual home and she allowed people to assemble there and learn about subjects ranging from debating political theories in America's government to providing the residents of Hull-House with the necessary skills that their new surroundings required of them such as cooking, sewing and most importantly learning the English language. It was very much like an exchange program, where the residents that she invited into Hull-House would pay back her generosity by contributing in helpful ways toward the efforts of her neighborly engagements in different areas of Hull-House such as the nursery, the kitchen and kindergarten school for the children. The entire goal of Hull-House was to provide help to those people , mostly immigrants with no other place to turn, become more integrated into their newly found American society. This was quite typical of Addams' methodology as she believed in getting down to her subject's level and learning first hand from them. She was not one that was satisfied with simply observing them from afar as many other male sociologists, that we have covered in class, common practices were at that time. Instead her founding core principle was that of social ethics, or better explained as "morality" towards fellow people in society. She was concerned that there had become a disconnect between people within society and realized that they only way to really understand this would be to literally live with them and view the world through their eyes. Addams believed in four key elements that complimented her foundation those elements included: No one group of people were more important than any other, all people were active agents( meaning , everyone counted regardless of status), she believed that people seek opportunity for kindliness towards their fellow man and lastly that personal safety of all members of a social democracy is tied to the personal safety of each. Where did she learn this approach? She learned the concept of social ethics by once again , "getting her hands dirty" and witnessing first hand that through education that respects an individual's own experience that much can be learned about people that are different from herself. She delved into and experienced diverse social interactions by joining them side by side and abolishing the concept of inequality within the walls of Hull-House. She found that by sharing stories with others, that somehow that helped preserve the memories of where the people had come from , yet all the while still striving to find their place in their "new land" because she recognized that the majority culture had more power and she wanted them to stand a chance in life. Jane Addams gained insight from her subjects by personally interacting with them in a "neighborly" fashion so as to cultivate genuine relationships with them, therefore granting her a better understanding of their ways of life. She was able to to this through a methodology that she referred to as "Personal Experience over Theory". Addams even earned the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in the field of social work in the year 1931. I think if I was a sociologist, I would very much like to use Addams' approach because it seems very effective in the learning process as well as invoking a feeling of helpful well-being and good citizenship. I believe that I would personally enjoy working along side of people that I was interested in studying because I would be able to determine the actualities of their lives, versus using a theoretical approach that illustrates what could happen. I much prefer hearing it "straight from the horse's mouth" rather than interpreting my findings. I chose the multimedia image featured below because I feel as though it was representative to what Addams' plight of social ethics by helping others was all about. These were her blood related grandchildren, but you would never know it because she was so giving of herself for the greater good of society, she wanted everyone to have a chance to have a good life.